Questions re. use of an Innuos unit with a Tambaqui

Being a newbie to the realm of servers/streamers/standalone DAC setups, I have questions re. my particular audio needs for one. I wish to keep owning the bulk of the recordings that I’ll play, and plan to use a server/streamer predominantly as a means of playing drive content to my dac, plus as a convenient ripper, only expecting to internet stream perhaps 5-10% of the time I'm using the unit

Due respect, but I think you’re grossly underestimating how much streaming you’re gonna end up doing.  Once you realize the full benefit of having worlds of new music, and much of it at hi res, at your fingertips playing stuff you already know gets to be much less interesting — at least it did in my experience.  And yes, streamers/servers matter a great deal — as with the rest of audio the chain is only as strong as the weakest link and that certainly holds true here, and a great DAC like your Tambaqui will certainly let you hear that in spades.  If I’m you and at the level of your system I’d be looking at an Aurender N200 that I think can also store music onboard or the Zenith that can obviously rip CDs right into it and likely has a more user-friendly operating system.  In any event, by all means do not underestimate the benefits of streaming or the importance of the streamer/server in getting excellent performance as that would be a huge mistake.  BTW, there will be some here who will try to tell you streamers make little or no difference — listen to them at your peril as the vast majority here will tell you the exact opposite through extensive personal experience on the significant sonic benefits a better streamer can provide.  And yes, Ethernet and USB cables matter a whole lot too.  Hope this helps, and best of luck. 

Hello @aubullience,  Congrats on the tambaqui!  I own two; one stand alone in my main system and a Makua preamp with onboard Tambaqui in my family room.  Both sound amazing and I love them.  I have had many other DACs that I have owned or have had in my home, and the Tambaqui is king so far.

In my quest for the best streamer, I have had several and moved them up and down stairs many times to compare.  These include the onboard Tambaqui bridge, Auralic Aries G2, the G2 with upgraded power supply, a JCAT S1, Grimm MU1 and Aurender N20.  I mostly stream, but do listen to a large local CD and HIgh Res library.  The only one I still own is the Grimm MU1.

I am a dedicated Roon user, and every other software I use (Blueos, JMRI, Aurender Conductor) falls way short to me.  Searching by Artist, Album, Playlists, Roon Radio selections all shine with Roon.

However Roon is harder to make sound amazing due I think to all that it does and inherent noise.

Regardless of Roon, the Grimm MU1 has ben said to be a match made in heaven with the Tambaqui.  If using AES, the Grimm up samples the digital files in a way that sounds excellent.  Much better than without the MU1.  This is easy for me to hear as I have moved the Grimm between systems many times.  Mine has an 8TB internal drive, so EZ to store all the music I want.  It does NOT have a CD ripper, but this is easy to work around with a stand alone CD drive and your computer to rip the files into the Grimm.  Not as easy though as a built in ripper.

The Grimm also runs Roon Core (SERVER) should you want to try it.  I hear it is best for organizing classical music, but not my thing.

Is the Grimm the best sounding Streamer I have had?  NO.  But it is the best sounding Roon Endpoint I have had and it sounds great either way.

What sounded better?  The JCAT S1.  But it is not quite as mainstream, and only runs their own proprietary software.  If you don't care for Roon features, and want the best sound for way way less than a Taiko etc, it should be considered.  Marcin, the JCAT wizard is super nice and approachable.

The Aurender N20 also sounded great running its own Conductor software.  I gave it a slight edge over the Grimm for aggressive music, perhaps not for Orchestral.  It is also a Roon endpoint but did not sound as good as the Grimm running Roon.

I have never heard an Innuos or played with their Sense software.  Many like them and they can be had risk free I think for a trial.

If you are playing mostly stored files, and sometimes Qobuz, any software will work.  but I love the way Roon combines my library and streamed files into cohesive playlists.  I have so many songs in my favorites list I am constantly hearing one I have not played in some time, and one that I would not have manually selected.  Finally for Roon, its own selections, or 'Roon Radio' picks following my song or songs are spot on and interesting.  Conductor for example selects songs not at all to my liking.

