FOSI S3 Balanced Streamer Review

[Joe Smith]

I've just been beta testing Fosi's new "lite" streamer that is "just a streamer" - no DAC. It will be a nice option for people who have a DAC they love and want to use in the chain. Not sure when it will be released, but probably later this year. They are also testing now for software improvements. Between WiiM and Fosi, there will be a lot of options for people to pick from.

 

[yuting]

I've just been beta testing Fosi's new "lite" streamer that is "just a streamer" - no DAC. It will be a nice option for people who have a DAC they love and want to use in the chain. Not sure when it will be released, but probably later this year. They are also testing now for software improvements. Between WiiM and Fosi, there will be a lot of options for people to pick from.

thank you，Thank you for testing our products. The S3 lite is already in production and is expected to hit the market by the end of next month.Your feedback is extremely important to us, and we will keep working hard. Thanks again!

 

[Joe Smith]

thank you，Thank you for testing our products. The S3 lite is already in production and is expected to hit the market by the end of next month.Your feedback is extremely important to us, and we will keep working hard. Thanks again!

It’s my pleasure, your company has so many great products. I’m very impressed with the easy setup for all the S3 streamers and the strong WiFi capture.

 

[Chanur]

I might use this as a DAC/streamer for my headphone amp. If I got a separate DAC with a higher Sinad would it even matter or would the Sinad of this device be the maximum ?

 

[yuting]

I might use this as a DAC/streamer for my headphone amp. If I got a separate DAC with a higher Sinad would it even matter or would the Sinad of this device be the maximum ?

thanks! yes .I think it can work

 

[formdissolve]

I might use this as a DAC/streamer for my headphone amp. If I got a separate DAC with a higher Sinad would it even matter or would the Sinad of this device be the maximum ?

You won't notice a difference between 117 SINAD and anything higher. I think it sounds excellent as is, but if you really want to use a different DAC then you can always use Toslink out (limited to 24/192).

 

[Joe Smith]

I might use this as a DAC/streamer for my headphone amp. If I got a separate DAC with a higher Sinad would it even matter or would the Sinad of this device be the maximum ?

Keep in mind the new S3 Lite will be coming out very soon, if you don't want/need the internal DAC. More compact, black, lower cost.

 

[Matias]

Keep in mind the new S3 Lite will be coming out very soon, if you don't want/need the internal DAC. More compact, black, lower cost.

USB audio out?

 

[Joe Smith]

USB audio out?

USB, Optical and Coax all. Oh, and Bluetooth.

 

[Chanur]

You won't notice a difference between 117 SINAD and anything higher. I think it sounds excellent as is, but if you really want to use a different DAC then you can always use Toslink out (limited to 24/192).

Thanks. That's kind of what I expected but wanted to make sure I wasn't really leaving any performance on the table.

@Joe Smith I'd like to use it as a DAC, for the convenience and cleanliness. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't really missing anything by doing so.

Thank you gents!

 

[Joe Smith]

thank you，Thank you for testing our products. The S3 lite is already in production and is expected to hit the market by the end of next month.Your feedback is extremely important to us, and we will keep working hard. Thanks again!

@yuting just wondering, with either the S3 or the S3 Lite, is there a way to see what the sampling rate is that's playing? I'm using my PC to control my Spotify Connect session, but when the S3 is my selected device, I can't see what the sampling rate is compared to what it's pulling from the Spotify servers...?

 

[Joe Smith]

I see in my Spotify settings that it says my device is limited to “very high” quality, 320kb/sec. How can I adjust this so the S3 gets lossless quality audio?

 

[Joe Smith]

So, I have connected the S3 Lite via optical to DAC rather than via USB, now am getting Lossless quality to run. It still would be nice to see the running bitrate in the Fosi application to verify what it's getting from the streaming service.

 

[yuting]

@yuting just wondering, with either the S3 or the S3 Lite, is there a way to see what the sampling rate is that's playing? I'm using my PC to control my Spotify Connect session, but when the S3 is my selected device, I can't see what the sampling rate is compared to what it's pulling from the Spotify servers...?

Thanks, the Spotify music service has a requirement that the sample rate indicator cannot be displayed. If you use Tidal or Qobuz for playback, or if you test with the new app, you will find that the song sample rate is shown on the app.

 

[yuting]

I see in my Spotify settings that it says my device is limited to “very high” quality, 320kb/sec. How can I adjust this so the S3 gets lossless quality audio?

thanks，The S3 Lite's optical output supports PCM up to 192 kHz / 24-bit, USB supports up to 768 kHz / 48-bit.which is more than sufficient for Spotify Connect playback. Spotify Connect currently streams at a maximum quality of 320 kbps Ogg Vorbis, and this limit is defined by Spotify rather than by the S3 Lite. Therefore, the optical interface does not limit Spotify playback quality.

 

[SoySalsaPicante]

thanks，The S3 Lite's optical output supports PCM up to 192 kHz / 24-bit, USB supports up to 768 kHz / 48-bit.which is more than sufficient for Spotify Connect playback. Spotify Connect currently streams at a maximum quality of 320 kbps Ogg Vorbis, and this limit is defined by Spotify rather than by the S3 Lite. Therefore, the optical interface does not limit Spotify playback quality.

Is S3 Lite going to be Roon Ready and will it support native DSD and/or PCM up to 384KHz over USB output?

 

[Joe Smith]

I have fiddled with Spotify settings, now running optical from the S3 Lite to my DAC and Spotify says "lossless" in the main panel. I think that Spotify Connect does now have the higher bitrate than 320 available, if the device is capable.

Interesting per comment above that Spotify does not allow devices to display the actual measured connection rate...that seems kind of sneaky...but oh well, after 5 years of waiting for higher bitrates, I'm still ok with them for now...

 

[audioje]

Anyone has both Wiim and S3? How's the app interface of S3? I am thinking about getting S3... And S3 lite sounds wonderful.

 

[Joe Smith]

The Fosi app is close to getting a large update, they are testing now. I’m not doing that but it seems like something that’s almost ready.

 

[yuting]

Is S3 Lite going to be Roon Ready and will it support native DSD and/or PCM up to 384KHz over USB output?

thanks，DSD is not supported for the time being, but a sampling rate of 768Khz can be achieved via USB output.