Innuos Owners and Discussions Thread

[Hydrology]

8 minutes ago, Kinsella said:

Another streaming newbie query.  My music collection is all CD.  I have  a Marantz Pearl sacd feeding a Vitus RI101 mk2, driving Whatmough P33 Signature speakers.  I'm considering a streaming option.  Whilst my hearts wants DCS Bartok my wallet is more like a Zenith.  Any thoughts however on the Zen vs Zenith.

 

If you can afford it, the Zenith is worth the difference. I couldnt, which is why I have a ZEN, but will save my pennies and eventually move up to a Statement. Keep in mind though that the Innuos products are primarily servers with streaming. If you have a DAC and have no desire to rip your CD collection (to something like an Innuos), I'd be looking at a dCS Bridge for streaming duties.

Edited July 21, 2021 by Hydrology

[Kinsella]

Thanks @Hydrology.  I have been considering ripping the collection.  However if its possible to stream those albums at CD or better quality via DCS Bridge, then maybe that is the leading option.

[Hydrology]

16 minutes ago, Kinsella said:

Thanks @Hydrology.  I have been considering ripping the collection.  However if its possible to stream those albums at CD or better quality via DCS Bridge, then maybe that is the leading option.

The dCS can certainly function as a rudimentary server, but with much better streaming ability. You could start with the Bridge and stream via Qobuz and/or Tidal and even later add a Zen Mini for CD ripping and NAS duties.

[Kinsella]

2 minutes ago, Hydrology said:

The dCS can certainly function as a rudimentary server, but with much better streaming ability. You could start with the Bridge and stream via Qobuz and/or Tidal and even later add a Zen Mini for CD ripping and NAS duties.

Interesting proposition.  The bridge is discontinued isn't it?  Does that mean sourcing a pre-loved version is the only option?

[Hydrology]

33 minutes ago, Kinsella said:

Interesting proposition.  The bridge is discontinued isn't it?  Does that mean sourcing a pre-loved version is the only option?

 I believe there are some new units left...

 

The Bridge is essentially the streaming component found in every current dCS product.

Maybe @Ray H can chime as he has experience also with both products/brands.

Edited July 21, 2021 by Hydrology

[Ray H]

Hi Mark and @Kinsella,

 

Yes I moved from the Zenith mkiii to the DCS Network Bridge (before that I had Sony HAP-Z1ES, Aurender X100, Auralic Aries G2.1 and Antipodes EX/CX) My subsequent thoughts are;

 

• The DCS is a very organic and listenable player, probably the best sounding of all of the players I have owned.
• the DCS is easily bested by the Innuos from a usability standpoint, it’s a faultless ripper, it functions pretty much perfectly, the software it uses is better than the DCS and likely to improve even more when Innuos brings out its own GUI with software V2.
• the ripping function is excellent, much better than the Auralic process for example, I basically used the Innuos to rip more than 1000 cd’s to its hard drive and then did a backup on two different external drives, which the DCS and other players recognise as a library, so no platform specific storage of the data. The Auralic I had probably only recognised 75-80% of my collection which was very frustrating.
• ‘The Innuos of course has on board storage of high quality (you specify the volume on purchase) which has been well integrated into the device. With the DCS, it uses external drive (I use ssd) or NAS etc, You could argue the DCS is more likely be prone to electrical interference than the Innuos because of this IMO.
• ‘The innuos sounds very nice also, not bright quite neutral, good weight to the music, ie it doesn’t sound sparse or bass deficient or etched etc. it just sounds ever so slightly “processed” or not as natural as the DCS.
• ‘The DCS has good width and depth to its soundstage as does the Innuos, but the DCS is better by perhaps 10-15% in this regards.
• possibly the DCS has better detail retrieval than the Innuos.

In short, the DCS has excellent sound, but tbh it’s a bit of an operational “dog” if I’m being honest and it doesn’t rip of course.

 

I am happy with the DCS because of its sound quality, but I actually consider them pretty equal as overall products when you take into account sound quality and user functionality, storage etc.

 

If someone asked for a recommendation, unless they were a hard core sound quality chaser, I would recommend the Innuos most times,

 

regards,

 

Ray

[Kinsella]

Thank you so much @Ray H (Ray) and @Hydrology (Mark).  I am constantly amazed at how willing members of this community are to share thoughts and experiences.  I'll be in the market for a purchase in the coming months.  However, first challenge is to get out this lockdown in Sydney. 

Cheers  Dragan

[Garmstro]

Hi,does anyone have an idea of how many CDs ripped to FLAC would fit on 2TB versus 4TB Zen? Regards   Grant

[brumby]

A generous allowance would be 3 CDs ripped to FLAC per gigabyte.  An even more generous allowance on that basis is 2700 - 2800 CDs ripped to FLAC per tetrabyte.

[Hydrology]

I'm a huge fan of Roon and have always felt that I wasnt quite getting the best I could out of the Innuos, but a lack of decent interface software and the awesomeness of Roon Radio meant I was perfectly fine with Roon as my control of choice despite maybe a 90-95% level of performance.

Innuos 2.0 has changed that. Love the interface - doesnt have everything that Roon can do, but for serious listening I now use my ZEN with their Sense App and only enable Roon for Roon Radio (to discover new music). Innuos owners will know how quick and easy it is to now switch between 2.0 and Roon.

 

[rantan]

 

 

Do people really have almost 10,000 CDs to rip?

I would say that 2 TB would be more than sufficient.

[brumby]

49 minutes ago, rantan said:

 

 

Do people really have almost 10,000 CDs to rip?

I would say that 2 TB would be more than sufficient.

