[brjoon1021]

I got iPower !
All models of the streamer are the same? No revisions ?

 

[brjoon1021]

I want to read some reviews about Kensei and ultimately stick it on the back of the Zen Stream !

 

[Gartenfreund]

Hello together,
please don‘t get me wrong I‘m a big fan of the ifi zen stream and I have 3 of them in use. I found out that powered with a good 12V LPS, a switch in front and a good LPS it is a hard to beat streamer / transport. (By the way I can recommend the Netgear GS108E).
Now my problem is to find an upgrade over the zen. I‘ve testet streamers up to 1k but didn‘t found a really better over all sounding solution that is worth the additional cost. Yes there are differences but always also downsides. I‘ve also tried to pimp the zen with DDC‘s like the Singxer SU6 but in my case (I need spdif/AES) it doesn‘t bring an upgrade worth the cost of 750€.
So that‘s why the question here: Can anybody recommend me a transport (or a DDC for the zen) which is clearly better than the ifi zen‘s spdif out?
About the Neo I‘ve read that as a pure transport there is no big difference, or am I‘m wrong here?
I‘m very grateful for all suggestions.
Greetings

 

[jjazzy]

Hello together,
please don‘t get me wrong I‘m a big fan of the ifi zen stream and I have 3 of them in use. I found out that powered with a good 12V LPS, a switch in front and a good LPS it is a hard to beat streamer / transport. (By the way I can recommend the Netgear GS108E).
Now my problem is to find an upgrade over the zen. I‘ve testet streamers up to 1k but didn‘t found a really better over all sounding solution that is worth the additional cost. Yes there are differences but always also downsides. I‘ve also tried to pimp the zen with DDC‘s like the Singxer SU6 but in my case (I need spdif/AES) it doesn‘t bring an upgrade worth the cost of 750€.
So that‘s why the question here: Can anybody recommend me a transport (or a DDC for the zen) which is clearly better than the ifi zen‘s spdif out?
About the Neo I‘ve read that as a pure transport there is no big difference, or am I‘m wrong here?
I‘m very grateful for all suggestions.
Greetings

I have the zen streamer, I tried the a6's (both) from eversolo, similar digital/coax wise as the zen streamer, I tried hifi rose rs250, but nahh was still not that much better than the a6.

Then I went for the Eversolo A8, and now it is wow!! and can't go back to zen stream anymore. It was a big difference with headphones and a huge on my full hifi set (speakers).

But yes you pay for it. the A8 is not cheap. It was on level of the innuous mk3 and lumin u2 streamer (not the mini, but u2)

the A8 is also has a very good dac, but owning a tt2+mscaler, that was no match. but on it's own a amazing analogue build in stage.

 

[Gartenfreund]

Thanks for this good advice, even though I was already afraid that you would have to spend well over 1k to get a significant jump. I'm going to test the A8 and for now I'm happy that I made such a good purchase with the ifi zens.
By the way, I'm starting to get the impression that the better sound in the higher-priced streamers is achieved via software and no longer with hardware. Above a certain price point, they usually all have an LPS, femto clocks, good components and nice housings installed, but overall they don't stand out all that much from one another. That's why I'm guessing that a lot of things happen via software.

And great congratulations and thanks to ifi for such an affordable piece of hifi.

 

[jjazzy]

Thanks for this good advice, even though I was already afraid that you would have to spend well over 1k to get a significant jump. I'm going to test the A8 and for now I'm happy that I made such a good purchase with the ifi zens.
By the way, I'm starting to get the impression that the better sound in the higher-priced streamers is achieved via software and no longer with hardware. Above a certain price point, they usually all have an LPS, femto clocks, good components and nice housings installed, but overall they don't stand out all that much from one another. That's why I'm guessing that a lot of things happen via software.

And great congratulations and thanks to ifi for such an affordable piece of hifi.

for the money the Zen stream is a amazing device, but it is quite the shock how much better the eversolo a8 is, don't give it 5 minutes, really take your time. You don't want to go back after that.

 

[iFi audio]

Thanks for this good advice, even though I was already afraid that you would have to spend well over 1k to get a significant jump. I'm going to test the A8 and for now I'm happy that I made such a good purchase with the ifi zens.
By the way, I'm starting to get the impression that the better sound in the higher-priced streamers is achieved via software and no longer with hardware. Above a certain price point, they usually all have an LPS, femto clocks, good components and nice housings installed, but overall they don't stand out all that much from one another. That's why I'm guessing that a lot of things happen via software.

