Well, I have to throw my hat in the ring for Aurender. I set mine up and haven’t had any issues since and that is probably 2-3 years ago. I find the conductor app. to be easy to use and I’m very pleased with the sound. Would love to have a W20 but it’s way too rich for my blood. On the other hand, Jim Salk @ Salk Sound has developed a custom hand built unit that is quite affordable and offers very unique features hmmm......
Aurender vs. Roon
I would greatly appreciiate any input on something I was told yesterday by a learned audiophile. A) that aurenders conductor app is inferior to roon. That is probably a given. However, I thought Roon will interact with the conductor app. so if that is the case then you can have the best of both worlds. Also, Roon has better audio quality the Aurender? Aside from that, is the landscape moving toward Roon? Reason I ask is I have been looking at Aurender streamers to purchase and there seems to be more and more of them for sale on Audiogon and US Audio Mart etc. Is it possible Roon Ready devices are going to be the newest frontier so why bother with Aurender if they are not going to support it? Thanks in advance for any insight or suggestions.
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I sold my Music Vault from Neil. It did have many mods and upgrades including the SOTM usb card, linear poser supply, Audiophile Optimizer, Fidelizer Pro and SOTM usb reclocker. With the SOTM power supply. I loved this unit for years. Neil is great. The Innuos Zen III is just more musical to me. I really like the Innuos! |
The video is harsh, but I kind of get it. Much of computer audio is off-the-shelf standard parts shrink-wrapped for audiophiles allergic to computers. But those linear power supplies do make a difference relative to standard switching power supplies. I’ve been using a i5 QNAP NAS to host Roon, connected by Ethernet to SOtM endpoints. One the greatest improvements has been to replace the motherboard Ethernet interface on the QNAP with a JCAT Net Card Femto PCIe board powered by an external LPS. The improvement is so remarkable that it makes me wonder if a noisy motherboard-to-ethernet interface is perhaps the weakest link in computer audio. @grannyring If you still have Neil’s PC-based server, you might compare the Innuos to the PC with a JCAT Femto ethernet card and a SOtM or uRendu EN-to-USB endpoint. Both JCAT and SOtM also make PCIe USB cards that may improve upon whatever was available when Neil built your PC. |
Anybody else do what @rbstehno has done? I'm interested in doing the same, as I have a tricked out mac mini and a PS Audio Direct Stream DAC with a Bridge II for ethernet connection. The Mac Mini is mid 2011 with a 2.3GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 that I've installed an SSD, 8GB RAM and a linear power supply. Is that powerful enough to run Roon? What should I expect for sound quality relative to other options? Thanks, Peter |
Mrdon and Thyname, the biggest point here is that OCD hifi guy is looking at a screen shot of a product and making a determination about it. This is about as valid a point at looking at a beautiful woman and saying she is going to be fabulous in the sack because she is great looking, she could be great or be just awful, without direct empirical evidence you are postulating now aren't you? Or looking at a pretty picture of an expensive amplifier and stating it is going to sound terrific because it looks good. Proper ettiquette as well as scientific procedure is to get in said product and do a point by point test of its sound quality. Either the piece performs or it doesn't. The video is in poor taste because no one in his right mind would just go off on a product without testing it personally and knowing all of the facts about its construction and cost of manufacture and of course its sound quality. Dave and Troy Audio Doctor NJ Innous dealers |
I just find it interesting that a post via video by someone with experience in the audio field can be so intimidating... I would think A) if it has merit then that much the better. B) if it does not have any merit than so be it.. C) this post was also trying to trying to say "many" other vendors use trickery and tried to outline ways it did so to get the typical novice to buy into the made up facts that their company manufactures quality items.. Whether or not Innuos is guilty of doing this obviously remains a mystery? If the video is fairly accurate then it will bring down a house of cards that many have lived in including reviewers, that is the threat...Internet is the nature of the beast. There is always an opinion. Best way to know for sure: find a way to audition for yourself. Nothing replaces personal experience. |
