FOSI S3 Balanced Streamer Review

[formdissolve]

Wonder why companies still only use 10/100 ethernet ports* these days. I'm sure the cost to put a gigabit port is negligible, but the "bottom line" costs, etc. might stop them.. I suppose most people use WiFi these days, but I would prefer wired.

It's a "Fine" for me, but wish it had that Gigabit port and supported LDAC.

* 100Mbps ports after overhead max out at around 94.68Mbps or around 11.835 MB/s which I suppose is good enough for the vast majority of CD to High Res streaming, but a faster port could allow for more caching and limit any chance of buffering.

 

[BrooklynNick]

It is fast enough for caching. The limit would be on internal memory. Should be fast enough for any two channel audio except stupid formats like DSD512 and DSD1024.

 

[TheLavenderBaron]

Wonder why companies still only use 10/100 ethernet ports* these days. I'm sure the cost to put a gigabit port is negligible, but the "bottom line" costs, etc. might stop them.. I suppose most people use WiFi these days, but I would prefer wired.

It's a "Fine" for me, but wish it had that Gigabit port and supported LDAC.

* 100Mbps ports after overhead max out at around 94.68Mbps or around 11.835 MB/s which I suppse is good enough for the vast majority of CD to High Res streaming, but a faster port could allow for more caching and limit any chance of buffering.

It is fun to complain but you won't see a difference in real world use. DSD512 is 5.6 MB/s.

 

[BrooklynNick]

It is fun to complain but you won't see a difference in real world use. DSD512 is 5.6 MB/s.

DSD512 is 45 Mbps for stereo. So 100 Mbps ethernet should be fine, but you could have issues if there is other traffic. DSD1024 is 90 Mbps, so 100 Mbps ethernet would likely have dropouts. Anyway, they are pointless formats that no one should use (with the possible exception of people mixing in DSD).

TL;DR: 100 Mbps ethernet is more than enough for lossless PCM stereo and all other stereo audio formats that are commonly used.

 

[Krusty09]

Does anyone know if this device has a mono output?
Thanks.

 

[yuting]

any popping or noises when switching inputs or going to standby? I had issues with popping and high background noise on the fosi zd3 balanced out previously. using genelec connected by xlr

thanks，Our laboratory will test this issue, and currently the laboratory has not found this issue

 

[yuting]

Does anyone know if this device has a mono output?
Thanks.

Thanks，S3 has XLR output, which is a differential output. If the audio source can provide mono output, then mono output can be achieved through XLR. Thank you

 

[Krusty09]

Thanks，S3 has XLR output, which is a differential output. If the audio source can provide mono output, then mono output can be achieved through XLR. Thank you

Hello and thanks for the answer. Just so I understand correctly, it does not or is unable to electronically sum left and right together to make mono?

Thanks again

 

[Joe Smith]

For future models, would be good to add a USB in, to allow easier playing of music files stored on a hard drive, for those of us that don't want to go through UPnP setup and all that entails...

 

[yuting]

For future models, would be good to add a USB in, to allow easier playing of music files stored on a hard drive, for those of us that don't want to go through UPnP setup and all that entails...

yes，we have

 

[yuting]

Hello and thanks for the answer. Just so I understand correctly, it does not or is unable to electronically sum left and right together to make mono?

Thanks again

thanks ,He doesn't support it now, but I'd like to ask, why do you want this feature? When would you use this feature?

 

[Krusty09]

thanks ,He doesn't support it now, but I'd like to ask, why do you want this feature? When would you use this feature?

Well I'm glad you asked. For a lot of people they do distributed audio both residentially and commercially and for that speakers are not close so you can't do stereo as if speakers are 20 ft apart your only gonna here the left side of the track and in another speaker only the right side of the track. I think it's a great feature and makes people lives a little easier when it's available.

Thanks

 

[babadono]

View attachment 530384View attachment 530385View attachment 530386hello，everyone，According to S3’s publicly announced optimization plan, the following features were completed in April: Qobuz Connect integration, addition of a 10-band equalizer, and support for Chinese and Japanese languages. Internal and external testing has been completed, and the new version (v0.0.243.0xc4876da) has been released and deployed over-the-air (OTA). If no manual update is performed, devices powered on will automatically update to the latest version tomorrow. Thank you！

Man I am tempted to purchase..between this and WiiM Ultra...anyone really make this work with Qobuz? Or still buggy?

