RPi4 or iFi ZEN Stream for Qobuz

[prutsaers]

I am looking for a streamer to add to a RME ADI-2 DAC FS. It mainly has to work with Qobuz. Preferably the native Qobuz app.
I am leaning towards the iFi ZEN Stream but I am wondering if a RPi4 with USB out can not do the same.
Will you hear any difference in sound once connected to the RME DAC? Any thoughts on this?

 

[CrustyToad]

In principle a streamer should have no sound signature so I would expect any differences.

Check out some measurements on archimago.blogspot.com that support this

 

[aandres_gm]

There shouldn’t be any sound differences. I’d go with the Pi, because it is a lot more versatile.

 

[prutsaers]

Thank you for the replies. I have set up a Pi3 with a PiFi Digi+ HAT for now. I ordered a Pi4 so I can use the USB instead of the HAT.

 

[ImolaRed]

Wait wait wait wait........

A lot of audiophiles would say a DAC is a DAC and there is no difference but we all know that's not true. Why in the world would people say there is no difference in streamers? I've owned the ifi zen stream and a pi4 and there was an easy to hear difference. I still sent the IFI back though because it's a buggy pita but it's hard knowing it sounded better.

It's kind of comical that this was the answer from people who measure every single damn electrical item and pick over differences your ears can't hear. There is FOR SURE differences in streamers and how they sound.

 

[Zenek73]

Sound better but doesn't work?

 

[Eternals]

I'd suggest RPi4 with original Rasberry power supply. I tried and tried to find where it was weak but could not. Still my streamer. I'm not deaf, but also, I might not have perfect hearing, but I have blind tested and preferred the Rpi4

 

[Eggs Ackley]

I have set up a Pi3 with a PiFi Digi+ HAT for now. I ordered a Pi4 so I can use the USB instead of the HAT.

I have three Pi streamers, one Pi4 and two Pi3. All using USB connections to my dacs. I used to run DIGI+ Pro HATs but switched to USB for simplicity. With the latest USB dacs such as Topping E50 any noise from the Pi's USB connection will get filtered. No need for HATs at all.

 

[Timcognito]

Does it matter as Qobuz has no connect feature? Curious?

 

[oltmb]

I have taken an INTEL NUC and put the motherboard in a fanless cabinet and installed Daphile. Very cost effective. It runs Qobuz natively direct into my 2Qute DAC. It works fine. It also connect to my Synology NAS to run DSD music file.

 

[Eternals]

My own Pi4 set up uses PiCoreplayer with directly attached SSD harddrive. It outputs via USB to a Topping E50 (previously to a Topping E30). The PiCorePlayer is one of many easy to set up options. For me, it is all I need and allows easy and entirely gapless streaming from Qobuz, and others. Gapless is a critical for some albums e.g. Pink Floyd.

 

[Zaurux]

A limitation. The ZenStream sound is great but with a RME dac, you have to dop for dsd and so the limitation is not DSD256 but DSD128 (PCM 384).

 

[srkbear]

Wait wait wait wait........

A lot of audiophiles would say a DAC is a DAC and there is no difference but we all know that's not true. Why in the world would people say there is no difference in streamers? I've owned the ifi zen stream and a pi4 and there was an easy to hear difference. I still sent the IFI back though because it's a buggy pita but it's hard knowing it sounded better.

It's kind of comical that this was the answer from people who measure every single damn electrical item and pick over differences your ears can't hear. There is FOR SURE differences in streamers and how they sound.

I just stumbled across this reply and I’m surprised no one else jumped on it. I don’t recall anyone on here saying that “a DAC is a DAC”—perhaps most of the DACs measured on here are sonically equivalent if their performance differences are beyond the range of human hearing, but certainly there are notable differences in how accurately they do their jobs or there would be no point to performing measurements or for this site to exist, frankly.

But it’s this very comparison that is flawed in its reasoning. DACs bridge the realms of digital and analog audio—namely music in a form that has no sound to one that does. A network streamer—a pure network streamer like the Zen Stream—exists wholly in the digital domain, and its sole purpose is to transport a TCP/IP network signal to the input receiver of your DAC, with a few metadata retrieval options on the way. Since network protocols have their own error-correcting packet filters in place, and the signal never leaves the format of a bunch of ones and zeroes, there is no logical or scientific basis to claim that one streamer “sounds” better than another unless that streamer comes integrated with a DAC that converts the signal it carries into something that has a sound to begin with.

So basically what that means is that a streamer is nothing more than a computer, hence the comparison of the ZS to an RPI. You switch it on and off. It doesn’t matter whether you use a fancy power supply or burn it in anymore than it should matter to you to do such things for your PC. And whatever sonic differences you swear to god you can surely hear are completely a product of your imagination, I’m afraid. My hopes for you is that you didn’t put much of a dent in your wallet on your quest for a better sounding network transport, because if you did you might as well have sent that hard earned cash to the furnace. If you didn’t, for heaven’s sake abandon your cognitive biases and put that money towards a fantastic set of headphones! Your streamer should be the component in your setup you budget for the least.

 

[FuzzTone]

I am looking for a streamer to add to a RME ADI-2 DAC FS. It mainly has to work with Qobuz. Preferably the native Qobuz app.
I am leaning towards the iFi ZEN Stream but I am wondering if a RPi4 with USB out can not do the same.
Will you hear any difference in sound once connected to the RME DAC? Any thoughts on this?

With identical power supplies they should sound the same. Just more work with the RasPi. I'm listening to a RasPi now with an iFi Elite.