FOSI S3 Balanced Streamer Review

[perceptionist]

Thanks, we are also testing this, but we are very sorry that for the sold items, you may need to refer to the instruction manual;

My unit was pre paired with another remote (for testing, I guess), and it took some time to figure out that I should replace it with a new one after seeing a remote is paired but the remote in my hand isn't functional, which could be avoided.

 

[babadono]

I posted this in the S3 Problems thread but I am repeating here for more (hopefully) visibility:

OK here goes....I cannot state what exactly is going on but it seems when I use my laptop to control my Qobuz stream to the S3 it works pretty flawlessly. But when using Qobuz Connect on my phone the stream is very intermittent. I do not understand what the difference is. I am just telling the S3 to stream the same content but from a different control. Any ides what may be going on?
does my network and/or ISP just suck? Should I query Qobuz themselves? or????
Help

 

[babadono]

ok messing with this more......Laptop is also intermittent although less so.....so what this means is my internet connection is marginal correct? I mean how much BW is needed to stream audio at 24 bits 96kHz?
I only have one more option to improve where I live and that is to switch from ViaSat to Starlink. Is this going to help....??
I guess I should try a wired connection to the S3 and see if it might be my home wifi and not the ISP that is limiting the BW

 

[LumenMedia]

ok messing with this more......Laptop is also intermittent although less so.....so what this means is my internet connection is marginal correct? I mean how much BW is needed to stream audio at 24 bits 96kHz?
I only have one more option to improve where I live and that is to switch from ViaSat to Starlink. Is this going to help....??
I guess I should try a wired connection to the S3 and see if it might be my home wifi and not the ISP that is limiting the BW

How your problems with your ISP related to the reliability of S3? My Qobuz integration works flawlessly. Use Speedtest app to check your ping and speed of internet connection and check it in exact location of your Fosi streamer.

 

[babadono]

so I bought a netgear switch to connect myS3 with because of the problems I am experiencing with wireless...now the qobuz app on my laptop or phone cannot find the S3. Switched back to wireless and can't find it that way anymore either. With either connection I can ping the IP address that is assigned by the FOSI S3 app. Is this REALLY this hard? What am I doing wrong? I really think now this is a Qobuz problem. And getting a hold of them is a joke.

 

[LumenMedia]

so I bought a netgear switch to connect myS3 with because of the problems I am experiencing with wireless...now the qobuz app on my laptop or phone cannot find the S3. Switched back to wireless and can't find it that way anymore either. With either connection I can ping the IP address that is assigned by the FOSI S3 app. Is this REALLY this hard? What am I doing wrong? I really think now this is a Qobuz problem. And getting a hold of them is a joke.

Both your phone or whatever you use to control your streamer and S3 must be in the same network

 

[KEFCarver]

NAS update- I just wanted to share that Fosi's latest firmware update (6/17) solved part of the NAS (UPnP) 31 folder/song limit. It makes it usable to listen to my NAS music, which is very welcome. The problem they still have is that it causes my Western Digital NAS drive to totally hang up, requiring me unplug the power to it, if I do a search for a group or artist. They asked for a video of the problem & error message, so hopefully they will find a solution. Since my music is organized in folders by artist, the search function is not really something that I use, but discovered it when it only displayed 31 items.

 

[yuting]

NAS update- I just wanted to share that Fosi's latest firmware update (6/17) solved part of the NAS (UPnP) 31 folder/song limit. It makes it usable to listen to my NAS music, which is very welcome. The problem they still have is that it causes my Western Digital NAS drive to totally hang up, requiring me unplug the power to it, if I do a search for a group or artist. They asked for a video of the problem & error message, so hopefully they will find a solution. Since my music is organized in folders by artist, the search function is not really something that I use, but discovered it when it only displayed 31 items.

thanks，Yes, after you reported this issue some time ago, I immediately asked our R&D team to investigate and resolve it. I will always pay attention to your feedback, forward it to our R&D engineers, and resolve it through OTA. If you have any issues, you can leave a message here or reply to me. Thank you!

 

[KEFCarver]

thanks，Yes, after you reported this issue some time ago, I immediately asked our R&D team to investigate and resolve it. I will always pay attention to your feedback, forward it to our R&D engineers, and resolve it through OTA. If you have any issues, you can leave a message here or reply to me. Thank you!

I have been working with Lim in the marketing group- they have the video and I am guessing they will figure it out. Thanks for watching here as well.

 

[jareinertson]

NAS update- I just wanted to share that Fosi's latest firmware update (6/17) solved part of the NAS (UPnP) 31 folder/song limit. It makes it usable to listen to my NAS music, which is very welcome. The problem they still have is that it causes my Western Digital NAS drive to totally hang up, requiring me unplug the power to it, if I do a search for a group or artist. They asked for a video of the problem & error message, so hopefully they will find a solution. Since my music is organized in folders by artist, the search function is not really something that I use, but discovered it when it only displayed 31 items.

Thanks for the update. If you can, please post when you have an update fix for the WD NAS lockup issue. As a fellow WD user I am am interested. Thanks.

 

[yuting]

Thanks for the update. If you can, please post when you have an update fix for the WD NAS lockup issue. As a fellow WD user I am am interested. Thanks.

thanks, S3 only acts as a streaming media player to access and play files on the NAS, without performing operations such as locking. The locking issue you mentioned should have little to do with S3, and currently we haven't received such feedback from other users. Thank you!

 

[jareinertson]

thanks, S3 only acts as a streaming media player to access and play files on the NAS, without performing operations such as locking. The locking issue you mentioned should have little to do with S3, and currently we haven't received such feedback from other users. Thank you!

Thank you!
Hopefully KEFCarver’s W.D. issue will get resolved.

