Innuos Zen III Vs ZENith

[hifinutt]

I am certainly warming to the zen , its sounding pretty good . trying not to get distracted by the emails flying in while controlling it from my smartphone !!! 

 

[Craig_]

I’m very pleased with my Zen mk3 - much preferring cd rips played from it’s HDD vs my old Arcam CD37 which I always regarded very highly. It sounds smooth & relaxed with non of the edge/fatigue that is normally experienced with some digital front ends.
 

Also curious how much SQ improvement can be had from the Zenith. I will be looking to get a home demo soon. 

 

[leroyd]

Personally my enthusiasm around the Innuos range is the ability to rip, store and organise all your music in one place

Together with being able to rip, store and organise my brothers CD collection, along with a couple of mates cd collection

 

[leroyd]

Also curious how much SQ improvement can be had from the Zenith. I will be looking to get a home demo soon. 

Would love to hear your comments on that home demo. The price difference between the Zen and Zenith is considerable, so the difference in performance would need to reflect that, in order for me to invest. Love my Zen mkIII

 

[Fourlegs]

I’m very pleased with my Zen mk3 - much preferring cd rips played from it’s HDD vs my old Arcam CD37 which I always regarded very highly. It sounds smooth & relaxed with non of the edge/fatigue that is normally experienced with some digital front ends.
 

Also curious how much SQ improvement can be had from the Zenith. I will be looking to get a home demo soon. 

As an alternative you might consider getting a demo of a PhoenixUSB connected to the Zen 3 to see what you think of that compared to the Zenith 3.

 

[wHIZZY]

The replay from ripped is not bad and (in my system) find it slightly better than the Node2i.
Also great to see (per the Innuos feature request page) that Amazon music connectivity is “Planned”.

BBC Sounds is also listed amongst planned updates. Surprised however that I still need to use Orange Squeeze for functions like random play. 

 

[It Cost How Much!?!]

Well, I am sticking with the ZEN III in 2T form until I fill it and then making my mind up. If a second hand ZENith comes up I may buy that as £3.5 for the upgrade is steep.

 

[hifinutt]

dealers may have ex dem zen mark 3 . mine is going back to dealer soon, it was new when i had it . maybe more like that 

 

[Mike Hughes]

A Zen with a half decent DAC can better CD replay but only if you’ve put some effort into minimising noise etc. A Zenith in broadly the same circumstances will almost always better CD replay. 

 

[It Cost How Much!?!]

A Zen with a half decent DAC can better CD replay but only if you’ve put some effort into minimising noise etc. A Zenith in broadly the same circumstances will almost always better CD replay. 

Ah ha, well it has a Music Works mains cable, foo USB cable, Gustard U-12 SPDIF, into Transparent Reference Co-ax. The DAC is pretty damn good and goes via Transparent Reference XLR to the pre. 

Some effort was done, but the Wadia transport is still better. 

 

[Mike Hughes]

Have never regretted mine. Have never listened to so much music in years. 

 

[hifinutt]

A Zen with a half decent DAC can better CD replay but only if you’ve put some effort into minimising noise etc. A Zenith in broadly the same circumstances will almost always better CD replay. 

how would you minimise noise ? so far i have found the zen mark 3 is roughly equal to my marantz sa8005 into a fine dac 

 

[DomT]

Sorry if this has been said already in this thread but I am sure that @Fourlegs intimated that the key difference in the more expensive Innuos streamers is in the power supply.  If this is the case then maybe keep the streamer and look at a new power supply?

 

[Mike Hughes]

@hifinuttyou would minimise noise by experimenting with LPS, different cables, network switches etc. When you move up to the Zenith that doesn’t become redundant but it’s less of an immediate need. 

 

[Mike Hughes]

Sorry if this has been said already in this thread but I am sure that @Fourlegs intimated that the key difference in the more expensive Innuos streamers is in the power supply.  If this is the case then maybe keep the streamer and look at a new power supply?

You can definitely benefit from an upgraded power supply with the Zen and Zenith but the lower down the hierarchy you are then the greater the gain. I’ve tried a few loans with my Zenith and in the end I’ve stuck with it going into a Musicline PowerIgel.

 

[Lurch]

Bit of a thread resurrection, but how does RP integrate with the new Sense 2.0 App?
As some of you are aware I'm currently looking into upgrading my streamer (Pimped Node2) and currently auditioning a dcs Network Bridge. The BluOS App has obviously spoiled me as I'm finding the dcs Mosaic App a complete pain when it comes to RP. Yes I can access it and swap streams via Airable (the embedded Internet Radio service) but I've lost access to the skip track and the 3 dots to the info/direct link to artist on Qobuz/Tidal facility (for populating my Album list and playlist). The 3 dot menu & skip are options I use regularly.

So does the Sense App give me full RP functionality? If so then I will add Innuos to my list for investigation.

 

[DomT]

Bit of a thread resurrection, but how does RP integrate with the new Sense 2.0 App?
As some of you are aware I'm currently looking into upgrading my streamer (Pimped Node2) and currently auditioning a dcs Network Bridge. The BluOS App has obviously spoiled me as I'm finding the dcs Mosaic App a complete pain when it comes to RP. Yes I can access it and swap streams via Airable (the embedded Internet Radio service) but I've lost access to the skip track and the 3 dots to the info/direct link to artist on Qobuz/Tidal facility (for populating my Album list and playlist). The 3 dot menu & skip are options I use regularly.

So does the Sense App give me full RP functionality? If so then I will add Innuos to my list for investigation.

I only discovered RP last week. It’s in the Sense App and it works. Perhaps ask me some questions about functions and I will confirm as I have never used RP on any other device.

 

[DomT]

@Lurch Some screenshots to get you started

 

[Lurch]

I only discovered RP last week. It’s in the Sense App and it works. Perhaps ask me some questions about functions and I will confirm as I have never used RP on any other device.

Hi Dom, below is a screenshot of RP on BluOS, as you can see there is a skip button and 3 dots (bottom right of album art).
Does the Sense App give either 1 or both of these option? If so then there's a good chance that RP is embedded in Sense rather than supplied via a 3rd party Internet Radio service.

 

[DomT]

Hi Dom, below is a screenshot of RP on BluOS, as you can see there is a skip button and 3 dots (bottom right of album art).
Does the Sense App give either 1 or both of these option? If so then there's a good chance that RP is embedded in Sense rather than supplied via a 3rd party Internet Radio service.

Hi John can’t see your screen shot. Skip forward definitely works.

 

[DomT]

@Lurch
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