Interesting that you mention that Matrix—I’ve been curious about it for awhile. Would you mind sharing what it offers over the Zen Stream? I know it has its own DAC, which I wouldn’t need—but otherwise?
It is an all in one unit with a screen and multiple inputs and outputs.
I had strict rules from the wife on what was acceptable for the living room next to the main 4 seater settee (it ticked all the boxes and makes a great stand for the Google home max display)
It has Airplay, SPDIF and optical input as well as RCA in, so has many options for feeding the music (including BT AptX HD).
It also has balanced XLR and RCA Out and it was my plan to use these XLR with a decent amplifier that was planned for purchase next year.
I attached a chromecast audio to the optical so it now covers all basis that I might need (along with an excellent small remote control).
Never had a bad moment with it, bought it the day after it was finally Roon Ready and like the Zen Dac it will run balanced 4.4 pentacon and 6.35 unbalanced headphone outs.
It has plenty of power for any of my headphones so I have been extremely happy with it.
Very different to the Zen Stream that is the little engine that can, and at the price point is wonderful device but iFi are all over the place with technical and marketing.
So last week I saw a really good offer on an Arcam SA30 class A/G amplifier that is Roon Ready and was on my shortlist to review and I bought it and burning it in now. So I won’t need to run those long RCA/XLR cables to my next amplifier after all.
But it still has the WAF covered so I will probably use it as my headphone out though the Arcam can also do that.
No chance of the wife allowing the Zen stack in the living room though so unlikely to be swapped 
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I actually did read the quick start guide. Well looked at the images having read all 1900+ posts here. Which were WAY more useful comments.
I had to factory reset the device before it would even attempt to check for a new version. I had to reset the device once the new version was updated.
Not remembering that pushing the lights turns them off cost me half an hour asking WTAF, but someone in here mentioned it once.
I still can’t get it to work in Roon exclusive mode or using Roon in AIO mode.
I have it working with NAA and walked away from it quickly so as to not confuse it or me to be honest.
Not a user-friendly install at all. Mad props to the users here who fought it and won.
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Are you a madman…. Well you are still here so no need to answer
So this was answered by @Steven_Klemow and is what I was talking about earlier as it defaults to SPDIF output in Roon only mode. You need to go to Settings->Audio and click on the device info text and it will give you the options to change it via a web page. That is how I have it set now.
This is all new in the last 2 weeks so all getting our heads around it still
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I have tried that, set it to usb, it even finds and names my dac to make it easier.
I hit play.
I’m sure music will play anytime now as there are no errors.
No . . . nothing? Time isn’t even moving?
Weird. I found A way. So I’ve pulled up for now. I’ll go Don Quixote on it soon enough.
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I’m sorry you’re having this kind of trouble. I’ll send you a PM with my protocol of how to set it up from factory settings. One thing I can say is that things are so much easier if you can run Ethernet to it, but if not wifi worked fine for me too. It’s just that with Ethernet you can plug it right in and skip all the associated setup.
Just for clarification, my setup time from factory to perfect Roon integration via USB is about 3-4 minutes max.
Thanks for the detailed explanation Michael! Would you say that in the setting of having an existing DAC and amp, that the Matrix streaming functions alone are on par with the ZS, or are there audible advantages and associated features that could have an audible impact?
Steven I like the DAC in the MA very much and it does a great job of DSD128 (the maximum for Roon) though it handles DSD512 through a Pi. It just creates a wonderful sound especially with my Hifiman Anandas.
As an all in one it is superb, though for those that like to swap things around (including me) having a Zen and being able to swap out DACs and headphone amps has many advantages. So I like having access to both.
I think maybe a stream with a FIIO K7 PRO would also be a killer combination and that would have much more power and that’s why people still buy separates as well
I’m in the process of writing up setup instructions for future users. But I think it’s worth mentioning that iFi has an app (at least on the iOS App Store) that walks you through the entire process of setting up Wi-Fi, and it works. Once you have the unit connected to Wi-Fi, I recommend that you browse to the unit’s network settings and turn the hot spot radio off.
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The matrix mini i3 pro at least has a high output impedance.
So not Ideal with low impedance headphones. It’s no Problem with planar magnetic Headphones.
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That is exactly what I bought the second pair for.
I originally bought it to be a pre amp that could drive headphone, but it worked so well with the Sundara’s I bought the Ananda’s
Thanks Michael—I’m mainly wondering if there is anything I’m missing with the ZS purely as a streamer and Roon endpoint that might be offered by the Matrix. Specifically audio quality-wise, as I use Roon as my GUI. I know it has an IIS output as well as USB-C, although IIS doesn’t pass MQA so I would be using USB anyway. Any chance it sounds superior to you, just the streamer part? Does it offer higher sample rates like PCM 786 or DSD 512, or is it the same as the ZS?
How low is low? And shouldn’t that only apply to the built-in headphone amp, not with the device connected via USB to an external DAC and amp? I’d only be using it for its steaming functions—and it would be a temptation if it went beyond the ZS to DSD 512 and PCM 786. The specs say its DAC handles those sampling rates, but doesn’t specify what the streamer will output via USB…
It offers DSD512 and PCM768 though not in Roon
From memory they are limited to DSD128 and PCM384
I Have used DSD512 AND PCM768 through USB, but can not say it was audibly better.
I have never used the IIS as I have no need, the usb c inputs works great (I have that running off a Pi through NAA but not used it recently), as do the digital and analogue ins, so it is more of a streamer/pre amp as it has more input options.
But I would say SQ wise the stream is up there once you select your DAC and amp etc. as we know it is a very capable device.
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Output impedance matters only for headphone amp. If U use it as streamer or as pre-amp it is of no concern to you.
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No, turn the switch to NAA exclusive mode instead! This is the way I always use my Zen Stream.
Roon uses HQPlayer as playback engine and from there on, it is up to HQPlayer.
Jussi you mis understood the context, he wanted to use Roon through RAAT and use HQPlayer through NAA while in Roon only mode.
That’s what I was explaining can’t be done in Roon only mode
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And you cannot use Roon with HQPlayer at the same time with some other Roon endpoint. Or do you mean HQPlayer standalone without Roon?
The poster had put the device in Roon only mode and wanted to test HQP which would not work.
So I was explaining that if wanted to be able to test both interchangeably then he would want to go to AIO mode and then turn off the services that he didn’t want to use to reduce memory/CPU usage.
Hopefully this makes sense
OK, I see. You need to close/restart HQPlayer anyway in that scenario when switching. So it is not so straightforward. As usual, both are anyway exclusively using the output device. Of course a bit less of switching though as you don’t need to touch the network endpoint.
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