I just find it interesting that a post via video by someone with experience in the audio field can be so intimidating... I would think A) if it has merit then that much the better. B) if it does not have any merit than so be it.. C) this post was also trying to trying to say "many" other vendors use trickery and tried to outline ways it did so to get the typical novice to buy into the made up facts that their company manufactures quality items.. Whether or not Innuos is guilty of doing this obviously remains a mystery? If the video is fairly accurate then it will bring down a house of cards that many have lived in including reviewers, that is the threat... |
determining the cost ($600-$700.00) of the innards and or production of unit. It could very well be that the internal components of the Innous does not go above $500-600. However, a HUGE part of the factor is the engineering and R&D to put all these together into a manufacturing process. Add in the manufacturing of the case itself, which can be somewhat costly. This cost is increased because these items are not massed produced like a cheap sony bluray player would be. So, the company has to custom manufacture about a 100 at a time, maybe less. You cannot send 50,000 units through an automated robot manufacturing process like Sony bluray players. You're looking at 50-200 manufactured items at a time, probably hand built. Additionally, there is a huge cost in the development and engineering of the software, which is not anything like a standard JRiver server. This Innous product also has a custom internal network protocol that allows it to communicate directly to other Innous agent/players (the streaming port). So we are looking at probably a minimum 2-3+ years of software development labor. Part of this is wrapping the software into an automatic O/S, probably a thin version of Linux or similar. This is NOT an out-of-the-box Windows installation. So, this is a DLNA type music server. It does require a "DLNA type renderer/player device or a USB DAC. For pricing, it is comparable to other players, such as Bryston BDP-3 or any Aurender or Auralic type device. In comparison, I think Bryston puts together about 20-30 devices at a time during their manufacturing process at their factory. While OCD Guy does have some good ideas if somebody wants to create a "freeware" self-built self-engineered Windows/Linux server, it requires a level of computer/software/electronics skill and it is not going to be a "black box" with the specific features of the Innous. |
Fza your post seems rather malicious, this video has been proven to be bunk and has been discussed before. The video has also been discredited as a smear campaign by a guy who discredits much of the industry, The same guy who rails against profit and over charge, sells is own line of very expensive cables which cost very little to make, yet are priced at many times the cost of his materials, where is the integrity in that? Back to your video points to consider: One: looking at a products guts on line does not verify the sound quality of the piece. Two: OCD facts are wrong, the MK III units all use a custom mother board, custom power supplies, proprietary software, their own very high quality USB board with very low jitter in the Statement, ethernet incomming and outgoing filters depending on models, custom cases and footers. Three: OCD guy never brought a unit to test his comments that he can home brew a comparable unit for less is like postulating my souped up home built Honda racer will smoke a 2019 Porsche 911 Turbo, and even it it did it wouldnt mean that the home built car is reliable, resellable, servicable, and in said example perhaps when you factor in time and parts build the savings on home built unit may not equal much. Four: The Innous products are some of the highest rated digital streaming products on the market and have been heralded in every review as being great sounding, reilable, products that have been advancing the catagory of digital streamers since they came out and each successive generation is a noticable improvement over the last. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlCG2fK-abo Lets see what Mr. Darko a respected reviewer of all things digtial says. Dave and Troy Audio Doctor NJ Innous dealers |
This is a review debunking the Innuous Zenith Mk3 server: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNO_bDskM7M |
