New (was back in 2021) iFi Zen Stream device

Marc happy to help and glad that it’s working well

Oh, I just checked the settings on Roon iFi.local, and now it lets me use the USB if I want to, but what is the “disable DSD/DoP” mean?

DOP is DSD embedded in PCM stream and is used by some devices that do not directly support pure DSD music.

You can disable it if your device doesn’t support it, and generally it doesn’t work over SPDIF (at least on any of my devices)

I use DSD upscaling in use on a couple of endpoints as they have a sweeter sound to my ear.

You all may like this tips & tricks from ifi:

and

2 Likes

I solved this issue by @jussi_laako tip. You first turn off the ifi streamer and then the DAC/amplifier. To turn it back on, first the amplifier then the ifi Streamer, this way, it keeps the settings.

2 Likes

Hi Gang. Yup, it’s me, back with another problem. Now I’m trying to connect the ifi zen streamer via wi-fi to a pair of Kef LS50W first gen active speakers. The zen works fine via spdif to my other dac - but then again that was ethernet. The Kef doesn’t have spdif, and the zen doesnt have optical. that leaves USB. the ifi app sees the kef, it’s on USB output. Roon sees the zen. No sound coming out of the speakers! Is there some driver i have to activate in order to connect these devices through USB?

Garvin you have to go into the if.local web page and change the output from SPDIF to USB, apologies if you have already done this, but it doesn’t really show you anything.

yup, did that. no dice

So have you used these LS50 wireless via USB before so can confirm everything works fine with them away from the Stream.
Not all USB inputs work without drivers and I remember some people having issues with the LS50 on Windows before. Worth trying to find out if they are compatible.

The other option is something like the Topping E10 or E30 which I seem to remember Darko recommending as a USB to SPDIF/Optical convertor some time back

Hello Michael.
Your positive outlook on the ZEN is admirable. You seem to be the go-to source for putting out fires concerning this product. It must truly sound great considering its record of problems.

1 Like

Michael is henceforth known as the King of Zen.
Or ZenMaster.
:innocent:

5 Likes

Most of the problems are historical to be fair and the Stream is a good little Roon Ready device.

A lot of issues are users trying something new, and most are solved by pointing out things that I or others found a long time ago, but as new user’s join, it’s hard to read such a long thread.

I always wanted to be a Zen Master, but I had no idea it meant this… :joy_cat:

6 Likes

I’ve found that when in “Roon Only” mode, those resets stop. The “configure device” page that allows you to change the output, volume settings and DSD/DOP selections seem to override the settings in the ZS GUI, and even when I detach the ZS from my DAC, my settings remain unchanged—including the volume settings a previous poster was struggling with.

All in all I’ve found the ZS to perform with the highest stability and sound quality in “Roon Only” mode and the only time I switch to AIO is to check for firmware updates—which are long overdue by the way, as we’ve been stuck on 2.31.8 beta for over two months. At least this one is stable—I haven’t encountered any hitches I’m wanting fixed.

As for claims that S/PDIF sounds better than USB as some have claimed, I highly doubt that. USB has largely superseded coax or TOSLINK as the audiophile standard for very good reasons—as you know USB offers bidirectional asynchronous transmission and obviously far greater bandwidth. Any claims to the galvanic isolation afforded by S/PDIF connections have been obviated by the voltage regulators, hardware buffers and anti-jitter tech that is standard in all modern DACs—the data being transmitted through both interfaces is identical. I don’t know where this claim is coming from to be honest.

Since this is a Roon forum, I’m also unsure as to why anyone on here is remaining attached to AIO mode—iFi finally came through with a purpose for that “Roon Only” setting—it makes the device a true Roon Ready endpoint and it turns off all the unnecessary software settings on the ZS that could potentially confound proper integration with Roon. The only time I would ever use it would be for Tidal Connect mode, but since Roon hosts Tidal I have no use for it anymore. Can you think of any reason why folks are hanging on to AIO mode that I seem to be missing? I’ve stopped commenting on here for awhile because I truly thought the problems with the ZS have been resolved. :confused:

Stephen my claim is only that SPDIF matches USB in Roon Only mode, which is not possible in AIO mode (as in fully working 192/24 without excessive jitter)
I have not switched mine back to AIO mode or checked for an update in some time. I have been completely happy with the sound through both USB and SPDIF since the final Roon Ready update.

Some of the inconsistency with the LEDs are a bit annoying and I will update again when the final version that fixes this is released.

We haven’t seen much of you recently, and I hope you have been keeping well?

actually, now i think it’s a wifi problem. I hooked the ZS back up to my other DAC (mytek brooklyn +) and that didn’t work either on wifi even though i connect it with SPDIF. It didn’t work until i ran it through ethernet. do you have to tell the ZS to stream on wifi or ethernet? I thought that was automatic.

Yes from memory it was automatic.
I have not used WiFi with mine in a long time as Ethernet is perfect as long as you can get a cable there (which I can).
Are you able to connect to ifi.local and see if it tells you the signal quality?

no, i can’t connect to ifi.local or to 192.168.211.1 Does that mean I never successfully connected the wifi to my network? it is working on ethernet.

Yes that suggests that it’s not on WiFi, you might want to try connecting to the WiFi again.

No rest for the Zen Master

2 Likes