Thought I'd start a dedicated thread for iFi Zen Stream user reviews and troubleshooting. I've had mine for a few weeks now and have been more or less enjoying it with some minor caveats. I'm actually on my second Zen Stream, as the first one was malfunctioning and had to be replaced. There is a dial on the back that allows you to select between 5 play modes: All In One (used for set up), Roon Only, Tidal Only, Network Audio Adapter Only, and DLNA Only. Since I stream Quobuz through mconnect, I needed the DLNA Only mode, but it didn't work on the first unit I had. It streamed fine in All In One Mode, but switched to DLNA, it lost connection and the iFi app crashed. However, the replacement works in DLNA mode, at least for set-up. The iFi app still crashes, but it's basically useless as an interface anyway so it isn't really needed once set up is complete. Other than the trouble with DLNA mode, the Zen Stream works very well for what I want in a streamer. I resisted getting a Node for many years because I hated the idea of buying a streamer with a built-in DAC, and was waiting for someone to release something decent I could use as a streaming source with my Denafrips. I seriously considered going the raspberry pi route, but ultimately decided that might be a can of worms and held out for a plug-and-play solution. For $400 dollars, I think the Zen Stream is just about the only alternative to raspberry pi for a streamer without DAC in this price range. As for sound quality, I think it sounds great streaming Quobuz. It equals my Cambridge CD player for CD-resolution tracks, and of course hi-res can sound even better. Bass is stronger through the Zen Stream than the Cambridge, so I don't use my subs for most streamed music. Other than that there isn't much I have to say regarding sound. Although the iFi app is useless, the mconnect app works great for controlling the Zen Stream and seems to interface well with Qobuz. I only wish Qobuz had better filters for searching. I still haven't figured out how to search by anything other than the broadest genre classification (Classical? Sure! Baroque Classical? Now you've stumped us). It's not really a huge deal, but I was hoping streaming would allow for more elegant exploration. The form factor is cute, but I prefer basic black or silver boxes (I'm boring) for everything other than amps and turntables. At least it doesn't take up a lot of room. The LED indicator lights on the front might as well be the bat signal, though. They're huge and bright and can't be defeated as far as I know. I'm not sure you'd want to turn them off even if you could, as they tell you the network status and streaming rate/format based on color. Despite the wonky iFi app, I'm happy overall with the Zen Stream. It's fun having a world of music available to my hifi that was previously limited to physical media. I reccomend it, but beware there may be some hiccups. Please chime-in if you have a Zen Stream or are considering one!
I’m considering getting one because it seems to be damn near the only thing that supports YouTube music AFAIK. Any chance you’ve tested that and can describe the user experience?
I implemented an iFi Zen Stream last fall and have really been impressed. (Using a Schiit DAC via SPDIF) For my main digital listening, it supplanted a Sonos Connect (w/iFi SPDIF iPurifier and Uptone LPS) as it really was an improvement in all sound aspects. The iFi SPDIF iPurifier improved the Sonos Connect quite a bit, so figured I'd try the Zen Stream as it was pretty inexpensive and read/saw great reviews on its capability. Tried both SPDIF and USB with the Zen Stream and prefer the SPDIF, and I only use this with my NAS (CD rips and needledrops), so have no experience with the services like Qobuz, Tidal, etc. Concur the iFi app leaves much to be desired, but I too use Mconnect and it's been great (had to rebuild/refresh my NAS drive to get all the album art, etc.). Although I'm primarily a vinyl listener on my main system, this little guy has me really enjoying my digital quite a bit.
So I'm not having any luck figuring out a way to play youtube music through the zen stream. Google was no help either. Can you link to some instructions?
@rischa I am looking to get the Zen Stream . My chain will be ; Zen Stream- usb to Denafrips Iris DDC - I2S (HDMI) into Denafrips Pontus 2 -RCA into Willsenton R8 Tube Amp into KLH Model 5 Speakers . Just wondering if you used the upgraded iFi audio iPower MK2 Low Noise Power Supply with your Zen Stream ? If so did ya notice any difference ?
I use other IFI products not the streamer but I do use this and it has no issues.... BluMe HD Bluetooth Music Receiver with Audiophile DAC - Auris, Inc.
I tried the Zen stream but ended up returning it. Here is my situation, I had an Aurender in the other system and wanted a cheaper streamer in the secondary system. At the time, I didn’t use any streaming service only music from hard drives. When I got it, the first thing that annoyed me was the set up in the app. It took several times to get the app to connect to the zen stream. After about an hour, I at least got it to connect. The next problem was connecting to a NAS. My main NAS, it would never connected to. But it did find my Aurender as a NAS, so at least I had an alternative. Now we are in business and the deal breaker was the app. I didn’t know there was an alternative so I tried to use it to play music. When it works, it is fine (at best). But the problem is that it kept losing connection and when it does it resets the app. So for example you are looking for an album and you are at the S. If it loses connection, it is back to A. And this would happen all the time. Meaning several times in one hour. That was it, I was done. Also another Aurender came up used and I bought it before my return window was over. That works great. The Aurender app looks much more polished and it does lose connection, may once or twice a week (big difference), but even when it does it picks up where it leaves off when reconnected. The Zen Stream has potential but not for me. Maybe if I did Tidal connect, it would have been fine but not for my use case. Sorry for the long post but wanted to provide feedback that might help others.