And great congratulations and thanks to ifi for such an affordable piece of hifi.

Thanks very much! We appreciate it!

Hope you continue to enjoy it! Although I mainly use my NEO Stream now, my two other ZEN Streams still serve me well and started my journey into better streamers

Cheers!!

 

[brjoon1021]

Do they (the GODstreamers) have fpga before sending to the DAC ?

I really, really am having trouble suspending doubt that you can hear so much between streamers (as a transport) once that you take care of some obvious issues, which the ZS has done.
I would love to see someone prove that they can tell the difference between the ZS, Rose, Bluesonds, Wiim, Eversolo, etc... in a double blind A/B with every single variable in their favor: in their own system with their favorite music. Obviously, if there is some output volume disparity that would need to be accounted for.

I am willing to bet money that they cannot tell the difference. I am not an ASR guy but there is sooo much BS in HiFi that it is hard to ignore the smell. Confirmation bias is a really real thing.

 

[iFi audio]

Do they (the GODstreamers) have fpga before sending to the DAC ?

I really, really am having trouble suspending doubt that you can hear so much between streamers (as a transport) once that you take care of some obvious issues, which the ZS has done.
I would love to see someone prove that they can tell the difference between the ZS, Rose, Bluesonds, Wiim, Eversolo, etc... in a double blind A/B with every single variable in their favor: in their own system with their favorite music. Obviously, if there is some output volume disparity that would need to be accounted for.

I am willing to bet money that they cannot tell the difference. I am not an ASR guy but there is sooo much BS in HiFi that it is hard to ignore the smell.

On a personal note I "feel" there are differences and to my ears some are audible. I started streaming straight from a computer to DAC, then went the RPI route. Improving on this were certain hats and power supplies.

I then bought a Cambridge, and although a very nice piece of equipment, I was never enthralled with what I heard. Then the Zen came along and I immediately felt a difference. I was always interested in how the upper streamers "sound" but once I got into my NEO Stream and the Optibox attachment, I felt I reached my plateau.

One thing about the Zen is it does an amazing job with Spotify! How and why I do not know lol, but that always impressed me.

In terms of blind tests, I am sure it would be harder to tell, but all the folks who test things like power supplies and switches can't all be wrong, or biased in some way.

In the end, it's about the way the music makes you feel, and if a 10,000-dollar streamer makes you feel that, more power to you!

Cheers!!

 

[jjazzy]

Do they (the GODstreamers) have fpga before sending to the DAC ?

I really, really am having trouble suspending doubt that you can hear so much between streamers (as a transport) once that you take care of some obvious issues, which the ZS has done.
I would love to see someone prove that they can tell the difference between the ZS, Rose, Bluesonds, Wiim, Eversolo, etc... in a double blind A/B with every single variable in their favor: in their own system with their favorite music. Obviously, if there is some output volume disparity that would need to be accounted for.

I am willing to bet money that they cannot tell the difference. I am not an ASR guy but there is sooo much BS in HiFi that it is hard to ignore the smell. Confirmation bias is a really real thing.

Yes you can… g*d why always that same discussion… just because you can’t hear it on your equipment it does not mean it is not there.

I have the zen stream, while I think it is more than okay for headphones, not with my hifi amp, when I bought my flagship musical fidelity m8xi 800.2 nu vista amp I borrowed a eversolo a8 as well, and I loved that amp. but then everything was returned. And they ordered the m8xi 800.nu vista amp.

Then the moment came… the amp arrived, and it was the worst 12000 euro I ever spent on a amp…. I thought! How was I wrong. And that was connected to my chord tt2+mscaler.

It was connected to the zen stream with sbooster. Then I realized it was the a8 from eversolo I listened to it… I called the shop and I borrowed it again, and there it was, that amazing stage and smoothness with the A9.

Yes the a8 was way better digital/coax as as a streamer. That does not mean the zen stream is bad for the money (but please stop saying it does not matter, they allllllll sound the same!

 

[brjoon1021]

IFi please work with qobuz to get qobuz connect on the iFi devices. I really am looking forward to that convenience.

As for huge or even subtle differences between competently designed streamers...Will have to agree to disagree on that.

You can make a formal video showing that you or whomever can tell the difference

Believe me you can find an audio science review advocate (they love to fight) who would start a gofundme to get this set up to your liking and video the results. It would prove something, empirically, one way or the other.

Last comment on that issue. I don't care enough to keep tilling old ground.

 

[iFi audio]

IFi please work with qobuz to get qobuz connect on the iFi devices

As for huge or even subtle differences between competently designed streamers...Will have to agree to disagree on that.

