Soix... thanks for the BH link, I just bought one of the $75 15v power supplies for my ifi Zen Stream. Should be here Thursday.
Streamer creates a Wow experience
I started streaming by running USB from my iPad to my DAC using Qobuz, and I thought it sounded pretty good and was happy. Then I compared this to playing CDs and much to my dismay I slightly preferred the CDs. This was a depressing moment. So I reached out to you guys and several of you assured me if I got a dedicated streamer it’d be much better, and while I always believed a streamer is important and can make a difference I still found myself a little skeptical how much improvement there would be.
So I decided to heed the advice here and after some research got an iFi Zen Stream with their upgraded power supply. After getting the Zen linked to my WiFi and using mconnectHD to be able to stream Qobuz through the iFi — Holy Crap!!! I expected some improvement but I was not prepared for the huge leap in sound quality I was hearing. Every aspect of sound improved markedly and my jaw was on the floor.
Anyway, you guys were so right in assuring me a streamer would make all the difference. And this is through my HeadFi rig and can’t wait to hear what this sounds like on the big rig. Thanks for your helpful advice and getting me through this. I’m one shocked and very happy camper.
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@tubeguy76 Great! If you could let me know what improvements you hear. I never used the original power supply and don’t currently have access to it to do a comparison so I’d be interested in what you find. All I know is it sounds damn good with the iPowerX. |
@soix I received the new power supply today and so far everything sounds very nice. I can tell that things are a bit smoother and just overall "better". Certainly haven't noticed any worse performance. I guess one thing to consider it I'm running the Zen Stream at 15v now vs 12v in addition to the upgraded supply so I'm sure that has an impact. Anyway, so far so good, I'd say it's well worth the $75. |
@tubeguy76 Thanks for the update and glad it seems to be working out. Yeah I’m very happy with the Pegasus in my HeadFi system, and I get my McCormack amp back from SMcAudio soon with full mods so I’ll definitely have more to say once I get that up and running in my home system. I’d recommend reading the reviews on soundnews.net as I generally agree with his assessments and he writes quality reviews. He’s reviewed the Pegasus and I believe he’s reviewed the Pontus ll and at maybe even the Aries, and whichever meets your preferred sound profile best would be the one I’d go with. One thing I will say is the Draco seems to sound almost identical to the Pegasus as per soundnews.net and costs like $300 less, so that might be worth exploring as well. One thing I really like about the Pegasus is that it does not seem to roll of the upper treble that some R2R DACs seem to do, so if that’s also a concern of yours that would be something to focus on. I’m really liking the R2R performance so far. |
I read the reviews on the Pegasus and the Draco and I would likely go for the Pegasus. One thing I noted was the Draco was best used with the balanced outputs (XLR) and I only have single ended equipment. I'd be using this with my 45SE tube monos so I can't use XLR. I'll have to ask him about the Pegasus single ended outputs and if they're better than the Draco. Probably not a huge deal but I don't want to be limited and not being able to do much about it. |
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