![]() On the left side of the front panel are a small on/off button, a tiny LED that glows white when the unit is powered up, and a larger LED that glows different colors to indicate network status. For its price, the Zen Stream has impressive build quality, with brushed-aluminum front and rear panels inset into a curved black aluminum shell that bows outward toward the top. It measures 6.2″W × 1.4″H × 3.9″D, not including cables, connectors, or Wi-Fi antenna, and weighs 1.14 pounds. The Zen Stream has the same funky styling as other Zen-series components. You can also play music from network drives or a USB drive connected to the Zen Stream, controlling playback from the iFi Stream app or from the Zen Stream’s own web interface. But the Zen Stream’s software suite already includes Roon Bridge, so Roon will see the Zen Stream and a connected DAC as a playback device, and stream to it using its RAAT (Roon Advanced Audio Transport) protocol. It also supports UPnP/DLNA, so you can send music from a UPnP-capable music player app-such as Audirvana Plus on a PC or Mac, or mConnect on an Android device-and NAA (Network Audio Adapter), for streaming from computers running Signalyst HQPlayer software.Īccording to iFi, support for Google Chromecast is pending so is Roon Ready certification. It supports Spotify Connect and Tidal Connect, so you can cue up music from the apps for those services, and transfer playback to the Zen Stream. Its software suite includes an open-source Apple AirPlay emulator called Shairport Sync, so you can stream to the Zen Stream from any app on an i-device or Mac, or from an iTunes library on a PC. The Zen Stream doesn’t support every streaming protocol under the sun, but it supports most of them. The Zen Stream can add streaming capability to any DAC with a coaxial or USB input. Many audiophiles already own a DAC for playing digital audio from physical media, or from local and network drives. And if you’re streaming from Spotify or Tidal, or from any music app on an iOS device, it’s just as convenient as simply using Bluetooth. ![]() ![]() When connected to such a system, the Zen Stream can deliver better sound quality than the built-in Bluetooth. In addition to wired digital inputs, many modern music systems have built-in Bluetooth, for convenient streaming from a mobile device. But as I have found, there are many other applications for this versatile little component. Add a pair of powered speakers, and you’d have a very nice Simplifi’d desktop audio system. The most natural partner for the Zen Stream is the Zen DAC V2. IFi’s latest Zen-series component is the Zen Stream network streamer ($399). These include the Zen Blue V2 Bluetooth DAC ($189, all prices in USD unless noted otherwise), Zen DAC V2 DAC-headphone amp ($189), Zen Phono MM/MC phono stage ($199), and Zen Can balanced headphone amp ($199). Irk will release their debut album ‘Recipes from the Bible’ in December.In the past few years, UK-based iFi Audio has introduced an impressive series of compact, affordable components under its Zen sub-brand. What I have, hopefully, just modelled to you, dear audience, is the Irk experience, and this new, wonderfully dirt-smattered gem of intense, groovy madness – plucked, may I say, from the Leeds noisy boys upcoming debut “recipes from the bible” – complimented superbly by Pstl Cstl productions’ strobing, claustrophobic riot of a video wrapped up in retro gaming pastiche, should prove no less of a trip. ![]() You thank fate for allowing you this experience, sit back and, taking it all in, enjoy. Ah? Actually, you realise, it’s all quite beautiful. Head, still feeling as though thoroughly spadethrashed, begins to nod. Now the mobsters are screeching at you buuuut what’s that? You catch a groove: the lopsided rhythm of the roundabouts rotation. Snakes? (The thugs have thrown in some snakes). Life becomes an intense blur of sight and sound. Limpframed, the masked men drag you briskly to the roundabout and, in summoning every possible splodge of energy buried in their collective, ill-gotten muscle mass, thrust you to a circular oblivion. Feet fumbling in vain, you collapse to the rubber floor. Children scramble, tiny forms swarming, terrified, towards exits far below, but your vantage point leaves no such easy escape. Yet, just as perfection threatens to rear its angel face, violence taints this world: dismounting motorbikes, a mob of balaclava-boasting, black-clad colossuses storm the scene. Nestled high, in damp climbing frame arms, everything expands outwards before you: skies, pastel blue and jewelled with oddly handsome birds, stroking clouds, formed into trivial shapes – solely for your pleasure, a comely canvas for playground pastiches of children and slides and children on slides.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |