Sorry you’ve had this experience with their support team. Their answsers are not always great, but they have responded to every one of my questions within 24 hours.
Thanks, I don’t get it. I’ve been very civil, patient and tried to be understanding but it’s getting to be incredibly frustrating that they won’t do anything about it. Again, I’m guessing they don’t have an answer right now so they are moving on and ignoring people who have these issues.
I am guessing there is also a level of embarrassment at the lack of progress on the other streaming protocols along with a certain amount of denial as to the issues at hand.
As a Roon user I have no complaints, but I also have Tidal, Spotify and AirPlay and they can all be hit and miss if I do try to use them.
Skimming this thread, I’m surprised at the number of Roon users who are having issues with the iFi ZEN Stream. Yes, some of the early units (mine included) shipped with faulty power supplies, which is unfortunate. But, with that issue solved, the unit is the best sounding Roon endpoint for feeding a USB or S/PDIF DAC that I’ve tried, including the Allo USBridge Signature + Shanti, Sonore microRendu, SOtM sMS-200, and others.
For the Roon use case, I do have a few minor quibbles:
- The Linux Kernel they are using ~3 years old, so it does not support Native DSD on some of my more modern USB DACs
- Roon shows nothing past ALSA in the signal path (eg., MQA processing by the DAC). I get a complete signal path on my VitOS for RPi4 endpoints (free), so this is a little disappointing. Likely also due to the old kernel
- PCM rate over USB is limited to 384 kHz when most RPi based endpoints can easily do 32-bits, 768 kHz. Same story for DSD, which is limited to DSD256 vs DSD512 on RPi. I don’t see how this could be a kernel issue since I’m sure I’ve been able to do higher rates with older DietPi installs. This limitation seems a bit arbitrary, but it could be software limits to prevent the unit from exceeding the capabilities of the hardware for reliable operation.
- There are timing issues when grouping USB and S/PDIF outputs into the same zone that cause faint “clicking” and, after extended play, cause streaming to fail.
- I’ve never been able to get the top USB port to do anything useful. Could just be an issue with my copy.
- The two USB ports are too close together. If they were a bit further apart, I’d be able to use my iFi Gemini cables
- The format light (on the right) does not show the correct colors when both outputs are active
- The retro case styling does not match the rest of my gear
To me, these are minor issues, some of which may be fixed by future updates. On the whole, I have no regrets buying it for the Roon use case. I do not have any interest in its other functionality.
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IFi makes good hardware, sometimes promises more than it archives, but their software is pure crap.
Also they promised a roon ready certification on the Zen Stream and only got roon tested.
They also had the pro idsd and I have one, a very good dac sold as a streamer, the provided software for streaming was the worst software I have ever came across.
I think they have good hardware, I still love my pro idsd and the IFi zen stream, but do not count on them to be good on software and I think the roon ready certification could never come.
So let’s see if they realy offer what they promised us on their marketing material and webpage with the coming soon that never arrives.
I saw that, but what how would Roon Ready certification make the ZEN Stream any different than it is today? The only thing I can think of is a more complete signal path.
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Good question. But there must be something, otherwise it would have passed (unless pending).
That, or iFi Audio, themselves, did not understand the difference between Roon Ready and Roon Tested when they announced their plans. 
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New firmware. Just updated and thought maybe I’ll be in luck!
Apple Music sees the iFi finally! Hooks up even and starts playing, green light on stream unit!
No sound.
Hahaha just can’t catch a break. Reset the unit and same thing. Shows it should be playing thru the Stream, green light is on to show signal and no sound.
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What was the new version Aaron, was it 2.29.8 that came out late last week.
I did not see that it improved anything based on my testing
Yes, that was the one. Was hoping they snuck in a change, especially since they haven’t been admitting to issues or helping.
I think it need’s several updates for the non Roon & HQP streaming features.
I expect several months more of pain based on the tiny updates made so far.
Don’t want to sound negative, but at this point I can only recommend the Zen for Roon and HQP
It’s what I bought it for so I am still happy, but it’s more of a warning for prospective purchaser’s looking for that elusive all in one streamer.
Maybe they will get it right for V2
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The future roon ready on their site was the reason I have brought it, and it is a very good sounding product and I have no problems in roon but is not really ready…
What makes me a little disappointed is that IFi have provided me something close but not what they advertise. Bad IFi…
For me is like buying an android phone with an iOS skin and advertising that is the real thing.
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has anyone compared the Lumin U1 Mini to the Zen Stream?
Thought I saw somebody with this issue but the light that shows the quality of the stream (one on the right) went out in mine. Left light is on and when I hit the button on the far right both lights go out and hit it again and only the left light comes back on. Any ideas?
I also submitted another ticket with another email address 2 days ago and haven’t heard a thing from them. Had to give it another try.
Did you have music playing when you pressed the far right button? If not, it’s normal for the right (stream indicator) light switch off. If I press the button while music is playing, both go out and come back on.
Thanks @David_Snyder would have jumped on band wagon and given it a spin but the 3 year old kernel with no support for Native DSD would definitely affect me. Watching thread to see if there is an update to this.
Native DSD works for some of my DACs, like the Gustard X16 and iFi NEO iDSD, but other DACs, like my Khadas Tone2 Pro that work perfectly with native DSD on a RPi4 running VitOS fall back to DoP with the ZEN Stream.
Still, the ZEN Stream sounds great.
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I have Bryston BR-20 which doesn’t do DOP just Native DSD so my Streamer for now an Allo Digione already reverts back to PCM. So I am not going to get into another streamer that is not yet Roon Ready. Using a Pi4 with a ChiFi R-Core LPS if iFi ever gets there LPS does have a 15v output so really would be interesting but with a 3 year old Kernel will probably never be. Like the Allo Katana just never got there.
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Top to flop in 720 posts. They need Roon Ready certification for this thing.
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