Lalik, your love of the Arender is commendable, IMHO there is no other server like the N10. They are all like the N10 a Lumin is like the N10, proprietary technology its own app, except that it doens’t have storage, the Auralic is like the N10 custom app, propreitary technology internal storage. All of these servers do the same task yes they sound different and some like the Innous use Roon while other like Antipodes also can run Roon and the Baetis can run Jriver or Roon but they are all the same high end, high performance digital transports. They all differ in terms of execuation and of course sound quality. We champion in the Innous not because it is in our vested interest alone, it the press at general who are saying the Innous Statement is breaking new ground in the ability to present a dac with the best possible signal and it is a game changing product. Please read the reviews so far everyone who has experienced an Innous product has been bowled over by it: Current Statement reviews: Ear: http://www.the-ear.net/review-hardware/innuos-statement-network-audio-server The longer you let the Statement settle in the better it sounds, it’s like a Naim component in this respect, and by the end of the server’s far too short (month long) tenure I was getting seriously addicted to it. Whether streaming Ryley Walker on Tidal or Bugge Wesseltoft from the drive it has a beguiling transparency and openness that is dangerous to get used to, especially as it has inevitably to go back. The Statement is a more subtle source than most, its qualities are those of omission, it leaves out the distortion so that the music can come through. In this and all other respects this Innuos is a genuine state of the art component, put it on your ‘must hear’ bucket list straight away. From Hfi Plus Digital Product of the Year 2018
Server of the Year: Innuos Statement We’ve had little more than a few quick plays with the Innuos Statement because they are proving so popular that they are in very short supply (every one allocated to us ends up being sold to reduce the backlog of sales), but even the briefest of exposure to the ZENith Statement shows you are in the presence of something special. The full media server uses Innuos’ basic concepts that hold right down to the latest version of the half-sized ZEN, including separate linear power supplies, careful case construction to isolate key subsystems, and a custom OS designed specifically for media replay. However, it takes those concepts to their logical extremes, with separate boxes with clever chambered internal housings to keep everything fully isolated from other parts of the Statement. The ‘killer app’ though is just what these things do to the sound of the Statement, compared to almost any other server (including Innuos’ own). The company does a short demonstration at shows, comparing the ‘it can’t get better than this’ limited edition ZENith SE Mk II to the Statement. Those who can afford it, buy a Statement, and those who can’t start planning their own version of Breaking Badjust to rustle up the money to own one. The review is coming, so you better start saving! Full Review Hifi Plus https://www.hifiplus.com/articles/innuos-statement-music-server/ The Innuos Statement takes what the company did with the SE and goes considerably further in the quest to unearth maximum musical brilliance in any recording. I suspect that the more I use it the more I’ll hear, especially if paired with better conversion, amplification, and transduction. I am confident in saying that it has few – if any – peers in the network server field, which means that it is one of if not the best digital source you can buy today. John Darko: on the older SE pre Statement piece: Streamers and servers: Premier League Division 1 Division 2 Division 3 again from Darkohttps://darko.audio/2019/02/a-short-film-about-the-innuos-zen-mk3/?fbclid=IwAR0erU_SoPq_QORo2Sct0wD4... Lalik it is not us being just Innous fans it seems that most of the reviewers who experience the Innous prouducts are raving over them as well. Dave and Troy Audio Doctor NJ Innous dealers |
When you get to W20 or Innous Statement level, you don’t worry about couple of grand here or there. I am sure if I reach out to you for Innous Statement 1TB version, you wouldn’t shy away from upselling the 2TB or 4TB version. There is no other streamer like W20, IMHO. Since you have no vested interest in Aurender, I am going to take your over the top claims about Innous with grain of salt. |
