With the iFi Audio Neo Stream, you get a complete network player, consisting of a streamer and a DAC in one housing.
The new Neo Stream from iFi Audio has plenty of features ánd lots of connection options. Under the line, it’s a music streamer with integrated DAC, which makes it ideally suited for coupling to existing analog amplifiers. The manufacturer says that wherever possible open source software has been used. That should make it future-proof, always nice. In terms of streaming, the Neo Stream can handle DLNA/UPnP, Airplay and both Tidal Connect and Spotify Connect. Roon Ready is definitely a plus as well.
Traditional and optical LAN
The back of the iFi Neo Stream is at least as interesting as the front. Since here you will find a load of connectivity options. LAN can be handled via either a traditional RJ45 Ethernet connector or – unique – an optical variant. Since this is a technology developed by iFi itself, it requires the manufacturer’s Optibox. This takes care of the conversion as well as galvanic separation (although the fiberglass cable does that too, of course…) and a reclock. This way, according to iFi, transfer speeds of up to 10 Gbps are possible, provided the rest of your network equipment can handle it as well. You can also opt for a wifi connection, just as you prefer. The DAC in the Neo Stream supports PCM up to 768 kHz/32 bit, DSD up to DSD512 and DXD. An MQA decoder is also provided. The price of ‘t device is €1299.