Innuos Zenith Mk3 vs Zen Mk3 + Phoenix


In a perfect world I would have the funds for a Zenith M3 and Phoenix, but I don’t. 

I’ve read somewhere that the Innuos Zen 3 with Phoenix sounds better than the Zenith by itself. Has anyone here heard this comparison particularly on the same system and can describe your observations?

By going with Zen + Phoenix it’s about 25% more than a solo Zenith, so from a value proposition is the combo appreciably better, and the extra money spent worth it? Or is it wiser to buy the Zenith, If the different is small then perhaps add a Phoenix later if budget permits?
ianderson

Showing 4 responses by antigrunge2

The Phoenix reclocker is a half way house. Asynchronous USB puts the DAC‘s clock in charge of clocking the transport/server. Rather than spending money on a reclocker one should spend the money on getting the best DAC clock possible, ideally a 10Mhz master clock. After adding a 10m Ocxo clock to my DAC, the Zenith MK3 made a quantum leap. It is truly an excellent server/player.
@ianderson

I went with a cheap chinese clock found on Alibaba to try out what improvement it would make to my Antelope Zodiac Platinum DAC driven by the Innuos Zenith Mk3 via an Intona Isolator. The resulting improvement for shelling out $100 is easily the highest return quality improvement I have ever experienced. It‘s connected via a cheap 50ohm BNC cable but powered by a Kingrex LPS. The power supply and a quality power cable have a significant impact on the clock as does proper vibration insulation via Black Ravioli. Given the performance, I am reluctant to shell out $4-5k for a Mutec or Cybershaft clock, never mind $6-7k for an Antelope clock.
@ianderson 

I really have a problem with the a=432 transposition: it‘s not what the musicians heard when they played the music and as such has no business in a high fidelity setup. Either a marketing gimmick or engineers not understanding musicans.
@ianderson 

While I agree with your tolerant conclusion, I‘d like to understand the impact of tuning on resultant overtones a bit better: good musicians build harmonies with a keen awareness on matching overtones and depending which string you use on a guitar for the same tone you get different overtones and hence different harmonies. Best I know DSP cannot adjust for that although I fully acknowledge that I don‘t really know what I am talking about😳