Absolute-Stream

The Αbsolute Stream is an audiophile music server/streamer which renders music files.

It is a hi-performance device which will play all your musical libraries whether they are on an external hard-disk or NAS. Just as importantly, the absolute Stream will play audio from internet sources, i.e. radio and web services such as Tidal, Qobuz, Spotify, etc.

Design principles

When we set out to design the Absolute Stream, we aimed at achieving extraordinary sound to complement the absolute DAC. This quality target led us to conceive the absolute Stream as an audio device dedicated to music playback, rather than as a computer tweaked to play music.

We applied our design principles with no-compromise to the absolute Stream: massively over-engineered power supply, abundant ultra-low noise power, discreet power lines to critical points of the circuit, circuit stability and isolation, constant phase / timing correction.

Real-Time core playback

Core CPU highly prioritized for audio playback only, ensuring optimized performance and sound quality

Realize the potential of your music

The absolute-Stream will play your private libraries from HDs or NAS, it works as a Roon bridge rendering your music into the device’s CPU, and of course, it renders Internet streaming services with maximum possible integration (Tidal, Qobuz, Spotify, Web radios, etc)

Future-proof phase correction

For jitter elimination, a specially designed re-clocking circuit, comprising a top of the line femto clock is embedded in absolute Stream as standard and not as an option with extra charge. This is an upgradable platform to protect our customers’ investment.

Over spec’d Power Supply

Huge, linear, power supplies have become an Ideon Audio trademark. The a-Stream has a very large main power bank composed of audiophile, low esr, silk caps; we also included a high-wattage, hand-made, audiophile transformer.

Zero-noise power

Electrical noise in a source component can deteriorate the sound for the duration of signal processing procedure… It will come as no surprise, therefore, that the a-Stream has our proprietary, upgradable, zero-noise rectification bridge, eliminating diode-rectification noise; to do so, we had to resort to specially sourced diodes for our circuit.

Independent power lines, special power for the rendering CPU

There are four (4) separate, discrete, power lines with ultra-low noise linear power within the a-Stream circuit, providing the different voltage levels the device requires.

Going the extra experimentation mile, however, we discovered that the quality of transient current going to the CPU affected sound—and the sonic result was astonishing. To improve transient current quality, accordingly, we implemented a proprietary, ultra-low esr, bypass power filter with superlative results in the sound.

A unique advantage of the absolute Stream circuit is the total absence of switching power supplies – not even intermediate ones within the CPU power rails.

Internal noise elimination

Keeping in mind that sound quality is the foremost consideration, we avoided internal noise-inducing peripheral circuits as much as possible. Thereby, the absolute Stream’s simplified, bare-bones operation provides superlative sound quality to the user—which is the music-lover’s target in the first place.

Massive, single-block aluminium chassis

The 20kg (~44 lb) CNC milled chassis takes 15 hours to complete. The result is a solid mechanical base housing the most intricate and expensive electronics available currently. Various finishes are available to order.

In a nutshell

The a-Stream is the device in your system from which the signal originates and, so being, is critical to the overall sonic result. It was designed and built purposely to extract, read, and transfer digital signals in  their purest form. After all, compromises in the quality of the original file entering your music reproduction chain leave their imprint on  the sonic result.