Farad believes the 9V is not defective because it works fine with just the ZS. We’ve written back and forth numerous times. I prefer the sound of coax anyway.
Besides the lack of DSD I always found the Coax from the Stream sounded really good, though in my system it topped out in AIO mode at 24/96. In Roon only mode it would happily go to 24/192 though not everyone wants or needs that.
But bigger numbers are better right 
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So you keep things fuzzy and/or distorted? Doesn’t that ruin the sound of other, audiophile, CDs?
For me, it’s finding a happy medium Goldilocks balance between musical and transparent. It’s a matter of personal taste. I went far down the ultra transparent road and know it’s not for me.
To follow up. Returned the 9V Farad Super3. Currently have the single 12V Farad Super3 powering the ZS. Have added an iFi iPurifier3 USB filter/ reclocker which does not require a separate power supply, but is instead powered by the ZenStream, which is powered by the 12V Farad Super3, which essentially means both the ZS and iPurifier3 are powered by the excellent Farad (via a Curious Evolved USB)
Have been using Sinc-M in HQPlayer with Roon as the interface. I don’t upsample PCM to DSD because my Marantz DAC upsamples all PCM to DSD 256. Instead I upsample all PCM to 352.8 in HQP.
Wow, all of that sounds tremendous. For the first time the Roon/ HQPlayer combo (on a Mac Mini M1) has surpassed physical CDs in sound quality. Physical SACD still has the nod over DSD files, but on the CD side of things via Roon/HQP, I couldn’t be more satisfied. The inexpensive iPurifier3 has really tied it all together, and the Farad Super3 has transformed both inexpensive iFi devices into genuine HiFi.
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Does the Zen Stream ALAC or is it only FLAC?
It streams all formats. ALAC, FLAC, DSD, AIFF, WAV, etc.
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@Cantodea
Not sure if you found an answer. If you get very stuck, I suggest going over to the Head-Fi.org forums where 2 official iFi representatives field questions and offer support.
I have ordered and received the Zen Stream. It is connected to my USB DAC and playing all my ALAC’s in a very high quality. Still there is one issue, when going from a higher bit to a lower bit file, the first second seems skipped in some cases. I have raised Resync Delay up to 3000ms and it’s better now. Maybe I could the try Spdif output, but I’m not sure it has the same sound quality of the USB output plus I have to order a decent cable first.
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Does this happen when your dac is usb connected to your core comp?
Is zen on wifi? if on cable: if is possible on the same unmanaged switch with your Roon Core. If is managed turn on Flow Control.
The USB DAC is connected with the ZS, not with the core computer. ZS is on cable, the core comp (Mac mini M1) is on Wifi. No idea what Flow Control is…or how to turn on.
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Can you put the m1 mini core on cable also? (if you only have one cable I think is better for the core to be on cable than the end point/ZenStream. The core downloads stuff and sends the stream, Zen only receives the stream sent by the core = core has 2 streams vs the endpoint that has one)
Do you use a switch? Flow Control is in the switch but only if you have a managed one.
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If you do not get the slow sample rate change when the dac is usb connected to the core we can be sure it is the network (or Zen). But usually is the network
Just to explain, here is what I have: The ISP modern/router → cable to a switch → two cables, one for the core and one for Zen Stream. Roon remotes can be fine on WiFi
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Roon does not function properly when the computer core is on WiFi. It must be a wired Ethernet connection. If on WiFi you may experience all sorts of oddities.
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Nothing as far as I’m concerned and this for more than 3 years! The core is connected to a wifi mesh box. My NAS is connected to another mesh box… a joy and a perfect galvanic isolation !
And then a direct connection from the core to the ZenStream (ethernet) without going through a swich (modern cards manage cross connections).
Roon’s issues over WiFi have been extensively documented. Roon themselves recommends a wired connection. That’s not to say that there are always issues, but the WiFi issues are very common and is the first place to look when trouble shooting.
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Yes, I did wire the M1 mini, but it was exactly the same, no difference at all. There is a simple switch (Netgear GS 105) but I don’t think there’s any management possible.
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Is without management. so it is ok.
Pls try to connect your dac directly to your m1 core. To see the difference. If the same then is Roon or your dac. Where are your files saved (m1 drive, usb to m1, NAS, other comp)?
If it is ok usb direct and only when using zen stream there is the short skipped sound you will have to troubleshoot the zen. Update to the latest supported firmware, try roon only mode or maybe other tweaks.
I have some ALAC files, my system is a bit different but not that much. Roon plays to HQP and HQP to Zen Stream in NAA only mode. My few ALACs are on a NAS or on the local hard of m1 mini. Unfortunately the files are some keyboard sonatas with gaps between them (no gapless files) but I can feel no gap or skipped sound, I have a lag in the Roon interface (when playing from NAS) - sound is starting to play and roon is still at 0:00 and jumps to 0:02 (and the waveform is updated only at 0:07).
Hope we will find the problem
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Connecting directly to the M1 Core makes it worse. Zen is updated to the latest firmware. The Zen is Roon only Mode. All my files are on a fast SSD drive connected to the core. I have set Resync Delay to 3000ms and so far it goes very well. I don’t think it is a Roon thing only, it also happens with AV. I will order a Coax cable and see if it makes any difference, because I strongly suspect the USB DAC inside the amplifier, which is otherwise very good sounding.As said, with Resync at 3000ms it works fine now. So for now I will wait the arrival of the coax and see if there is any difference…
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