Yeah…customer service isn’t their strong suit.
I just want people to be aware in case they buy one and need any help, I kept my unit in hopes they will fix it in time, not sure that was the greatest of choices but oh well.
The issue has not been clear to me. What is the best? 12v or 15v?
I don’t think there’s a clear winner, at least in my experience. The ipower x’s I tried all sounded a bit flat to me no matter the voltage and I’ve tried all three voltage options, 9v, 12v, and 15v. Currently using a 15v sbooster and it sounds fantastic, hard to say if it would sound the same with a 12v sbooster, but I suspect it would. I think it’s more a case of the quality of the power being fed into the unit than the specific voltage - although some with adjustable voltage LPSs claim otherwise. If in doubt just go with 15v, but focus on getting quality power.
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The spec says “DC 9V/1.8A-15V/0.8A”. The reason it can tolerate such a large range is because the first thing the PSU see’s is an on-board DC-DC convertor. In other words, any external PSU will make very little difference. Picture from ifi, DC-DC converter lower right:
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As far as I can tell, they only make one type of 15-16v booster. The reason for this range is because it is adjustable to 15v, 16v and 16.5v (not recommended to go above 15v). The amps don’t really matter so long as it’s at least in the suggested range (which the sbooster is above) the unit will draw as much as it needs.
i have asked TREO Electronics in Singapore to issue a refund to Chase Bank in the United States for a unit that i purchased in late July. i have informed them that in the meantime i would like to order a replacement unit. their reply was that there was no need to re-order a replacement unit since they would try and “replicate” the issues i was having with the Zen Stream. i have had issues with this product which it is assumed that it is still in the Beta development stage for 2 months now. i have cited many complaints on various forums that speaks to this. their recalcitrance in simply having me re-order replacement to save some time has left me with little alternative but to as for a total refund once the returned unit arrives to them. i am now out over $200usd. in shipping and import duties and no viable unit.
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Sorry to hear that rudy.
I still haven’t heard from them on my service ticket even after multiple complaints to their customer service reps online. It’s a horribly run company.
Works great for Roon though for most people and I can see how that is fine for the people here, makes sense but if you haven’t bought one yet, why support them? Buy a pi, buy a bluenote node, don’t support these people.
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Sorry it didn’t work out Rudy, Hifi can be a crapshoot sometimes. I too had to eat a couple of lemons in my journey.
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Looks like this is not going to be for me , too buggy from what I am getting from on here. Will leave this alone until it’s more mature. Not sure on ifi from my experience with their support for by Nano BL and I don’t want to be a beta tester.
iFi just had audiocircle clean up all the complaints going on in there, so that should tell you more about the company they are. They pay to have a community on there and so they can make the calls to have complaints removed. Pretty sad though.
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That is sad indeed
Sucks to hear about these things, but I completely understand. I was on the verge of sending the unit back a couple of times at the start but managed to work through the kinks and get it running smoothly. I only use tidal connect which has been reliable, but depending on the desired feature the user may have a completely different experience.
That said, setting my current satisfaction with the unit aside, I do think they rolled the unit out rather quickly. I hope it doesn’t cost them sales in the long run and cause a disincentive for further development since it really does show a lot of promise as being THE streamer in that price range.
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at this point i think i will just go for the refund. i will miss Roon and all the music i discovered streaming. i think it is better to cut my losses. unfortunately it seems that TREO in Singapore will not refund my money and i will have to ask my bank to fight them. this is not uncommon in Asia where “face” is everything and some retailers will not admit that the products they sell could be at fault unlike the west where the customer come first.
try and say anything negative about the Zen Stream having issues on HeadFi site it’s one big IFI fan club, an echo chamber of confirmation biases. very difficult to raise an issue without being excoriated and labeled a troll while trying to get some answers.
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That’s too bad. I’ll stay far away from that then…
I had a similar experience there for posting my impressions of having an iBasso DX160 dap which was less than stellar. Got accused of trolling and not owning one, some people are just brand biased, that also happens here as well to some extent. It’s not all bad over there though for the most part its perfectly civil.
This thread is not a great advert for the company or that device. One to avoid.
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Grab a Pi2aes instead.
Sits on a PI4, and sounds excellent indeed.
I would recommend partnering with a LPS, its easy to modify for 5v.
This is my unit with the mod, before I moved to a multichannel setup.
With Ropieee, you have AES, i2s, Spdif, USB outputs.
Plus Roon, airplay, upnp, Dlna, squeezelite, spotify connect, etc.
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Anthony its a very open and honest thread here, but has become a bit long.
If you use Roon and HQPlayer then it is a fantastic device and most of us will recommend it highly.
If though you want to do lots of casting and Airplay then it is not yet ready for prime time
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