Use a printer USB cable, if you have one. It might work. It’s a USB B cable. Connect one end to the LOWER USB of the ZS and the “printer end” to the DAC
That is a usb B connection in the 3.0 format and there should have been one in the box from memory, but a normal USB B should work (maybe it was with the Zen DAC)
I would go for a factory reset sounds like a good idea and if you have a spare Ethernet cable you might want to try that as well
Aha! Thanks. I’m not sure I have a spare one of those cables (and I thought one came in the box also, but if it did it’s not there now and I have no idea where it might be) but now I know what to look for at Staples I’m optimistic I’ll be able to find one. I looked and don’t have another Ethernet cable but again, I should be able to get one of those fairly easily. I’ll do that tomorrow, and then it’s on to the factory reboot. And if that doesn’t work, I fear I’ll have to move on from the ifi streamer and find something else.
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Let’s see if we can get you going with this one first, we just need to help you track down what is going wrong.
The WIIM Pro is currently on offer on Amazon prime sale and I bought one for my son, it might make a good cheap backup plan that you can return if you do not need it. It has Ethernet and is Roon Ready and has SPDIF out as well.
I hope a reset of the zen will solve the problem.
If I remember 200M did not have any usb in the box, also the Zen stream did not have one. (the zen dac has usb B 3.0) for 200M you will need a USB 2.0 type B, the printer type it is called usually…
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Final update. I tried the factory reset twice, and it had absolutely no effect. I thought I could hear the streamer laughing at me, but that was probably just my imagination. So I’ve called time of death and ordered a new streamer.
Thanks again for all the help. I’m critical of if’s customer support (either the least animated human being called “Mike” ever or, as I suspect, a chatbot) but you have all been kind, patient, and incredibly knowledgable. There’s nothing anyone can do to reanimate dead technology but if anyone could, it’s all of you! It’s been very comforting to have people at the other end of a communication line, and I’ve greatly appreciated your willingness to help.
Ian
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happy listening Ian.
Traian
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Ian I am sad we could not do more to help but it sounds like something on the networking or in the firmware was borked on this unit.
Like I said the other day the WIIM Pro looks good and I will collect mine and test in on Tuesday
What did you order?
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Hi Michael,
I ended up going with the Cambridge MXN 10. More equipment than I need, I think, but it gives me some flexibility for the future. I waited to reply until I was sure things were working and they are. From unpacking to listening took less than five minutes and so far everything looks and sounds wonderful!
Thanks again for all the help. I don’t think the ifs was savable, but you all helped a great deal and when I decided to move on from it, it was comforting to know that I had tried everything that the experts could think of! Some things are just broken!!
The irony, which I didn’t mention, was that I’d just finished ripping the cds we have into the Nucleus just a week before everything stopped working. Roon counts that as 6,400 albums, but there are a lot of multiple cds sets in there so – as you can imagine – I was concerned that all of that had been in vain. But it wasn’t!
Ian
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Nice selection Ian, all the Cambridge Audio products are good in my experience.
Is it Roon Ready now?
I still have their very first DAC Magic upstairs in a cupboard after 15 years or more.
6400 CDs is a lot of work to rip as I have done multiple on my selection over the years, but now just the several CDs a month.
Hopefully you now get time to enjoy the fruits of your labour and have no more issues for some time.
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Hi Michael,
Yes, “Roon Ready” proudly proclaimed on the box. I really appreciate the absence of drama with it. Plug in the power, plug in the ethernet cable, plug in the coax, and that’s it. For someone as un tech-savvy as me, that feels really good!
Ian
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Great news 
Sorry to see you had problems wit ifi streamer. I have the same streamer. I am glad problems are solved with new streamer. I don’t know if this has any worth to you, but it sounded a lot like network problems, cables can cause problems if they go next to power cables, network switches and routers can have problems and of course the streamer can broke down. But if you have any problems in the future try to check network first. Streamers are sensitive to network problems.
BR,
Antti
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Sorry I just arrived here to see this. My usual rule is that if it was working up until now, and you made no physical changes to your network, then blame software/firmware/updates and possibly a network glitch. I have no insight into your Zen. One thing to try to see if it is not the Zen as your problem is to enable the device you are using to manage your Nucleus, be it an iPhone or iPad. It had better be under Settings…Audio… There may be additional devices in your network that are also. If it isn’t Enabled then go ahead and enable it. If it was enabled at some point, look at the lower right of the screen and see what is currently enabled (should be your Zen). Tap on whatever is there and select your iPhone or iPad or … other device. Then test playback to validate it can be heard.
One thing about Roon is that if anything goes sideways in the network, often a complete restart of the Roon Core device is needed. And another thing that may save you heartburn going forward is to go into the settings of your router and set a reservation for the internet address for your Roon Core, after things start working. That way, at least, if your Roon Core gets “disconnected”, when it does come back, your router will have assigned the same internet address to the Roon Core. Additionally, if the Roon app cannot find your Roon Core, I would power off the Roon Core, and either start it up again, or if that fails to work, restart your router followed by the Roon Core.
This is a comment only, but I would like to say it …
What a beautiful and exemplary thread this is. I am another “Ian” who “has the tech because I like listening to music, not because I understand the first thing about it”. I am simultaneously encouraged by Ian’s calm (but sometimes emotionally drained) minimalist-tech logic and the genuine willingness of those blessed with tech understanding to non-judgmentally help.
I love the way Roon adds to my music experience while at the same time I cherish my memories of the user simplicity of analog!
I am only in the digital end user experience because my 15 year old Meridian CD player could not be repaired and there was no longer any obvious replacement that I could find. I still baulked and nearly gave up at making this change after being disheartened reading many similar threads on the web.
Nonetheless here we all are!!
Thank you to all.
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Certainly analog has virtues, though I gave up on trying to listen past the pops, ticks, inner groove distortion and constant maintenance of lp’s, arm and cartridge, etc. Luckily having spent over 30+ years in tech (Xerox, IBM, and now volunteering to help seniors deal with tech their kids have given them) and enough patience to spare, I can find my way to solving problems. However, it can be time consuming, no matter your skill level, and I often seek out assistance via internet search and forums like this one.
Audio and video systems are complex. Adding additional links in the chain seems to exponentially add to potential problems as well as trying to fix them. What’s even worse is that our products get updates we often don’t want as well as failures in the links of the chain, be then due to outside causes (ISP’s, power companies, hardware and software vendors, etc.). Love it or hate it…
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