DSP issues seem to get in the way of RR certification.
RR has been working perfectly for a few months now, only real issue I have found is if you use both SPDIF and USB at the same time or switch regularly, though this has got much better once someone discovered the option to switch.
Return of my Pegasus DAC and therefore the possibility to listen direct DSD 256x48 (no dop). 
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Thanks! If I use DSP in Roon such as EQ and Audeze presets, will this affect me?
Got back from my trip and checked for any updatesāweāre still on 2.31.8, which appears to be out of beta now. So I am still waiting for a new firmware release to see if auto update is working in Roon Exclusive modeāwill keep checking.
In the interim, 2.31.8 continues to work flawlessly for me. I have reached out to iFi to find out if updating the ZS bridge when Roon releases new versions has any impact on performanceāto those who arenāt aware, when they released version 943, I factory reset the ZS and updated its internal bridge to that version before reinstalling the Roon Ready firmware version again. Unclear if this makes any differenceāIām inclined to doubt it.
For unknown reasons new ZS firmwares are not permanently flashed to the CMOSāit reverts back to the original launch firmware upon a factory reset. Iāve posed this question to their tech support team and Iām awaiting a response on this as wellābut Iām not too optimistic that Iāll get a transparent answer to this one.
Either way, for new visitors to this thread, the ZS at its current firmware is rock-solid stable, fully integrated with Roon and sounding great. If youāre on the fence about buying it due to the historical discussions on here, be reassured that past heartaches have been almost entirely resolved, to the point where the only remaining issue of note is the process of initial setupāwhich those of us on here can easily walk you through. The device is a steal at its current price, and sounds truly premium to the tastes of the most exacting audiophile. And I have no issues with using any combination of Roon DSPsāPEQ, headroom management, convolution files, crossfeed, volume leveling or Audeze presetsāin Roon Ready/Exclusive mode.
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Hi All -
I recently purchased the Zen (in part due to this forum). I got it setup relatively easily: the only hitch was that the numerical IP address that the startup guide told me to put in my browser didnāt work. Only when I typed in the ifi.local did it work.
I am, however, getting the occasional drop out, where the music stops, mid track, altogether until I hit play again. My chain is Roon ā Wireless Zen Stream on Roon mode ā Bifrost 2.
I am guessing I need to plug ethernet into the zenāthough the quality of internet light suggests the connection is very high. If I do need to plug it in, is getting an ethernet switch a good solution? Or should I prefer a direct line from the router? (The router is far awayā¦)
Thanks for your help.
Itās a difficult one to answer and needs some investigation from your end. I have a mesh network and the time I tried WiFi it worked great.
You could try downsampling everything to 16/44 if you are playing anything higher.
You can also try looking on your router to see how your Stream is connected as in 2.4G or 5G channels. 2.4G works much better through walls, so if you can force this on the router it gives you something else to try.
As to a switch it really makes not a lot of difference and while Roon do not recommend Ethernet over Power adapterās there are plenty of people using them on the forums that swear by them.
You could put one by the router and one near the Stream. If it is to go on a power block I would recommend getting one with a pass through plug socket on it as it will give more throughput (at least in my experience)
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2.31.8 is still a beta firmware. Last stable version is 2.31.7
As David mentioned a few posts above - DSP volume is still not available. Thatās a serious degradation from pre-Roon Ready firmware (at least for some users).
iFi support suggests to stay on 2.30.7 when you need that feature and as usually cannot confirm if and when it could be fixed.
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Ethernet network connections are designed to work over hundreds of meters, so a router of some kind should be fine. I personally recommend using wired networking wherever possible with networks in general as it is reliable, whereas WiFi is quite unpredictable.
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My apologies, I donāt use DSP volume so I was unaware. IFi had told me just a couple of days ago in a PM that 2.31.8 was a stable release, so I was only relaying what they said (and for me it is stable).
My point was to offer reassurance to those visiting the thread that since the release of a series of firmware upgrades, the ZS is performing stably and exceptionally well, compared to the extensive discussions that have historically suggested otherwise. My sole purpose in participating in this thread has been to provide the best possible information I have received from myriad sources, including iFi themselves, that I had at the timeāand when Iāve been mistaken, Iāve quickly apologized and admitted as much.
I should note that for my applications, it has performed perfectly well for me since launchāalthough I respect the frustrations others have experienced with their own implementations of the device. Nevertheless I still maintain that for its price, it is the best option currently available, with or without Roonāand I think my encouragement to others to give the ZS a try, instead of investing hundreds to thousands of dollars more on other streamers that offer zero sonic advantages, is a worthy effort.
