This sets Zen Stream price-wise slightly above some DIY-focused offerings based on different variations of RPi and at the same time well below the vast majority of other streamers that operate strictly in the digital domain. For example, the iFi’s Neo Stream (albeit with built-in DAC, and it just received that prestigious EISA Award) costs a premium 1299 USD. The new Matrix Audio Element S (this one adds a small screen and I2S output into the mix) will also be well above the 1K mark. And, for the sake of a comparisons, the RPi with a dedicated HAT would be somewhere just below the price of the Zen Stream. This would also mean, that – at least on paper – this particular iFi Audio offering should be seen almost as a bargain. And not only for those that look to upgrade their DAC with the streaming functionality, but also – which is no less of importance – those that want a dedicated digital front-end without breaking the bank.
Then there’s the other angle – one could say that all digital transports sound the same, since they basically move bits that are ones and zeros, that are inherently digital in their nature. So, basically – they all sound the same. Or do they? Before we answer to that particular question, just for the sake of clarity, let’s take a look at what’s under to hood in more detail. And also in case if there’s really a perceivable sonic difference between Zen Stream and, say, your usual laptop – then we might have a clue where it’s from.
Hardware side
The main processing is done in the 64-bit ARM Cortex CPU, however this is where all the familiarities end, since everything around that is actually build for audio. As for the digital (USB and S/PDIF) outputs of Zen Stream – they are both filtered:
“Active Noise Cancellation II is used on the 5V power supply output of the USB sockets. It reduces power supply noise actively in a similar way to its use in iFi power supplies. The S/PDIF output incorporates iPurifier technology which retimes the output for minimum jitter. Jitter is known to have an influence on sound quality.”
Moreover, we have a dedicated femto-clock, low-noise LDO (low-dropout) regulators and many small parts dedicated for audio, like capacitors and low ESR resistors. So, on this end we are all covered. As for the software-side, this is where things start getting really interesting.
iFi Audio Zen Stream – functionality in-depth
As mentioned above, the iFi Audio Zen stream is a pure digital transport. This means that it doesn’t have any DAC integrated that would convert the incoming data from digital to analogue in any way. There can be only one situation where it can actually alter the signal that it passes further in audio chain. This would be when being in an All-In-One mode (more on that below) we set the volume control to “Software” and use the music player that is integrated in Zen Stream software and accessible through web browser. In that player we have a volume slider that will allow is – when activated – to control the volume in the digital domain.