Yes and Lalik, the W 20 is $17,600.00 so it is even more expensive! The Zenith which compares to the N10 is $4,300.00 vs the N10 which is $8,000.00 so big difference there. There is also the 1TB version for $13,750.00 or the 2TB version for $14,400.00 So it seems you can have a lot of price difference from the $17,600.00 one version W20. Please find us a W20 in the New York metro area and we will be more than happy to do so. Why don’t you read the review Mr. Kennedy is pretty emphatic on his finding on the Statement from the last line of the review: " if not the best digital source you can buy today. " that is a pretty glowing endorsement isn’t it? We see things very differently then you Lalik if something is better we would easily sell off the older item and replace it with the newer one. Our allgience is to getting the best sound possible and not the brand, if we can find a better server for the money than the Innous we would switch in a second. Again just for giggles why don't you hear a Statement for yourself and what if it moves your system's performance in a big way would you deny that, if the Statment made you system signifigantly better, because of your support for the brand you currently have? Our philsophy is to pursee the best possibly products hence we are always testing new and emmerging products if the design makes sense. Dave and Troy Audio Doctor NJ Innous dealers |
“please recognize that the Statement is absolutely blowing people’s minds in a way that we haven’t seen in a very long time” Statement with 4TB SSD cost $15150, at this price they better be blowing people’s minds 😉 In all fairness, Innous Statement should be compare against W20 not N10. PS: I have no plans to let go my N10 anytime soon. |
Lalik we never said that Innous is the only game in town, right now they are the hottest server company on the market and they represent an excellent value for the dollar. We can understand that you like other Aurender users love their products, the biggest issue with Aurender is that the N10, and W20 are now showing their age, and now that they are up against the new rung of uber servers that are represened by Innous, SGM, and the Memory Player as being the best in the world. The fact that an Innous Statment is less expensive than the W20 or the SGM or the Memory Player and it is incredibily well built Aurender is taking a different approach now, they are focusing on building some very nice all in one streamer/dacs like the upcoming 30, rather then over hauling and upgrading the N20 and W20. Both the N10 and W20 are fantastic servers and they certainly do fit some users better than the Innous product, but Lalik come on please recognize that the Statement is absolutely blowing people's minds in a way that we haven't seen in a very long time, at least until when the original N10 and W20 hit the market. Maybe you should demo a Statement and compare it to your N10 who knows you might just make the switch. We will be doing that very same demo in a few weeks after our new demo Statement has had a some time to burn in. One of our clients has the N10 so it will make a very nice comparative demo may the best server win. Dave and Troy Audio Doctor NJ Innous dealers |
@audiotroy, My posts on first page of this thread are pretty clear where I stand on Aurender SQ, conductor app and upconverting. Aurender owners needs no further convincing that they are missing a great deal by not having Roon ( as you keep pointing out in every post ). Many Aurender users already expressed their satisfaction repeatedly with the Conductor app. I am happy to learn that Innuos is pushing the envelope on price/performance and challenging the competition to keep up. Thankfully, there are many excellent options in high end audio streamer / server to choose from.....Innuos is one of them but not the only game in town. |
Lalik it is lovely that you are an Aurender owner and fan, if you notice in our posts we never said the Aurender units weren’t good or they did not perform, what we did say is that many people are choosing Roon for a number of reasons. The Conductor is one of the best music control apps, out there, it is very very good, and does offer a bit of the meta data quality that Roon offers. You may be missing one of the greatest points with Roon you can have a house full of music and Roon can control many other devices such as Sonos, or NAD Blue Sound or Naim or other Chromecast or Airplay enabled devices. Other people love the complete libray integration of both storred and streaming music. Other people love the file handling and eq functions that the DSP tab provides. Other people love the experiential quality of the Roon meta data. Companies such as Aurender are going to be challenged by more Roon enabled servers because Roon is gaining more and more market share and they always keep on improving the software. Also on this thread it seems you bash upconverting. There are many many dacs that will sound better with upconverted digital or transcoded at least with Roon you can have your choice of playing a file Native, as upsampled PCM or playing Tidal as all DSD files. The choice of how you want your music files relies on the user and what sounds best on the dac. Companies such as Innous are pushing the bar in sound quality and