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You might be experiencing difficulty accessing the device via its IP address due to a specified port being required, or due to a DNS issue. Inside the network settings on the ZS, you can see the network speeds it is seeing at any given time. You can also specify a manual DNS addressāI have mine set at Cloudflare at 1.1.1.1 and 1.0.0.1 and have had no problems. Note that the player name of the device that you set in the system settings is also the name of the web address you browse to to access the GUIāthe default is iFi, so the address is iFi.local.
Itās also very beneficial (sometimes essential) to have multicast turned on in your router for these multiroom devices to work. It would be under LAN settingsāIPTV.
Are you using S/PDIF or USB connection to your DAC? For USB connections your DAC should have a buffer to prevent dropouts. However, the ZS has great buffer control built in to offset dropout issues. I would suggest increasing the buffer size in the ZS to 64 first, and play with the ābuffer before playā setting until the stutters stopāthis seems like a much simpler option than reconfiguring your Ethernet setup. This feature is designed to accommodate a range of network speeds, and it worked well for me when I used wireless.
Also, to decrease interference, once you have Wi-Fi setup, turn off the hotspot radio in settingsāyou shouldnāt need it again after the initial connection.
Finally, there is a USB speed test to check the performance of your input source to help you troubleshoot your throughput, should the buffer settings not resolve things. You can access it at iFi.local/dev.
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They havenāt made it available yet I just checked. 2.31.7 is still the current stable release.
Thanks, Steven_Klemow and Michael_Harris for your help.
In response to Michaelās advice, Iām on the 2G, which the iFi app clocks at ~70 mb/s.
In response to Steven, the hotspot has been off and the USB speed test clocks in at 217 mb/s and 119 mb/s. Iāll try increasing the buffer to 40% and 64 and see if it helps. (Do these features stick when its in Roon only mode?)
It occurred to me that I donāt know if the problem in the zen or roon. The issue is not stuttering. It is the music suddenly stopping. Sometimes it just stops mid-track. Today, it cut off mid-track, briefly paused, and picked up at the next track. Maybe its a roon issue?
Thanks again for your help.
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Thanks for that update, and it sounds like from a Network perspective itās pretty good.
Have you tried the limiting everything to 16/44 and turning off volume leveling and crossfade? Used to cause massive issues on Sonos.
Also have you looked at the logs to see if it says Roon lost Control of the endpoint.
Even if it worksā¦ and quite well, it is always better to have a development platform that allows you to benefit from kernel and driver improvements.
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Wouldnāt that be nice if the Rock distribution was updated to a newer version.
Thatās not really on iFi, but picking it when it was already not being updated was on them.
Still a great little device, but oh what could have been, it will be interesting to see what they do with a Stream 2 or a Stream Pro
I have a doubt (to clarify).
The buffer setting affects all players or only mpd, the default player in direct use (volumio interface) ?
For Roon, the buffers are not linked to the Roon setting (I donāt know, I use HQPlayer).
Would we find the setting in a generic configuration file ?
In mpd.conf
# MPD Internal Buffering ######################################################
audio_buffer_size "2048"
buffer_before_play "10%"
###############################################################################
# Resource Limitations ########################################################
#connection_timeout "60"
max_connections "20"
max_playlist_length "81920"
max_command_list_size "81920"
max_output_buffer_size "81920"
###############################################################################
I just got one. I connected it to my network via ethernet, then connected it directly to my Cambridge Audio Receiver via USB, and now I can stream roon music directly to my stereo upstairs. I have the roon nucleus downstairs connected to my Media Room AVR, so now I can play my music through roon in high definition all through my house!
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Welcome to multiverse 
I mean multizone 
Welcome Marc and good to know that you are enjoying it.
Are you running Roon Roon only mode?
Also if you are did you get the latest firmware updates before switching to RO mode.
Hi everyone,
I just bought the IFi Zen and updated it to the latest firmware which is Roon Ready. Everything works fine but when switching to Roon exclusive mode, I canāt use the USB output. Roon seems to recognize only the Spdif output independently of what output is selected with the iFi stream app before switching to Roon exclusive mode.
Any idea of how to fix this ?
Everything worked very fine the previous firmware which was not Roon ready certified and still does when I reset the firmware to the factory settings, but as soon as I switch to the new firmware and exclusive mode, only the spdif is possibleā¦
Thanks in advance.