You can make a formal video showing that you or whomever can tell the difference

Believe me you can find an audio science review advocate (they love to fight) who would start a gofundme to get this set up to your liking and video the results. It would prove something, empirically, one way or the other.

First things first, Qobuz has to complete their work on Qobuz "Connect" then we can start to implement it on our devices.

Latest word is they are getting close!

Cheers!!

 

[Gartenfreund]

Do they (the GODstreamers) have fpga before sending to the DAC ?

I really, really am having trouble suspending doubt that you can hear so much between streamers (as a transport) once that you take care of some obvious issues, which the ZS has done.
I would love to see someone prove that they can tell the difference between the ZS, Rose, Bluesonds, Wiim, Eversolo, etc... in a double blind A/B with every single variable in their favor: in their own system with their favorite music. Obviously, if there is some output volume disparity that would need to be accounted for.

I am willing to bet money that they cannot tell the difference. I am not an ASR guy but there is sooo much BS in HiFi that it is hard to ignore the smell. Confirmation bias is a really real thing.

In my system, yes I can hear these differences when you know where to ‚listen‘ for. You can even hear differences in switches in front or lan cables, but in this case I think it is the electrical isolation and noise reduction. The Bits in Network systems always arrive. But the devices itself are generating noise which is transfered in the streamer or the cables pick up noise from the transformers and so on.
In my case I’ve thought if I buy a decent DDC like the SU6 I‘m done with all these things but was proven wrong. Yes there was an positive effect, but not really dramatically that I would have to spend 750€. I‘ve instead invested the money in more room acoustics with a greater impact. (But don‘t get me wrong the SU6 is a nice device.) I‘ve also tested Eversolo A6, Rivo, RPis with all the different OS, Allo, Wiim, RME ADI as DDC,…
Always there is a difference in sound. Where are the voices placed in the room, how sharp are the highs, how big is the soundstage, what does your toe do while listening, how is the bass rendered, ping pong effects, layering and so on. And of course they all have different software issues. Sometimes more sometimes less, but for me this was never the reason not to keep a device.

If anybody is interested in hearing differences I can recommend buying the ipower X (12V) for zen a GS108E switch with an tripped shielded LAN cable (dosn’t neet to be an expensive one) between zen and switch and put the zen on a solid decoupled base. (I recommend wood) Then the stereo image opens up and the artists stands right in front of you.

When I listen to interviews for example with Grimm Audio, and see the insights of their streamers, yes I think the main IP nowadays sits in the software domain by rendering or processing the music and not in better and better hardware. Of course the hardware quality must be on a certain level, but I think that’s not enough to get a decent streamer. And yes the expensive streamers often have FPGAs for audio processing. But over this part you will never read a word on hifi spec papers. (The only one I know is Chord Audio with their FPGA DACs.) That’s why we will never know how much effort the companys put inside these FPGAs. For example RME is known to put a lot of software development in their products. The ADI 2 pro fs I‘ve tested sounded wonderful, with digital and analog out. But unfortunately the price point is also around 1.700€.

 

[zolom]

A friend of mine had purchased a 2nd hand iFi Zen Stream (which was operational) . Probably unknowingly he may have done a hard reset to the Zen, then disconnected the power.
Now the Zen cannot be turned off via the left button (long press) unless the power is disconnected. It seems to connect to wifi, even http://ifi.local had shown once or twice the configuration screen, but he could not check or update the firmware version (it hangs). Once or twice he could listen to music via the coax to his dac, this played for several seconds and stopped. The left indicator was white and the right one green.

Is it bricked?
Is there a way to unbrick?

Please advice.
Thanks

 

[pulsedriver]

I got iPower !
All models of the streamer are the same? No revisions ?

I'm not aware if they are different versions. I bought 2 more for friends and the where all tha same I guess.

A friend of mine had purchased a 3rd hand iFi Zen Stream (which was operational) . Unknowingly he did hard reset the Zen, then disconnected the power.
Now the Zen cannot be turned of via the left button (long press) unless the power is disconnected. It seems to connect to wifi, even http://ifi.local had shown once or twice the configuration screen, but he could not check or update the firmware verdion (it hangs). One or twice he could listen to misic via the coax to his dac, this played for several seconds and stopped. The left indicator was white and the right one green.
Is it bricked?
Is there a way to unbrick?

Please advice.
Thanks

Issue a ticket with the serial number on iFi site. They will send a tool and firmware to flash. It can help!