Who’s enjoying their SZ tonight? I’m listening to the new Ibukun Sunday album on tidal, just sublime.
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In my system, the ZEN Stream can do no wrong. A Khadas Tone2 Pro DAC is the delicious red filling in my ZEN Stream + THX AAA 789 sandwich. The Tone2 Pro is competent on its own, but the ZS really elevates performance of this stack. Since I’m happy, obviously I’m using Roon instead of other inferior protocols.
#roonlife
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Hi! So just got a used ifi Zen Stream last week and so far loving it! I am connecting it to my Lyngdorf 2170 thru coax and I use Dali Opticon 8s and I only use my 1 gig Ethernet from the Router.
Since I have created activities in Logitech Harmony for movies, music, etc, I was wondering if you keep your ZS in the ON state or do you physically switch it off after every use?
iFi does mention you can add ZS in Harmony, but so far I cant find it there so I have to manually turn the physical button on everytime.
Also is there a way to put the ZS to standby in idle state to save power? Thanks again!
I keep mine off when not in use as it is part of my office headphones setup. I think if it was in my stereo cabinet I would probably leave it on.
Though I noticed with my Matrix Audio it puts itself to sleep through Roon and that’s a nice feature and it’s only 5 second’s or so to turn back on.
Maybe if it ever gets RR certification then maybe that comes along for the ride.
As for Harmony I have that but only for my TV, AV set-up and not for music, but I had not heard that the ZS was working. Great if you could get it working
My Zen Stream also has moments when the right LED is off and is streaming. Restarting the device helps. This is an obvious software error.
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I purchased the STREAM as soon as I could via Amazon, but that was after the firmware was already updated on the units they had in stock, and I haven’t had any dealbreaking issues with it. About the only thing I can complain about is an occasional glitch in Roon playback when music transitions from MQA encoded files to upsampled PCM/DSD. All that plays is white noise, and a quick reset of the DSD algorithm fixes it. (Files are upsampled to DSD64 using Roon and MQA playback is natively decoded through a Gustard X16 DAC, thus not upsampled if anyone else has experienced this and has a workaround). I was happily using Roon with a Chromecast Audio feeding the internal DAC of my Yamaha RX-V6A receiver, but I always wanted to hear 192k files unaltered as the CA won’t pass files over 96k. Since I got the STREAM, I’ve been busy listening to my entire library all over again. The difference in audio quality just flat out blows me away, especially files ripped from factory CDs and upsampled to DSD.
BTW, the Chromecast Audio is now mated to a FiiO D3 DAC and repurposed as a bit-perfect endpoint in my truck. Played through the GM factory Bose system, it sounds pretty kick ass for what it is.
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I own the Zen Stream for 4 month now, absolutely loving it.
After using it with Roon, Tidal connect, and Spotify connect, now I would like to connect a Drive for local files via USB. I tried using a USB-Stick but the streamer does not see the files on the usb stick.
I think I’m doing it wrong, but can’t find anything about it in the manual. Is there any advice on which files-system the usb-drive should be formatted? (I’m using a Mac)
Also is there anything else I should now, when it comes to folder/file structure?
Appreciate any help.
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Glad you are enjoying it.
I would suggest using FAT32 or ExFat for the format of the drive.
MacOS format is proprietary that does not work many other places
I think these days the disk utility allows you to format it ExFat and that would be the best option as it is now Open Source.
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Okay…yeah you thought you were done with me 
I decided that I was sending back my Stream, was going to get a Cambridge cxn but then decided that I would end up wanting to upgrade the DAC in that unit so thought I would just use my node 2i as a streamer and then buy a RME ADI-2 DAC and see how happy I could be.
Got the DAC, hooked it up to the node 2i while I was packing up my Stream to send back. Was very happy with the RME DAC & Node 2i until…yes I was stupid and decided that I like the suffering and heartache and hooked up the Stream out the USB (node is coax or optical only) and that’s when it all just clicked.
The Stream is a TON better sounding than the node 2i, both being used as just streamers with external DAC. Bass was so much cleaner and harder hitting, vocals a tad bit clearer and more focused.
So here I am again, back to keeping this pain in my ass unit until something new comes out that is better. I still can’t trust this unit but I also can’t say no to it!
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You know technically streamers attached to the same dac are supposed to sound the same but the Zen sounds noticeably better than the Node 2i connected to the same dac.
Maybe is a power supply difference, who knows.
Ha ha Aaron good to have you back among us.
I think enough people have commented on the quality of the Zen as a Roon Streamer rather than an anything Streamer.
Here’s to hoping that you have more luck this time.
BTW just got a PowerNode for my living room and got to say it’s not bad with Roon either.
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Thanks @Michael_Harris
I’m sitting here right now listening, looking at my Stream with the right light out and not showing streaming resolution because that’s just what it does once in a while (until you reboot it) and yet enjoying the sound. It’s a buggy bastard.
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Has anyone tried to play files off a flash drive in the ZS? I’m considering converting my CDs to DSD, and on that note, if anyone has software that they know and trust for the process, please feel free to recommend it. Thanks!
I would recommend Roon for this. Roon does a fine job of upsampling to DSD on-the-fly. No need to waste time and storage on converting your CDs.
As others have mentioned dozens of times in this thread, the ZEN Stream kind-of sucks for non-Roon use cases, but it’s an excellent Roon endpoint solution. Just use it for that and you’ll be happy.
Finally, I don’t think the ZEN Stream can even play local DSD files, but someone here will correct me if I’m wrong. I promise to never try to play files off of a flash drive in the ZS myself; I have Roon, so there’s no point!
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I’m making my way to roon, I know I’ll end up there at some point but just getting my feet wet for now. I got the ez cd converter, slick app, gets all of info from the cds cover art etc, pretty easy process. I have some unique cds that can’t be found on steaming platforms so I was going to rip them anyway.
I tried doing it in dsd, I also have a cd transport that up samples to dsd and my conclusion is the same. Dsd sound too buttery, lacks dynamics in my system. My system is fairly smooth so the added smoothness makes it sound really bland. I preferred just ripping to flac instead.
I put all the cds on a 256gb fit drive that was like $60 off amazon. Plugged it into the back of the ZS and it worked flawlessly. The interface is nothing special but it does the job, tracks don’t glitch when they play, gapless etc. Also does dsd.
The sound was really good, I maybe even better than when steaming but jury is still out on that. At the very least I can say it sounds just as good. To me this is a proposition with a lot of value, I can basically ditch a cd transport and sell my cds because the sound is better. I’m still kind of attached to the cds so I don’t want to rush the decision of ditching them.
The one thing that I don’t like is that I don’t think there’s a safe way of ejecting the usb drive from the ZS so when you connect it to the laptop it props you to scan for errors. Maybe there’s some workaround for this.
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George if it is is mounting the USB drive read only mode then pulling out the USB key is no issue.
If you sell your CDs you legally lose the right to keep backup’s of them. Some of us have an attic full of CDs and vinyl that never gets played.
Worth taking your time before jumping in with Roon and make sure you do the trial first and maybe try a month or two on the monthly plan before you jump in.
I’m not sure if I can ever give up cds or vinyl for that matter. I have this irrational fear that if there ever was a prolonged internet outage I’d really regret having sold physical media.
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Ha ha that is the other reason many of us have an attic full of CDs and Vinyl along with other equipment 
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Yes but you ALSO need a method to play said vinyl 
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I have 8 tt’s so I think I’ll be ok on the black stuff for a while
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