 

[aswillman]

I too was sent one of these to have a play with. Please excuse my ramblings, this is more about the ease of use compared to my WiiM (I don’t have any measurement gear). Here is the S3 on the top deck of my rack. Below it the WiiM Ultra, then my Exposure CD player, then my old but faithful ATC CA2. I have some active ATCs as well. The colour is nice but I would prefer either black or silver. I’ve gone off ‘grey’! I know some people have bemoaned the lack of screen but to be honest, I hardly look at my WiiM screen anyway. If it works, it works. The iPad is the most important device for gaining information I feel.

Unboxing the S3, I found it to be well built and compact, slightly lighter than I thought it would be but then it does have an external power supply. I plugged everything in and am using wireless (it connected easily). It also connected easily to the app and was simple to set up. The app is basic but stable - no crashes yet (I am using iOS). I noticed the 5 band PEQ which I didn’t use. First step was to connect through Roon which is what I use for streaming my own ripped and bought files. Currently it is not certified for Roon use so to use it, I used the Airplay protocol.

This works absolutely fine but strictly speaking I suppose I can’t compare it to the WiiM as they are using different processes (RAAT versus AirPlay). Saying that, it all sounded fairly similar with maybe some differences due to volume levels (I think there is a slight difference in the RCA output voltage). Once matched, they disappeared. I am more than happy with the sound and it just ‘worked’. I didn’t test the balanced output of the S3. I don’t have any HiRes stuff. I love my Indie stuff and to be honest, redbook CD has always been good enough for me. Next step was to try AirPlay from my iPad. I renamed the device S3 for recognition.

Again, worked well with no problems. I love this album, a lot quieter than some of my other stuff. Again sounded pretty similar to Roon but I felt the compression was more obvious (I don’t know why Jose Gonzalez is compressed - his guitar playing is amazing without having to be loud and all those ‘bits’ should be used to emphasise this).
Having gone away and come back, I did some more listening. First up was my go to track by Allo Darlin’, We Come From The Same Place, which I listened to via the WiiM. This is beautifully mixed with very little compression I think, sounds almost as it was recorded purely on an 8 track. I did a direct comparison with the S3. Again the WiiM was louder but once I level matched, the S3 sounded very similar. It also functioned without any hitch. From my seat, I was also able to connect to Bluetooth input and stream directly from my phone. Again, it worked flawlessly but sounded typical Bluetooth - just not as good and a bit muddled.

Overall, this is a device that functions as designed. The app connects regularly and doesn’t crash, the device is seen in Roon with no issues, and it sounds fine (no obvious differences between it and my WiiM bar levels). It will be good once it gets Roon certification, mainly for ease of use. Would I swap it out for my WiiM? Probably not as I think the WiiM is a great device for the money. The S3 worked as designed though

 

[yuting]

Man I am tempted to purchase..between this and WiiM Ultra...anyone really make this work with Qobuz? Or still buggy?

thanks，Qobuz should be fine, as our internal lab has conducted continuous testing for about a week, and we haven't received any abnormal feedback from users who have upgraded for the time being.

 

[babadono]

Cool. I was hoping you would see and respond to my post @yuting

 

[Krusty09]

Does anyone know if this unit supports tunein radio?

Thanks

 

[Laserjock]

thanks ,He doesn't support it now, but I'd like to ask, why do you want this feature? When would you use this feature?

Pro audio gear and outdoor audio as well.

Edit: Wiim Pro Plus iOS screenshots

 

[Shrek6]

I’m assuming this has much better latency than the WiiM products? That’s the biggest issue I have with them.

 

[Shrek6]

Not sure why someone would choose this when RPi5/Moode supports more streaming options and offers the ability to plug in a USB stick and stream local music with a fantastic album interface while also supporting UPnP?

RPI5/Moode supports more high resolution formats and includes software music playback options this streamer will never offer. Once you use RPi5/Moode its hard to be satisfied with the limitations of other streaming boxes.

Moode is indeed awesome. There’s a whole thread about it here

I used to use it on my RPi4 before switching to a WiiM Amp Ultra. The WiiM can enter standby, RPi/moode cant, and since you’re using RPi5, that’s drawing a decent amount of power at idle. It also is harder to add / integrate a subwoofer with moode. I found moode to be somewhat unreliable, which is probably to be expected for an open source project; I remember their Spotify connect breaking almost immediately after I first started using it.