No I haven't tried the upgraded power supply, but I've beenthinking about it. I know the initial review units were shipped with the better power supply. Basically a bait and switch.
Yes, good feedback for others considering the Zen Stream. I agree that it needs some refinement. I didn't want to spend over $500 for a streamer so the iFi is about as good as we'll get at this price point. Unfortunately we get what we pay for. Still, the sound quality is good if you can get it set up and running.
I picked up a zen stream after my Allo USbridge was giving me fits. I’ve probably had it for 8 months, streaming Roon 4 hours or so a day on my home office. I’ve never had it drop out. Sounds great to me. I would buy more if they every followed through on the chromecast promise so they could fit into my broader ecosystem, but alas…
Installed the Zen Stream a couple of days ago. Overall, it is a significant upgrade in SQ from my former setup - using an Ipad as a streaming device. I have the Zen Stream connected to a RME ADI2-FS dac. Setting up the Zen Stream was a little cumbersome - had to go through the process several times - and after upgrading the firmware a reset was needed to reconnect everything. I am using Tidal for a streaming service. No connectivity issues thus far and I am using the lower grade power cord that came with the system. I cannot detect any interference from the power cord.
Very happy with the Ifi Zen Streamer I purchased earlier this month. I hooked my unit up with an Ethernet cable rather than WiFi to avoid any connectivity issues due to my router being in an awkward spot. Running the Zen signal through the dac of my CD player with an spdif cable. Sounds great. Using Tidal. I play it for hours at a time.
With a few more more weeks on the Zen Stream I have mixed feelings. Not with the Zen Stream itself necessarily, but more with the quality of music I've been streaming. For instance, I've been on a Beatles and Macca kick lately and the quality of the music on Qobuz is pretty uneven. Early Beatles like Please Please Me actually impresses me a lot through the Zen Stream compared to vinyl -- the clarity and dynamics are really good. But later Beatles like Sgt. Pepper and TWA sound dull and cold (ironically the later albums are hi-res while the early stuff is CD quality). Ram and BOTR are favorites of mine but they sound like **** through the streamer compared to vinyl, even played on my modest Dual 1229 w/ AT VM540ML. Newer music fares a little better, but still doesn't usually live up to its CD counterpart. Lake Street Dive's new album, Obviously, has been a favorite CD of mine over the past year or so for both music and SQ, but played through the Zen Stream it looses a lot of its magic. Jazz and classical can sound pretty good through the streamer depending on the album. In general I haven't been impressed with the hi-res music on Qobuz. Newer pop music sounds the best, but it only makes up about 10-20% of my listening. I have been enjoying the instant access to pretty much any music I want to listen to, but I was hoping the quality would be better. So would a higher quality streamer give me better results, or is this just how streaming is? I'm crapping on my own thread, lol.
I dunno. I don' t use a dedicated streamer, but I don't hear any meaningful difference between USB source going to my DAC, whether it's local files or streaming from Qobuz, from a laptop or a phone. In fact some of the best sound I've ever heard is streaming hi-res titles like, say Andrew Cyrille's Lebroba. When you're making comparisons are you comparing say USB to coax? Not really an apples to apples comparison then. Could of course be different masterings you're listening to, certainly streaming vs. old LPs and in that case also an entirely different signal chain. Personally I don't hear any meaningful difference between the same titles, same masters streaming from Qobuz vs. from local files, which is the only way I could directly compare using USB and the DAC clock governing and making an apples to apples comparison. Are you connecting via wifi or ethernet?
Both the streamer and cd player are digital out via coax into my dac. I understand there are differences in masterings, but it doesn't really matter in a case like the Lake Street Dive album, for which there's one version available on CD, and one version available on Qobuz. If the hi-res quobuz version doesn't beat the CD, what's the point beyond convenience? Maybe USB from streamer to dac would be better -- I'll have to give it a try. I've been streaming over wifi, but ethernet is an option -- just haven't gotten around to trying it yet
Well, with coax the clock of the source device is governing the timing so there could be a difference between your CD player and the Zen in terms of the sound your getting, otherwise I would think there shouldn't be, from a music source point of view, a difference between the CD and the streaming source. But you're hearing what you're hearing. I don't really know much about the Zen, how it's configured, if the wifi switched on creates any noise. I'm not sure what the "magic" is that is lost for you in the sound source -- "magic" really isn't a sound attribute, so I'm not sure what "magic" sounds like or what would make "magic" go away. I'm just wondering if it's Qobuz that's the difference or something else in the signal chain.
Honestly I think you're misinterpreting me or something. But if you feel that way I'm sorry. Not my intention. But if that's the way you feel I'll drop out of this conversation and may sure not to reply to you in the future
Anyway, back to our regularly scheduled Zen Stream chat. I own the Zen Stream with iFi Elite power supply. To me, specifically with Tidal Connect using the Tidal iPad app (no computer, no Roon) via coax the sound quality is phenomenal. My Zen Stream is connected to the network via Ethernet.
