FOSI S3 Balanced Streamer Review

[Matias]

Nice little Wiim Pro Plus competitor! Finally bringing XLR outputs into affordable streamers. Also eARC, sub out and trigger support.

Let's see in a couple of months if they can keep their promise of new services and features, but I have no reason to doubt them. Hopefully other higher end models come afterwards to complement their line. Congrats, Fosi!

"We see this not as a finished endpoint, but as the beginning of a long-term platform that will continue to improve with real-world input from the community."

Nice!

 

[Jeromeof]

I do see it as Roon Ready (Uncertified) :

 

[SoySalsaPicante]

I do see it as Roon Ready (Uncertified) :

View attachment 527226

Does it let you enable it? Other owners were not able to Enable it.

 

[SoySalsaPicante]

I understand that it’s important to you, but Roon isn’t really essential for a streamer’s basic setup. I think it’s an overreaction to downgrade a streamer just because Roon isn’t supported.

Everyone's use case is different. An ideal streamer for me literally would have nothing but an ARC input (supporting CEC volume control & automatic power-on/-off with 12V trigger control) and a basic Roon bridge or even better full Roon-Ready certification. It would be excellent to have native Apple Music and Qobuz Connect on top of that, but Roon handles Qobuz just fine (if not better, thanks to its superior ReplayGain implementation) and most of the competition does not have native Apple Music support (except for Android-based streamers, which have their own slew of issues). I wouldn't even care necessarily for analog outputs as I prefer using a separate DAC, but seeing balanced, differential outputs on this device is excellent. It is a bit of a shame to see no USB output, but given the limited sample rate and formats supported by the onboard streaming module, it didn't really matter as S/PDIF is, "enough," to get the most from the limited streaming capability. It is also a shame that they must rely on a borrowed streaming hardware that does not support DSD-encoded files natively, especially considering the selected DAC does support DSD.

Oh...and one last thing: I can't buy it, because it doesn't come in black.

 

[Audionaut]

Everyone's use case is different.

That's right. I wrote this in another Thread >
My main music streaming service is Amazon Music Unlimited. It isn't supported, just like YouTube Music Premium. If I'm not mistaken, Roon only supports TIDAL and Qobuz. That's a bit (a lot) limited.

I’d read about Roon quite a bit before and decided to check if its features could be useful to me—in other words, if it offered any added value.
I didn’t see any, and I still don’t. To me, it’s a useless product with no real added value.

I haven’t found anything in my setup that gives Roon a clear advantage over WiiM’s Linkplay platform. In fact, WiiM supports more of the services I actually use, so Roon would mean paying extra while losing functionality.

 

[SoySalsaPicante]

That's right. I wrote this in another Thread >
My main music streaming service is Amazon Music Unlimited. It isn't supported, just like YouTube Music Premium. If I'm not mistaken, Roon only supports TIDAL and Qobuz. That's a bit (a lot) limited.

I’d read about Roon quite a bit before and decided to check if its features could be useful to me—in other words, if it offered any added value.
I didn’t see any, and I still don’t. To me, it’s a useless product with no real added value.

I haven’t found anything in my setup that gives Roon a clear advantage over WiiM’s Linkplay platform. In fact, WiiM supports more of the services I actually use, so Roon would mean paying extra while losing functionality.

Yup. This is where Fosi needs to focus on adding more supported services. Ironically, once Roon-Ready certified, the only service missing for me would be native, high-res Apple Music. Since it has ARC input, I can listen to YouTube via Apple TV 4K. Yes, I could do the same with Apple Music, but it would resample most of the music to 48KHz, which is a waste of the high-res support in Apple Music. I haven’t checked, but is there an Amazon Music app for Apple TV? Or can it be listened to simply with the Amazon Prime Video app?

 

[Karmacoma]

Fair product, the balanced plugs is a nice addition to differentiate them from the Wiim competition.
But I won't vote because the software part is very important in such products and I didn't really get an impression of if it was good or bad in this review, seems unachieved atm.
They win the hardware part and the pricing over the Wiim, and I'll just guess they'd lose on the software side.
Tough choice, and that's a compliment.

 

[Audionaut]

The website says that the S3 supports Roon.

 

[amper42]

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.

 

[morillon]

They win the hardware part and the pricing over the Wiim, and I'll just guess they'd lose on the software side.

Connectic +- like ultra
Ah...surpasses...that much? What makes you say that? The balanced outputs? Such different measurements in unbalanced?
(Dac akm same with the "plus"...with just 1612... The Ultra is a DAC ess /1612 of the same range)
;-)

(PS: It's perfectly possible for anyone who wants to have fun to install single 1611s in the "plus"...just surface mount components.)


Regarding the audio...it's clear the measurements are of the same "nature" than wiim...and that's quite normal...
Just...The processing and quality of the analog input (not good with Wiim*) remains to be clarified (ADC to DSP or just analog? Etc)... as does the output sub management.?

But the marketing impact of "XLR" is so amusing. ( like "opa1612"" ;-) )
;-)
(Just a reminder, we're talking about machines under $300 here... ;-) )


(*
But possibilty to use the small adcpocket on toslink input if need very quality adc in line level 2v!!!)