I very much doubt (see my previous post) whether you would get 10,000 CDs onto a 2 TB HDD.  Not if they were lossless (FLAC) anyway.  Having said that, I too find it rather mind boggling that anyone would have that many CDs to rip. 

[rantan]

3 minutes ago, brumby said:

I very much doubt (see my previous post) whether you would get 10,000 CDs onto a 2 TB HDD.  Not if they were lossless (FLAC) anyway.  Having said that, I too find it rather mind boggling that anyone would have that many CDs to rip. 

 

My post was somewhat unclear sorry.

 

I was going on your estimates in the previous post where you correctly said that about 2800 CDs would fill ONE TB and my thoughts turned to those weighing up the choice of 2TB or 4TB. I just don't see the need for it.

[buddyev]

2800 on 1 b drive, maybe, but I would definitely go for 4tb. CD rips might not take up a lot of space but if you start acquiring hi res or DSD your drive will fill up quickly. 

Edited July 28, 2021 by buddyev

[brumby]

10 minutes ago, buddyev said:

2800 on 1 b drive, maybe, but I would definitely go for 4tb. CD rips might not take up a lot of space but if you start acquiring hi res or DSD your drive will fill up quickly. 

I wouldn't.  From what I've seen, Innuos charges $AU 500 to jump from 2 Tb to 4 Tb.  Then they charge $500 more to jump from 4 Tb to 8 Tb.  Unless you have a truly gargantuan collection of music, 2 Tb is ample, or more than ample.  In my case, all this is academic since I'd prefer my rips to be on a HDD attached to the streamer via USB (or maybe on a NAS or directly plugged into my router).  I personally don't see any advantage in a streamer which rips CDs.

 

 

[Hydrology]

6 minutes ago, brumby said:

 In my case, all this is academic since I'd prefer my rips to be on a HDD attached to the streamer via USB (or maybe on a NAS or directly plugged into my router).  I personally don't see any advantage in a streamer which rips CDs.

 

 

HDD attached to a streamer/server generates vibration and/or noise. Innuos is all about limiting/eliminating as much noise as possible, which is why you cant even plug a drive into the back for extra HD space (although I'm sure some will say this is a ruse to spend more money). The internal drive is not being read/write as you play tracks - its loaded into RAM for playback. The new 2.0 also limits network traffic during use, further trying to eliminate sources of noise (or inherently creating some).

[Silver Audiophile]

Just wanted to inform the Innuos forum how pleased I am with the after sale support from Innuos in the UK. I emailed Innuos directly, with issues regarding my Innuos Zen Mk3, having issues updating to the latest InnuOS V2.0.4.

Joao Sousa (Senior customer support engineer), spent nearly an hour last night providing unrushed remote access configuring of my computer to get this updated  and help getting My squeeze box to configure to Tidal.

Now that's what I call great customer support. Also, how cool is the V2 Innuos Sense app!

 

[Silver Audiophile]

This morning, had a good chance to listen for several hours via the new V2 InnuOS app. Another thought came immediately to mind.

 

I own hundreds of music CDs. I have own many quality CD players in the past (sold them all). I have borrowed a few high end CD transports too, such as the Audionet CD player which did retailed at 7,000 Euros.

In all cases, I didn't enjoy the digital, bright, and thin sounding tones all these devices gave me (regardless of whether used as a CD transport or CD player). I have a dedicated quality DAC that has a beautiful warm, rich, organic, detailed dynamic sound.

With Tidal Streaming through the Innuos Zen Mk3- I have the best sound experience. However, with the old third party  iPeng app in the past, ripped CDs in the Zen Mk3 sounded awful in quality, like highly compressed MP3s.

This has all changed with this V2 app. I am not sure what was happening before? But, I am pleased, the Zen Mk3 is now, not only by far the best CD transport I have heard in my system, but also of course a ripper, and storage device too.

Comparing ripped CDs to Tidal HiFi streaming, both have identical warm, visceral, full organic, detailed and holographic soundstaging.

 

 

Edited August 1, 2021 by Silver Audiophile

[Hydrology]

Further listening to 2.0 today confirms even more, what I already felt - this is leaps and bounds sonically better than Roon. Agree with @Silver Audiophile, detailed and holographic soundstaging.

 

 

This track punches me in the chest!

 

Edited August 8, 2021 by Hydrology

[arpasquill]

Hi everyone,

 

I have just purchased a Zen Mini MkIII 2TB with the LPSU and it will be hopefully with me in the next few days!

 

Just a few questions (apologies if these have been answered before!)

 

Is there any difference in performance when using different ethernet cables (Cat5 or higher)?

 

I will be connecting the Mini into my amplifier (at present it's a Denon, Lyngdorf later in the year!) so should I look at optical or coax?

 

I would just like to get everything sorted before I get back into some lockdown listening so any help or thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

 

Regards to you all

 

 

[Hydrology]

What Denon do you own? The DAC inside the Zen Mini is far better than the reviews would suggest, however it would probably be a "try it and listen" approach.

Ethernet cables will make a difference, but thats a whole other topic...
 

[arpasquill]

Just a boring Denon AV receiver - wondering if it would be better to go optical into my Oppo.

 

Just wondering the best way of getting the Zen into the system. I'm pretty new to this concept!

Edited August 30, 2021 by arpasquill

[Hydrology]

The Zen DAC should be better than the Denon in this case, but the Oppo would have the edge on both.

[arpasquill]

Ok great, then let me see if this works:

 

Innuos > Oppo > Amp > Speakers

 

Yes?

 

 

[Hydrology]

1 minute ago, arpasquill said:

Ok great, then let me see if this works:

 

Innuos > Oppo > Amp > Speakers

 

Yes?

 

 

Yes