Headquartered in the UK with its distribution center in the USA, iFi Audio has been producing various small, innovative, relatively inexpensive, and lightweight home and portable audio devices since 2012. In addition to digital media devices (streamers, DACs, DAC/headphone amps), they also offer small amplifiers and phono stages such as the iFi iPhono3 Black Label.

The range of products offers flexibility, convenience, and new evolving technologies. Trendy and catchy names used for their products include Zen DAC, hip-dac2 ("our hip-dac just got hipper!"), uno, Go bar and Go blu. They even have colours to match, such as Sunset Orange and the "fiery red finish" for the iDSD DIABLO ("The Devil in the Detail."). The odd oval-like futuristic shapes and tiny sizes of some grab your attention. Even if you don't need any such thing, something in their extensive inventory will undoubtedly pique your curiosity; iFi Audio certainly has that effect on me.

That brings us to the new iFi Neo Stream ($1299), the focus of this review.

It is a welcome addition to their Home Audio collection, with a modest price range between the higher-end flagship Pro iDSD Signature ($3,249) and the Zen Stream ($399).

Special thanks to Ricardo Anton, Online Marketing Specialist/iFi Audio USA, for sending me a review unit and always being available for questions.

In a nutshell, the iFi Neo Stream (Neo) is a sleek and modern-looking bold, visionary unit that serves as a streamer, preamplifier, and DAC—all at once. It even has a small retina-grade TFT (thin-film-transistor) display on the front which shows (in vivid colour) album covers, the digital file type/specs, and more. Functions (volume, settings) are controlled on the front by a large knob and a tiny menu/output selector button. You only need an amplifier and speakers. (It is not a headphone amp.) Neo comes in an attractive silver-coloured aluminum finish.

Technical highlights

iFi Neo Stream is small and light: 214 x 151 x 41 mm (8.4" x 5.9" x 1.6"), Net weight: 1.0 kg (2.26 lbs). It uses an included external low-noise iPowerX AC/DC power supply. With a balanced design, an optional ($99) nifty-looking 4.4mm to XLR cable allows for a balanced connection out to an amplifier (versus using the 1x stereo RCA out).

In addition to Dual-band Wi-Fi reception (2.4GHz and 5GHz), Neo has a unique Optical LAN connection (as well as RJ45 and M12) for ethernet that utilizes a tiny “OptiBox” transceiver powered by a USB-C charger (the OptiBox ships with the Neo Stream at no extra charge with cables). On one end, you connect the Optibox to your router; the other connects to the Neo with an optical cable allowing up to 10 Gbps data speeds. Moreover, "The LAN signal from the router is regenerated, reclocked, and rebalanced by the OptiBox; true galvanic isolation is applied, with zero parasitic capacitance and inductance."

The iFi Audio OptiBox transceiver. Don’t want to use the included OptiBox? Simply plug your Ethernet cable into the RJ45 input on the rear of the Neo Stream,

XMOS 16-Core chip, Burr-Brown four-channel DAC chip with True Native design. PCM 768kHz, DSD 512, single and double-speed DXD, and full MQA decoding (to 384kHz).

Digital Filters for Analogue Output: BP (Bit-Perfect), Min (Minimum), STD (Standard), GTO (Gibbs Transient-Optimized)

Digital inputs: 1x USB-A, 1x USB-C (front panel)

Digital outputs: 1x HDMI-I2S, 1x USB-A (USB3.0, DAC), 1x optical, 1x coaxial, 1x AES/EBU

Roon Ready. Neo also allows for DNLA/UPnP player/control Apps such as Tidal Connect, mconnect Player Lite, Spotify Connect, Audirvana, etc.

Modes of operation:

AIO (All In One), DLNA, Tidal, Roon, Signalyst

(Suggestion: keep it on AIO)

Front of the iFi Neo Stream

The TFT display is on the left, and almost in the middle within an attractive indentation is the large control knob. The tiny menu/output selector, power buttons, and USB-C come next; a thin white light shines when the power is on, connecting the control knob to the buttons, and the TFT display turns on.

Back of the iFi Neo Stream

In addition to the power cord input on the left and the attachable Wi-Fi antenna connector on the right, the many inputs/outputs are tightly knit in between: RJ45 and M12 ethernet inputs, optical LAN input for the OptiBox, 1x USB-C system update port, 2x USB-A inputs, 4.4mm and 1x stereo RCA analog outs, and the 5 digital outputs.

Look at the photo below of the back; how iFi pulled this off is impressive.