for a small upstart company they are gaining a large share of the server market. Why? Because they build an excellent sounding, very well designed, and very reliable server, and in each price catagory seems to be the best sounding product. How many companies do you know that build servers with ethernet noise filters in them for both input and output to best feed an ethernet enabled dac? We have done those tests Tidal played direct by a streaming dac and then the Innous feeding the same dac via its filtered and packeted ethernet port the sound quality was was better via the Innous Zenith then by beeing feed direct. Unfortunatly Innous was stung by the recent Intel chip shortage but it does seem that Innous have located a supplier of this chips that has sufficient quantity to enable the production of the Zen and Zenith models and Intel is supposed to be getting the pipeline going again. This was an Intel screw up in not forcasting demand not Innous and many companies that made products using a certain class of Intel CPU’s were affected. Companies like Innous push the industry to rise to new heights personally all of these server companies should make one of two versions with the choice of what OS you want to run wouldn’t that be lovely? Recent review of the Innous Statement: http://www.hifiplus.com/articles/innuos-statement-music-server/ If you read my review of the Innuos Zenith SE you will know that I considered that server to be a game changer, a product that redefined what was possible with digital audio The Innuos Statement takes what the company did with the SE and goes considerably further in the quest to unearth maximum musical brilliance in any recording. I suspect that the more I use it the more I’ll hear, especially if paired with better conversion, amplification, and transduction. I am confident in saying that it has few – if any – peers in the network server field, which means that it is one of if not the best digital source you can buy today. Dave and Troy Audio Doctor NJ Innous dealers |
Comparing Roon to Aurender. Issue: Finding a way to play music stored on a computer (upstairs) to be reproduced on the home stereo system (downstairs) and not sound like your listening to music stored on a home computer. Roon - will solve the issue by allowing you to run software on your computer, or NAS, and then using it through various ethernet switches to access the music and control it via iPad or iPhone. No need to transfer stored music you just point the software to the music and to your pre-amp and the software will connect the two. This is more geared to computer people - IMHO Aurender - also solves the issue by hardware (you transfer/copy all the music to it) physically connect it to your DAC/Pre-Amp and control it via iPad software. Better for Audiophiles - IMHO. |
My experience comparing the Roon to Aurender N10. The Sound I tried the Roon on a 2018 MBP, ethernet to Gigabit switch, then ethernet to an Ayre QX-5. Then RCA out to a Marantz AV7704 (I used the 7.1 Channel in to avoid the Marantz DAC) Speakers were B&W 803D3 and amps were Classe Sigma 2Amps. It sounded ok, not bad but not any better then running the MBP directly to the Ayre. It just allowed you to use an iPad interface vs the MBP. Aurender N10 test. Then I transferred the same songs - ALAC & MP3s to the Aurender. Used it's USB out (Also tried the AES/EBU and COAX) The difference was immediate. Got an immediate thumbs up from the wife. More depth and much larger soundstage. The notes just seemed to carry better. And the bass was deeper. For me it clearly sounded better. Winner - Aurender. The Apps. Roon. We (wife, myself & 2 teenagers too) felt the Roon app was to cluttered and suffered from info overload. It reminds me of apps that i'v tried on my phone that were great in the beginning (clean and simple) and then transformed into a method for advertisers to push products onto you - going from a pull technology to a push technology. Aurender N10. We much preferred the interface of the Conductor App - clean, simple, no distracting links and articles. Just realize that you need good metadata so it sorts the way you want in the Conductor App. Winner - None - They are just different. It really depends on what experience you are looking for. Practical considerations. Our computers are upstairs in the office. The listening room is downstairs. We listened to music by going upstairs turning on the computer (Make sure Home Share is on and set computer to not go to sleep or log out). Then turn on the stereo and Apple TV (connect to the computer and stream music from there to the Apple TV) then via HDMI to the Marantz. What a pain in the *%&. We could leave everything on but would still have to suffer with the