Innuos Zen MK3 tips and tricks


I am purchasing an Innuos Zen MK3 with 1TB.  Will be streaming QoBuz and ripping CDs Qobuz doesn’t have, mostly extras from box sets and live sets.  I will be using the Innuos app controlling the unit from my iPad.  Please share any tips or tricks you’ve learned from running a similar setup.  For example, settings for ripping CDs etc.  

bassbuyer

I hooked up my Zen.  Bought it used for 1/2 price in really good condition from a great local dealer.  Set it to low latency and I’m noticing right away more detail and more separation of instruments in the soundstage.  It’s also incredibly quiet which is noticeable.  So far so good.  

Anyone know if the sense app will stream 'similar songs' after your playlist is over? I have Roon, which does do that, and currently use Sense. Just miss discovering new music when I had that feature.

Thanks

@chemarcelo Gotta give credit to @jayrossi13. The latency setting idea that was posted in the Innuos forum was posted by a co-founder of Innuos, so it's pretty credible.

Carolin No is awesome.  You might also like Angus and Julia Stone. 

I'm also a fan of Riverside and RPWL. Good tunes. 

Thanks for the tip on the latency mode.  I will definitely check it out.  Thanks. 

Post removed 

@jayrossi13 Thanks for the tip. I’m running in low latency and no issues, so far. I could swear there is a bit more clarity now. I’m listening to Carolin No - Carolin No and I seem to be hearing more detail. Maybe it’s the coffee.

If you haven’t heard Carolin No, check it out. It’s on Qobuz.

Screwing in a lightbulb has a higher degree of difficulty than a Innuos setup. Was definitely designed for Luddites. 

You should toggle the latency mode for USB, determine which way it sounds better. The factory default is Normal--but I prefer low.

Below is more info on how to make this change.

https://community.innuos.com/threads/tip-of-day-usb-low-latency-setting.108/

You’ll love it, I love mine and it’s been trouble free since 2020 when I bought it. The sense app is great!

The dealer is setting it up for the Sense app so I won’t mess with it.  Access to more live Dead is tempting though.  Thanks.  

I have only ripped to Apple Music back when I had my iPod (those were the days).  I assume WAC sounds better but takes up more storage space.  I will go with WAC to maximize the sound quality.  Thanks.  

“settings for ripping CDs”
It depends on your priorities. Do you have lot of CD’s to rip? Are you able to discern differences between WAC vs FLAC?

I have upto 16TB of space, so my entire library of CD’s are in WAV. To my ears, WAV files sounds slightly better than FLAC. Even though most people cannot tell a difference between FLAC vs WAV, FLAC is a compressed file and uses more processing power to decompress whereas WAV is technically a perfect copy of the original audio file…zero compression. 

 

You can access the LMS configuration here:

https://innuos.com/kb/access-the-internal-logitech-media-server-lms-software-settings/

Note the cautions, and don’t mess with it if you don’t know what you are doing. Some of the config has no effect as far as I can tell. For example, LMS provides support for accessing the Live Music Archive (Deadhead ears perk up), but enabling it does not make it appear as a feature in the Sense app. I wish it did. 

I have the same streamer.  Setup was very simple. I don't recall anything special, but my memory sucks and that was months ago. 

You can set the ripper to automatically rip a CD when it's inserted, or do it manually.  I let it do it automatically. Pop in a CD and around 5 minutes later, it pops out and it's done. Pretty slick.  Before I got the Innuos, I tried ripping software on a laptop and never got consistent results.

I think you'll like the Innuos and the Sense app.