Beneath the unassuming casework sits some serious horsepower in terms of both technologies and components: There are various ways in which Wi-Fi streaming can be incorporated into an audio system. Amps with integrated Wi-

For those connecting to their network router via cable rather than relying on Wi-Fi, the NEO Stream includes a unique option alongside its RJ45 and M12 ports – optical LAN. This is iFi’s own technology and it works by connecting an OptiBox transceiver to the router, and the NEO Stream to the OptiBox via an optical cable – both the OptiBox and cable are included with the NEO Stream. The ZEN Stream’s hi-res audio credentials are top-notch, supporting PCM up to 32-bit/384kHz and DSD up to Described as a ‘Wi-Fi audio transport’, the ZEN Stream acts as a bridge between your Wi-Fi network and your audio That covers all of the connections, which are quite a few, so I will touch briefly on what this unit is aimed to do.Amaranth” – Night Wish (The SIZE of the stage is huge, & when resolved properly, isn't just a "wall of sound" coming at you.) I then moved over to my player of choice which is Foobar. Yes, I am old school, I like Foobar and have it set up exactly as I like it. However, exactly as I like doesn’t seem to be exactly how the Zen Stream likes it. In comparison to the Pi set up I currently have at home, there are some very positive things to be said about the Stream. The first major benefit is the fact that it is just plug and play, even though RopieeeXL is pretty straightforward to install and use, it does still take time to set up. As far as cost, the Stream is more expensive than the Pi set up, but it is not really that much more expensive when taking everything into consideration. The Pi4 (8G) costs around 80€, a case is around 20€ (depending on what you choose of course), an SD card is another 15€, then the power supply is around 10€, so the total in hardware is around 125€ (depending on your choice of case). We then need to add the time to set it up, which probably takes around 30 mins when you know what you are doing but if it is your first time, you will need to add multiple hours of research before getting it up and running.

ZEN Stream is a true ground-up design by iFi — the hardware and software implementation is quite exceptionalThese are some of the factors behind why the ZEN Stream is at the cutting-edge handling PCM384/DSD256 on LAN and WiFi (802.11n, with 100Mbps on 5Ghz). DSD256) over Wi-Fi – highly unusual – as well as over Ethernet cable. There are multiple ways in which the One open-source solution that has been making waves in the audio streaming community is the Raspberry Pi – the