Apple TV interface. That's why we looked at Roon. But you need to leave everything on - iTunes opened, Roon opened, computer set to not sleep. Or you get a NAS and set it up downstairs. Based on this and our tests we did not feel that Roon was for us. The Aurender - transfer your library there, update it once a week?, and you're done. You can turn everything on from downstairs and you get great sound. No messing with computers. Just need an iPad and WIFI. Cost? Yes the Aurender costs more. But we all make choices. Lastly - If you have bad source material. The Aurender with the Ayre cleaned up a lot better than Roon through the Ayre. We tried a few old mp3s we had from the early days of the internet ;-) |
In case anyone is interested, I was able to integrate Sonos connects without issue after messing with for a couple of days. In short, connects should run wireless and not share the same router (wired) as the Rock. I am not sure why that is, but I found this piece of advice on another forum. Also I changed the wireless channel of the connects. Once those 2 steps occurred I have not had any issues. IN fact, the queuing up of music is extremely fast, much faster than Sonos UI. Thus far I really like Roon. Now the dilemma of if I should get a MQA/DSD capable DAC. |
I had an old NUC around I hadn't been using - about a year ago I bought a Macbook Pro and the need for a windows based system is no longer needed. Today I updated the BIOS, formatted the drive and made the NUC into a Room Rock. I have the Room Rock connected to a Synology NAS drive, 2 4TB drives used exclusively for music. The library is slow to analyze and I have had to squelch the library processes to improve performance, but other than that I have had no issues with streaming. I have integrated my Sonos Connects and will use those in secondary listening areas. For my main listening room I haven't completely figured that out. I have a resolution cantata that is not Room compliant, but that doesn't mean it won't work - just not tested. I will experiment with that and see if I can integrate. My initial thought after 1 day is it is a lot of $ for the info Roon provides. It definitely improves upon the streaming experience, but it is still streaming and I find myself putting the music on and not using Roon's features. I suppose streaming will never be as intimate as vinyl where I consciously grab a record, choose side A or B, look at the cover art, read the liners and then either flip, put away, or chose a new record in 15-20 minutes. I spoke to soon - After 4 hours of streaming I get a message similar to , "Roon lost control of the audio device". I simply hit play again and music started to stream. Doing a quick google search this seems to occur quite often. I have 13 more days to analyze, but will not keep if Roon is at all fiddly. |
If all I care about is sound quality (not interface) and I am looking to feed a MSB Renderer (no DSP use) overt ethernet, would people recommend Roon run on Innuos Zenith MK3 with isolated ethernet or the new Aurender ACS10 with double isolated ethernet? Again the application is a server with ethernet output to Dac Renderer with no DSP where sound quality is only criteria. Thanks! |
I want to feed my MSB Renderer with the best sounding Ethernet feed possible. I am looking at the isolated Ethernet approach used in the Aurender ACS10 and the Zenith MK3. Based strictly on sound over isolated ethernet, which of these three are best:
Paul |
Thanks thyname. The dealer let me use a Roon Nucleus until the Zen 3 is in. I love how simple this unit is to use with a Roon and a Tidal. Took me 5 minutes! Nice. However, the sound is just average and nothing special. My old tricked out Windows based computer with SOTM Usb card sounded better for sure. Sure hope the Zen 3 is a huge step up as I already sold my computer/server. I wish a had a LPS to power the Nucleus. I bet that would help greatly. |
mrdon are you looking for a server or a streamer? The Naim Ndx 2 oor a 555 are expensive streaming dacs, the NDX is $7500 for example. The Lumin D2 is excellent but it also includes a dac while the U1 does not. The Aurender and Innuous products are mostly streamers, although the Innuous Mini has analog outputs and the Aurender A1 has its own built in dac. Dave and Troy Audio Doctor NJ |
