Ifi Zen Streamer plus upgraded power supply - the streamer to beat??


Hi Fellow Audiophile nerds,

I know everyone likes to put a plug in for whatever products they happen to have in their system. I'm no better. But, I thought it would be worth sharing my experience with the ifi Zen Stream paired with an upgraded linear power supply, because it sounds great and seems like a really good value for what you get.

The ifi Zen stream is a small device, purpose built, with USB output. It cost me $400 USD on Amazon. Has been favorably reviewed by many including Absolute Sound, Audio Excellence Canada, and others. Some reviewers mentioned issues connecting to wifi, but I haven't had any problems. Ifi claims the product downloads firmware updates automatically. Streaming via Tidal Connect has been rock solid for me thus far.

I added a linear power supply from a British company called McRU - recommended by the British Audiophile. McRU makes a power supply for the Zen Stream and it costs around $350. 

So, with this $750 combination, it seems I have a streamer with most of the features that you would find in high-end streamers from Auralic or Aurendor, and they retail from something like $3500 and way up. What I don't yet have is I2S output and a really good internal clock to reduce jitter before going into my DAC. But, Denafrips offers 3 digital to digital units, with their entry level Iris going for about $550 USD. So that's another option for those wanting to improve performance further.

How does it all sound? Going from a Bluesound Node 2i using coaxial output into a Denafrips Ares II, to the Zen stream with upgraded power supply USB output into the Denafrips Ares II the upgrade was very significant. More clarity, darker (less noisy) background, better instrument separation, and overall the sound seems to have a bit more weight to it.

Just thought I'd share this, and would love to hear others' opinions and experiences. 

 

joshindc

This is a great thread. I've just started building a digital system and my first purchase was the Zen Stream and so far I've been really impressed. I'm feeding it with a 15v iPower X from a good Power Conditioner with a couple of AC iPurifiers plugged in.

I've been down a deep rabbit hole with Ethernet and tried all sorts of expensive components (EE 8 Switch, SotM iSO CAT 7, Audioquest, Chord and SotM cables) and not-so-expensive (Cisco 2960, SFPs, 10Gtek FMCs etc.). Try as I may I can't beat the sound from a solid Wi-Fi connection to the Zen Stream!

My current DAC is the Zen DAC v2 (I know, it's really cheap but it sounds really good to my ears!) I've tried several USB cables from Wireworld and the ifi Mercury 3. I'm now using the stock USB cable supplied with the DAC and an ifi iPurifier 3. The iPurifier 3 makes a massive difference to SQ and with it plugged in the more expensive USB cables are redundant.

With some good quality RCA cables to a Topping PA5 and some lovely speaker cables to some great Wharfedale speakers, I'm actually at a loss on what I might improve!

The DAC is an obvious area of improvement and I might audition a Zen DAC Signature v2 and a Denafrips Ares II to see if they make any audible difference.

It's reassuring to know that the Zen Stream is potentially "as good" as some of the far more expensive models as I had my eye on the Auralic Ares G1.1 but that is quite a significant cost uplift and doesn't offer MQA decoding.

If ifi can offer native Qobuz integration to the Zen Stream that would be a game changer as I really want to try Qobuz but the current need for a third-party app kills it for me.

@jabbaman I wouldn’t let a 3rd party app stop you.  MConnect HD is only $5.99 and works pretty much as well as the Qobuz site.  

@soix - I gave MConnect HD a try today with a Qobuz free trial and my personal view is that:

1. I can't hear a difference between Qobuz Hi-Fi and Tidal Hi-Fi (I am old so my hearing is maybe not able to discern the finer points between the two formats).

2. The MConnect HD UX and UI is awful compared to the native Apple and Windows Tidal app. I'm not paying for something that utterly terrible so I've requested a refund from the Apple Store.

3. The Qobux app itself also lags behind the Tidal app in terms of ease of use, navigation and the way it presents search results. The algorithms in Tidal are spot on.

I'm switching to a Denafrips Ares II so I'm leaving MQA in the rear-view mirror (partly, the Zen Stream will still unfold MQA) but Tidal Hi-Fi is pretty good and one day I hope Spotify comes to the Hi-Res party!

Obviously, this is just my opinion based on what ticks my boxes! It's wonderful that we have all these options and choices though isn't it?

curious to know how the Zen Stream would compare to the Bluesound Node with the PD Creative power supply upgrade.