Innuos Zen next-gen vs. Pulsar for streaming...?


Hi all,

The question is, has anyone had a chance to listen to both of these units and evaluate them on their streaming performance.  I've heard the Innuos Pulsar but haven't had the chance to hear the Zen next-gen streaming Qobuz or Tidal.  The Zen has additional capabilities (so it's not apples to apples) but I'm wondering if the big jump in price of the Zen next-gen improves the streaming performance over the Pulsar?

For the sake of the discussion only comments and opinions on these two units would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance, Rick 

128x128rick_n

Showing 1 response by pinwa

Directly comparing any Innuos product in a meaningful way is very difficult since  they only support a USB output and I am unaware of any DACs that have two USB inputs.  Consequently there is no real time A/B testing.  Even if the Statement Next Gen was better than the Pulsar I suspect you would be hard pressed to reliably know that given the time delay of getting up from the listening position and going to the DAC, switching cables, switching the streamer in the Sense App and listening again.  Few mere mortals have an audio memory that last long enough to permit a firm conclusion.

I upgraded from a Zenith MK 3 to the Pulsar and I couldn't promise you that it was actually better.  But it seemed better comparing to a Roon End Point so that was enough for me but psychological bias is a powerful factor when the differences are subtle.