 

[yuting]

hello,every one,Our new APP is ready and we are now starting the internal user testing. Through this internal testing, we hope everyone can help us identify some bugs, and we will fix them. Users interested in participating in our internal testing, please leave a message for me, and I will send you a private message to tell you the address of the internal testing program. The product development and improvement of Fosi Streaming Media cannot be achieved without everyone's support. Through everyone's feedback, our products will get better and better. Thank you all for your support!

 

[ccrnnr9@]

Users interested in participating in our internal testing, please leave a message for me, and I will send you a private message to tell you the address of the internal testing

Hey yuting, I actually just received my s3 yesterday. I’d be interested in joining.

On a separate note as a relative streaming newb (primarily vinyl/analog here) I’d hoped to be able to have the s3 integrated with my Apple TV for occasional wired streaming play from Apple Music from my tv and primarily as seemless playback for watching tv. Currently have tv e-arc > s3 e arc input and Apple TV > second hdmi port on tv and unfortunately that’s not working.

My primary reason for hoping the s3 would be a working option is I can bypass my analog setup and have the s3 run into the xlr input on my 3e audio a7 amp which will auto detect signal and not have to both with switching inputs on my analog setup (vinyl/cd > NAD 1300 > a7 via rca). I have a feeling I’ve miscalculated…

 

[formdissolve]

Hey yuting, I actually just received my s3 yesterday. I’d be interested in joining.

On a separate note as a relative streaming newb (primarily vinyl/analog here) I’d hoped to be able to have the s3 integrated with my Apple TV for occasional wired streaming play from Apple Music from my tv and primarily as seemless playback for watching tv. Currently have tv e-arc > s3 e arc input and Apple TV > second hdmi port on tv and unfortunately that’s not working.

My primary reason for hoping the s3 would be a working option is I can bypass my analog setup and have the s3 run into the xlr input on my 3e audio a7 amp which will auto detect signal and not have to both with switching inputs on my analog setup (vinyl/cd > NAD 1300 > a7 via rca). I have a feeling I’ve miscalculated…

I do just that via my LG. On the TV, make sure the HDMI eArc is set to PCM and eArc enabled. Then make sure ARC is set as the sound output on the TV. On the Fosi, make sure HDMI input is selected and volume is up/not muted (you can select on the remote or on the app/web browser). Also make sure the HDMI cable from the ARC port is connected to the Fosi.

 

[formdissolve]

hello,every one,Our new APP is ready and we are now starting the internal user testing. Through this internal testing, we hope everyone can help us identify some bugs, and we will fix them. Users interested in participating in our internal testing, please leave a message for me, and I will send you a private message to tell you the address of the internal testing program. The product development and improvement of Fosi Streaming Media cannot be achieved without everyone's support. Through everyone's feedback, our products will get better and better. Thank you all for your support!
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One feature that would be nice is to display both the sample rate and bit depth on HDMI eARC input. Thanks!

 

[ccrnnr9@]

I do just that via my LG. On the TV, make sure the HDMI eArc is set to PCM and eArc enabled. Then make sure ARC is set as the sound output on the TV. On the Fosi, make sure HDMI input is selected and volume is up/not muted (you can select on the remote or on the app/web browser). Also make sure the HDMI cable from the ARC port is connected to the Fosi.

Thanks for this - I’ll give it another go this evening. Didn’t have too much time to play with it last night. I guess my misunderstanding was hoping that having the Apple TV on the second hdmi port that it would still be able to operate but seems like maybe that’s not the case. For the most part I haven’t had any issues with airplay but I like the idea of a full wired connnection with the Apple TV and my amp + tv. That my the main motivation behind trying the S3.

 

[CptKaos]

Thanks for this - I’ll give it another go this evening. Didn’t have too much time to play with it last night. I guess my misunderstanding was hoping that having the Apple TV on the second hdmi port that it would still be able to operate but seems like maybe that’s not the case. For the most part I haven’t had any issues with airplay but I like the idea of a full wired connnection with the Apple TV and my amp + tv. That my the main motivation behind trying the S3.

my S3 is connected to TV via HDMI/ARC and XLR to ZP3 preamp then XLR to V3 Mono amps, everything sleeps and wakes properly when TV is turned on and auto switches to network input when a streaming input is activated for music

 

[ccrnnr9@]

my S3 is connected to TV via HDMI/ARC and XLR to ZP3 preamp then XLR to V3 Mono amps, everything sleeps and wakes properly when TV is turned on and auto switches to network input when a streaming input is activated for music

I’m guessing the issue is that it won’t interface with the Apple TV - the S3 now occupies the single e-arc slot on my Hisense TV that the Apple TV 4K used to occupy. In case you aren’t familiar the Apple TV is a video/media streamer akin to a Roku or fire stick in a way.

 

[formdissolve]

I’m guessing the issue is that it won’t interface with the Apple TV - the S3 now occupies the single e-arc slot on my Hisense TV that the Apple TV 4K used to occupy. In case you aren’t familiar the Apple TV is a video/media streamer akin to a Roku or fire stick in a way.

It should work on all HDMI ports (all devices connected to the TV). If I select the Apple TV, it outputs via eARC to the Fosi. If I switch to HDMI input 1 which is my blu-ray player, the TV will also output the audio from the eARC port to the Fosi. The TV will output audio from any device connected to the open HDMI ports on the TV to the Fosi.

Random Hisense instructions that may help: "To set up eARC audio on your Hisense TV, connect the TV's HDMI eARC port to your soundbar's HDMI eARC (or in this case, the Fosi) port using a high-speed HDMI cable, then go to Settings > Display & Sound > Audio Output and select eARC. Make sure to enable CEC control in the HDMI settings for proper communication between devices." I'd also make sure the audio is PCM if possible (auto might not figure it out correctly). Good luck!