My Use

With so much included technology, I decided to go the full Monty right from the start: Ethernet (wired) connected using the Optical LAN connection with OptiBox, balanced out direct to my amps using the optional 4.4mm to XLR cable (it came with my review unit, thanks to Anton), and Roon. Without using the instruction manual, I had it up and running in 5 minutes, streaming Tidal (with full MQA decoding), Qobuz, and my library. I used an iPad with the Roon Remote App for music choice. I was happy with either the Bit-Perfect or Standard digital filter options.

By default, the Mode setting is on AIO (All In One), which worked perfectly with Roon and almost everything I wanted to experiment with.

With such complexity in this unit, however, and so many options, I provide here the link for the user manual.

Briefly, to change/select some settings: short press the menu/output selector button followed by turning the control knob and short pressing it to see some options; then short press the control knob again to keep the selection.

If you do not have Roon

iFi Audio does not use an in-house App for playing music, which is good; they allow you to choose what you want. I use Roon, which works with both Tidal and Qobuz; my preference is not everyone else's. The good news is that any DNLA/UPnP player/control App should work. For example, if you want to use Qobuz, I found by experimenting that mconnect Player Lite works with Qobuz (native up to its highest 24/192 level). You can use Tidal Connect or even mconnect Player Lite for Tidal.

So, no worries.

Sound

My amps provided a clean, crisp, and well-balanced sound, never boomy, never too bright, through the iFi Neo Stream; it was leaner/thinner sounding than my system, but the price difference is thousands of dollars, so in short, impressive.

I did experiment with adding my preamp into the mix because that allows the addition of other components (in particular, vinyl) into the whole. That worked exceptionally well and improved the sound quality by adding more meat and character. But the Neo, at such a relatively low cost, would sound exceptional in filling out less expensive systems.

Music

1] Beth Otan, Weather Alive, 2022, Partisan Records, MQA, 24/96, Tidal.

The track “Fractals" (Track 3) caught my eye when browsing recent music releases. In mathematics, fractals describe fascinating phenomena involving infinitely repeating patterns that are never-ending and stay the same no matter how close you look. Examples include ocean coastlines, leaves, snowflakes, and crystals. Their dimension is not a whole number, such as 1,2 or 3; it can be fractional.

In 2000, I invited the man considered to be the father of the mathematical theory of fractals, Benoit Mandelbrot, to give a talk at a conference and I was able to spend some time with him. Having returned recently from Europe with jet lag, hours before his speech, he came to my office asking if there was someplace he could take a rest. I took him home to my apartment, where I thought we would talk math. But after only about 10 minutes of talking fascinating math (he was trying to use fractal theory to model stock pricing), he fell asleep for 2 hours on my couch; then I escorted him to his talk. (He passed away in 2010.)

Although known primarily for her folksy and electronic music, this new album by Otan has some electronics but with a soft, dream-like touch in her voice and ample use of acoustic instruments, including saxophone and piano. Her voice in "Fractals" is an odd mix of self-reflection with a dash of David Bowie at times. It sounded beautiful, dreamy, captivating, and inviting on the Neo; particularly at night. Keep the volume at low to mid-level to get the best effect.

2] Eric Clapton, Unplugged (Delux Edition), (1992). 16/44.1 Tidal

Famously known when it came out for containing the song "Tears in Heaven," the Delux Edition includes six additional tracks, including two takes of "My Father's Eyes." It is a heartfelt song, with Clapton engulfed with deep feelings and the ups and downs of sadness and happiness. Clapton has said that the inspiration to write the song came from never having met his father but wished he had done so and the loss of his son. By looking into his son's eyes (related by blood to his father), he felt he had looked into his father's eyes, too. It sounded earthy, authentic, and convincing through the Neo. It presented Clapton's superb acoustic guitar playing and voice, intricate nuances, and live performance venue sounds with just the right balance.

3] Yuja Wang, The American Project, 2023. Deutsche Grammophon. 24/96 Qobuz

I am always happy to find something new; I spotted this on Qobuz while reviewing the Neo, and was immediately smitten. The album contains two compositions. The first is a short one composed for Wang (pianist) by Michael Tilson Thomas. The second is an 11-movement Piano Concerto composed for Wang by her friend, the American musician/conductor/composer Teddy Adams. Full of bursts of energy and impressive dexterity, but with a smooth, sensitive, gentle approach to inner details, her piano playing came out a solid winner from the Neo; the recording quality is notably exceptional. The Concerto, initially to be a short piece complimenting Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, grew to 11 movements and combined many other American styles. It is complex and challenging but uplifting and optimistic, expressing Adams' understanding and appreciation of the American contribution to classical music.

Summary

The iFi Neo Stream ($1299) has accomplished what it wanted. Small, light, and versatile, while only requiring an amp and speakers, it will attract many digital audio users with a limited budget. It exhibits high-quality sound at a low price, with many options and creative use of modern technology. Highly recommended on a job well done.

Further information: iFi Audio