Thanks for the shout-out and the plug, I appreciate it and am glad our iSilencer+ worked for you!
Thanks! Just trying to help everyone out with my experiences
Great question. So, I didnât connect any streamers via ethernet - BUT - I did have an interesting unintended experiment with my NUC server. While the ifi Zen stream can be hooked up via ethernet, mine is too far from my router to practically do that, so itâs all wifi. Given that, it doesnât really matter where my NUC server is, given that itâs going to the router first, and then to the Zen Stream, so who cares if I connect the server to the router wirelessly or via ethernet, right? right??? (insert Anakin Sywalker meme)
I didnât in my wildest dreams think there would be a sonic difference, so just for better connectivity, I hooked up my NUC server in the other room directly to my router (still wireless to Zen Stream). I kicked off a listening session, and I immediately thought âwait, something is offâ. It took me a while to think of what had changed, because this was not an intentional or anticipated experiment, but I finally remembered that my server was now hard-wired to the router. I wondered if that could really be it, so I left the NUC server place (next to the router, in the other room), but switched back to wifi. Poof. The sound I knew and loved was back.
In this particular instance, even though the most direct connection to my rack didnât change connectivity, there was a noticeable difference in how I connected my NUC server to my router. I thought WiFi was pretty clearly better. That certainly doesnât mean it will be so in all circumstances, and I didnât even experiment with the connection to my rack, but it goes to show you stuff like this matters.
Yes, and the biggest improvement of the Zen Stream wired is reliability.
If you already donât have any issues, thatâs great too. No need to plug it in then!