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

Really like Innuos but their sales and marketing leaves much to be desired. With the advent of Pulse and NG products it would be helpful to know how they stack up to one another comparing streaming and server SQ. The descriptions provided on their site have some detail but I have no idea how these features translate to SQ? I mean C'mon Innuos, help a brother out! Can we get a simple chart that shows features and SQ between models? After reading the info on Sense 3, I have no idea what the tangible benefits are to the user.

For my 30 seconds on their website came away with pulsar has same 300 V power supply thingy As the statement. The next GEN pro was, you could upgrade it to a zenith at a future point for even more improved sound quality.

Like @chilehed said, it would be nice if Innuos would clarify the benefits/weaknesses between their products. It truly is frustrating. Perhaps I will send them an email...

Bob

It doesn’t help that there just seems to be very few reviews of any of their newer streamers, especially from review sites/mags that I at least consider to be reputable.  Nonexistent as far as I can see.  Frustrating. 

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.

I upgraded from the Zenith 3 to the Pulsar and am enjoying a very significant jump in sonic performance. A close friend did the same with the exact same result. The improvement was across the board on all important sonic parameters. Improved dynamics, resolution, purity of tone, imaging, improved sense of ease and control and more bass slam and articulation.

If your system is well sorted out and highly resolving, then I can’t image not both hearing and appreciating the improved sonics. I suppose system synergy, level of room treatments and other factors not mentioned will play a role.

I did the same upgrade, with the same results.  A noticeable improvement in all areas.

Not exactly what you are looking for but I recently went from Pulsar to Zenith Next Gen (so one step up from the Zen Next Gen).  Not night and day, but definite audible improvement in sound.  A little more presence and detail, but not fatiguing.  I would guess the Zen might have at least somewhat similar (if maybe a bit less significant) improvements, but without having heard it, I, of course, can’t really know.  I also wanted the built in server function to eliminate an external box and that works well.  Between trade up deal they were running a few months ago and trade on my prior server, I ended up with a reasonable (if still expensive) price.  I’m happy overall with the change.

Interesting @johnboston, so did your Zenith NG come with a drive to rip CDs or are you using it purely as a streamer? I see that you can buy it configured as a server or streamer? Can you give some insights to Sense 3? Are there differentiating user features or behavior or are the changes under the covers? Did you demo this at a dealer or did you buy it on blind faith? Thanks!

None of the NG machines come with a cd drive built in.  You can easily add one to one of the USB ports in the back.  I have ripped most of my music on CD already — so ripping isn’t a high priority for me.  I did buy a cheap LG dvd ripper (model number GP65NS60) that I used to rerip a couple of cds and it worked fine.  Follow the directions on Innuos’ website to get it set up — very easy.

You can configure the Zenith NG with built in SSD storage from Innuos or you can add it yourself later.  I got a 4TB drive pre-installed — more space than I’ll ever likely need, but it’s also easy to add a second drive if you want.  I had used a separate music server with the Pulsar and wanted to eliminate one box by combining the server/streaming function into a single box.

So, I both stream Tidal/Qobuz and play locally stored music through the Zenith.  No real differences in Sense 3 between the Zenith and the Pulsar in terms of functionality as far as I know other than the lack of ability to have internal music storage on the Pulsar.

No demo for me.  I did buy from a place I could have returned it, but I wasn’t expecting that to be the case.  I’ve been using Innuos machines for close to 10 years and each time I’ve upgraded I got better sound and good functionality.  And this is again the case with the Zenith NG.

Hope this helps

Thanks @johnboston, fills in a lot of blanks to the direction they are going. And yes, a home demo for something like this would be a must as I am one of the unfortunates @pinwa mentioned; my auditory memory stinks

@grannyring Excellent observations.  I moved from Zenith MK3 to Zenith NG and found very little SQ improvements.  I will say this it sounds much better running Roon than on the MK3.  I think that's because its processor is more powerful?