 

[Tatteredmidnight]

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.

Chromecast + EQ + balanced outs if it they get the software sorted. For me, that would check quite a few boxes.

Edit: The 16-bit limit on chromecast is disappointing and seems like an odd restriction, but realistically it’s probably not much of an impediment.

 

[Zetti]

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.

Going the Pi route has higher upfront friction. Sure, this gap may be perceived to be much larger that actually is, especially why AI helping to set stuff up, but still.

 

[ShadowFiend]

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.

Then how you get a workable, reliable Airplay 2 and Google Cast to stream from Apple Music or Youtube Music on Rpi5/Moode. I use an open source for a long time but now a streamer like this one or Wiim is much better solutions.

 

[daniboun]

Hopefully it should be long before it’s Roon ready.

If it had bass management / RC I’ll buy one now

View attachment 527218

And yet, at Audiophonics it is clearly marked "Roon Ready".

 

[A Surfer]

I know that some people believe that they can reliably hear a difference with Bluetooth, but I am absolutely certain that with a well implemented BT, the vast majority of people will not hear any difference.

Blinded listening and level matching over multiple trials, I would be shocked if many people could differentiate BT 9 times out of 10 which would be required in my mind to demonstrate reliable discrimination. Just my opinion though.

 

[amper42]

Then how you get a workable, reliable Airplay 2 and Google Cast to stream from Apple Music or Youtube Music on Rpi5/Moode. I use an open source for a long time but now a streamer like this one or Wiim is much better solutions.

I guess it depends on your use. I use Qobuz to discover new music using UPnP with Moode. But once I find something I really like I buy it and install it on my USB drive attached to RPi5/Moode. It's my own personal library that doesn't depend on any on-line source. I can cancel subscriptions at any time and still be happy for months with my local easy access digital music album library.

The RPi5/Moode interface connects via USB to my RME ADI-2 DAC FS and the sound is bit perfect. In fact, the local music doesn't even touch WIFI as it goes direct to DAC via USB and out to Purifi amp and speakers. Only the controls telling the system what to play use WIFI in this configuration. I leave AirPlay off as I don't use it but Moode certainly supports it. Moode 10.2.0 also supports Shairport-sync version 5 which adds major upgrades for Airplay users. That's the thing about Moode - it's continually adding new features. Its development is far superior to any of the streaming boxes that come and go. It's a thriving community that is continually improving the project. It's superior in so many ways.

With Wiim you have all sorts of privacy issues from requesting your server password info to harvesting your location. Meanwhile this Chinese company is required to do whatever it's told. The amount of data that can be harvested is alarming. With RPi5/Moode you have none of these issues. It's user driven. Security and privacy are a priority.

Moode functionality is always improving and you have the option to turn functions on and off as easy as the click of a button on a web page. It's a mature software platform that's unmatched in so many ways compared to what I have tried with other streamers. Below is an image of an album library. You can view and control playback of local albums using this interface via a web IP on a computer, tablet or phone. The flexibility is quite remarkable.

 

[Audionaut]

Bluetooth

That's not the point at all. Most streamers actually have Bluetooth built in. There are just a lot of things a streamer can do that a smartphone paired with a Bluetooth receiver can't.

 

[PristineSound]

I must say, I did not expect Fosi to jump into streaming domain given the heavy software burden that brings with it. They have licensed the core technology which eases entry but also causes delays in bug fixes and feature enhancements.

Always my number 1 concern for streamers.

 

[ShadowFiend]

@amper42 : I use Moode from the beginning, around 2016, so I know what can it do and what it cannot do.
Firstly, streamer is also bit perfect, either through SPDIF coax or USB (Wiim Ultra). All streamers from Wiim or Fosi can do streaming from local source with UPnP like Moode, so no advantage for either of Rpi5 or streamers.
Secondly, I use shairport for airplay streaming for a long time. And I can tell you that it still have bug and never error-free like what I get from my Wiim Pro Plus.
Thirdly, being an kind of open source, Moode or Volumio are always in the catching up mode. So integration with big, popular commercial platform or like Spotify Connect, Amazon Music Unlimited, Google Cast is either non-existence or sometimes broken.

Of course, for a specific use case, Rpi5/Moode is good enough. And your concern about security and privacy is spot on. But for vast major of users, streamers are far more error-free, convenient and feature-rich. And price for them are very reasonable.

 

[OrangeWalrus]

I know that some people believe that they can reliably hear a difference with Bluetooth, but I am absolutely certain that with a well implemented BT, the vast majority of people will not hear any difference.

Blinded listening and level matching over multiple trials, I would be shocked if many people could differentiate BT 9 times out of 10 which would be required in my mind to demonstrate reliable discrimination. Just my opinion though.

Agree, but I think a lot of people here are in it for the sport, like pursuing SINAD over 100dB or 24 bit audio. It's pointless and fun. If I have 24 bit audio, I want assurance that I'm getting all of the resolution, whether I can hear it or not, just because.