Twoch, Roon is one big boat anchor? What are you smoking Roon rocks, if you notice more and more manufacturers are making their products Roon compatible endpoints, we just put out a new Krell K300i integrated amplifier for example and I can seemlessly send music to it from Roon as well as being able to send music to dozens of other devices all over my store. Sure some people are not Roon fans, and yes it does suck to have to pay for software but Roon has a huge ton of advantages. You may also forget we do sell and really like Aurnender products, and they make a fantastic little server, what we pointed out is that not having Roon compatibility is hurting their sales, their hardware is excellent which unit a client prefers is up to them. Roon is getting more and more traction because it is fantastic software, if you are only going to stream Tidal or Qbuzz, or Spotify or Internet radio then the Conductor app is fine and it is free it does have some nice features. We do like the built in Airplay function of the Aurender servers and wish the Innuous would have that. Thyname we do agree with you, we sell: Lumin, Aurender, Baetis, Innuous, Naim, and Nad servers and streamers plus a whole lot more, the Innuous is one of our absolute favorites for all the reason mentioned in this thread, is it perfect no it isn't but the company continues to make better and better products. Mrdon the Calia is supposed to be an excellent dac so unless you are unhappy with its performance I would concentrate on the sever part. Dave and Troy Audio Doctor NJ: Innuous, Aurender dealers |
Troy / Dave is 100% right to recommend Innuos! It is a great server, one of the best out there, especially for the money. And to be clear, you don't need Roon to use Innuos ZEN or ZEN Mini or ZENith. You can use use it with SqueezeLite endpoint, or any UPnP and DLNA streamer / controller. If you do use Roon, it is an excellent Roon Server, AND, an excellent Roon Endpoint too. Something to keep in mind too. One solution for Serving / Streaming. I have the new ZENith MK3 for a few weeks now, and I am very happy with it. It is so easy to use, and excellent support from the company (when I needed some help with Backup to my NAS they did a remote session and fixed it). |
@mrdon if I may offer a response to your question: How do you feel about the Lumin D2 or Lumin U1. I already have a DAC (Prism Sound Callia)Placing the U1 in front of your Callia would work great. The D2 offers analog outputs, and will sound different enough from the Callia that it really becomes a question of your personal preference. If you preferred the D2 then you could sell or repurpose the Callia. If you preferred the Callia, you'd be spending a little bit extra for analog outputs you wouldn't be using and giving up the other digital outputs found on the U1 (or U1 Mini). In addition, while the Callia accepts digital inputs from a variety of sources the LUMIN units can only operate as a streamer. For example you could not hook up a CD player or your TV's optical output to the D2 for it to act like a DAC. |
I denied the Aurender against the Auralic Aries a few years ago and much preferred the Auralic which I purchased. The Aurender gimmicks just didn’t do it for me. Also, the DS Lightning app was far superior to the Aurender app. A year ago I decided I didn’t want any type of server in my dedicated audio room, didn’t want to use usb any longer, so I went with a dac with a network card using Ethernet and running Roon on a Mac mini, no need for the nucleus. Far superior than a music server connected to a dac using usb and Roon is far superior in functionality. |
I have a Innuos Zenith Mark III and use it as a Roon Core. I have it hardwired with an ethernet cable. I output using a WyWire Silver USB to a Lyngdorf 3400. I've integrated Tidal with Roon and my digital library. I sorta wish the Lyngdorf would do the final MQA unfold but, really, I'm very happy with the SQ. IMO, the Lyngdorf DAC is excellent. I really enjoy the ability to search out new artists on Tidal, read their bios, and see the lyrics. The Roon Radio function is awesome as well. The Masters (MQA) on Tidal almost always improve over the standard redbook versions. |
I will still use the SOTM combo. Thanks for the additional info! My current server sounds very good and I do hope the Innuos sounds at least as good. Just won’t know until I get it I guess. I have my current Sound Science Music Vault Ultra II pretty tricked out and analog sounding. I am intentionally curious and want to try the Innuous. |
Very nice! It seems like you know what you are doing. You can still use your SOtM txulraUSB / sPS-500 combo on your ZEN USB out to your DAC. Most likely it will provide further improvement vs. simply USB out from ZEN. If you can afford it, go for ZENith instead of ZEN. I demoed both at my dealer before deciding on the ZENith. Another heads up, although by a long shot: Innuos will come up with a separate beefed up USB interface similar to that found on Statement. It was on a video the Nuno posted comparing Statement with ZENith MK2 SE, and I also confirmed with him directly via email. Release date: unknown |