iFi Audio ZEN Stream Wifi Streamer with Tidal Connect, Spotify Connect and Roon Ready

From mainstream smart speakers to specialised audio systems, digital streaming often over a Wi-Fi network has become the dominant method of listening to music at home. For those who care about sound quality, building a system from dedicated audio components remains the best route to sonic satisfaction even in the streaming age. There are various ways in which Wi-Fi streaming can be incorporated into an audio system. Amps with integrated WiFi reception are available, as are dedicated audio streamers, many with onboard DACs – these serve the purpose of a traditional hi-fi source component, such as a CD player. But there are drawbacks some solutions offer less than ideal sound quality, others lock you into a specific streaming platform or ‘walled garden’ system, while some specialised solutions are prohibitively expensive.