So I think with playing digital files either locally or streamed the streamer and front end setup makes a huge difference.  I recommend a quality switch with good power supply just before the streamer, and a good ethernet cable from switch to streamer.

So what is my streamer in my better system?  I am still deciding.  I had hoped that the N20 would be it, but Conductor made my head hurt.  I tried.  I would be happy with a second Grimm but where is the fun in that? :)

I am going to trial an Antipodes Oladra...

Hope all this helps some.  Way back when I was asking the same question, another member said to me: 'You have a Lamborghini for a DAC and are feeding it regular gas'!

+1 @soix !

Hi, thanks everyone for the feedback so far!

Maybe I’ve presented my initial inquiry/outlook in a muddled manner, my fault.

To be clear, a better way for me to consider and make my choice would be to approach it as- if I were ONLY buying a component to feed stored files to my DAC, with NO internet-sourced or any network streaming involved, how would the Innuos units rank sound-wise and how would they compare to the alternatives in their price range / how synergistic would they be with the Tambaqui / what may be compelling alternatives? E.G., will check out the Aeon server suggested- maybe I should be getting a premium-quality server device and then separately purchase a more modest dedicated streamer if that’s more cost effective for getting a really great server and not over-paying for a very secondarily important (to me) streamer.

From the responses so far, I’m not sure if they are conflating the needs/wants of someone (a typical modern listener) streaming much/most/all of their listening content from the internet, with someone in my position (a bit of a throwback) who just generally won’t be doing that. Plus, I’m assuming (perhaps incorrectly!) that all things being equal, upstream from the DAC, it’s trickier/more expensive (setup-wise) to get a given level of sound quality through streaming it from the internet and/or through a home-network, than from a purely on-site, non-networked source.

Also, further context, about half of my "serious" listening is to my analog setup, so having already purchased the Tambaqui, I’m concerned (though I haven’t set a hard price ceiling) about the rate of diminishing returns as a server (or server/streamer combo) would approach the Tambaqui price-wise.

Thanks, fastfreight- after hearing the Tambaqui side-by-side with the Luxman D-10X I’d owned for a couple of years, I found the Tambaqui to sound substantially better than the Luxman, which is itself a wonderful piece of gear IMO.

In regards to what you’re saying about servers/streamers, Soix, I’m not assuming a priori that they have little importance, but am just curious as to relatively how much they generally have in proportion to DACs, particularly a server itself. Regarding what you’ve said about my grossly underestimating how much streaming I’ll end up doing, after 45 years of searching/collecting, I already have more music I like and love that I can ever get to as much as I’d like; and being a genuine primate, as soon as I’ve located new selections that appeal to me, prefer to own rather than "rent" them. But IF that changes down the road I’ll replace/upgrade what I have with more emphasis upon the high-end streaming side of things ; )

@OP A quality streamer makes a substantial difference, but if you are not that interested in streaming from the internet, then spending a large sum of money on a streamer seems of dubious benefit. One option is to use a PC for storage and delivery to your Tambaqui using Roon. Some will say this is not a good option from a sound quality perspective, but I have had excellent results with a custom PC  using a JCAT USB card XE with its own nano PSU. The PC option gives you virtually unlimited choice in regard to storage and with Roon you also have a brilliant streaming platform. I've had zero issues running this configuration for four or five years now. Lastly, though, I don't have direct experience of it, the NAD M50.2 looks like a product that fits your specification at not crazy money.

I have a Tambaqui and a Pulsar

No complaints 

I know that Innuos is highly regarded.  So I thought I would upgrade to the Innuos Pulse 2 days ago.   Usually with any new app it takes awhile to learn how to use it properly, but the Sense app is driving me crazy.  I suppose I will go around in circles until I figure it out.  SQ is about the same, but I am also having way more dropouts than what would be reasonable.

This is probably review, but I thought it is something you should consider. I think it is important to note that the sound can be significantly affected by your choice of connectivity and the strengths of the streamer and DAC in clock department. Timing/jitter is a critical factor in digital sound quality and who has the best clock wins. Some of the Innuos units, my Zenith MKIII included, only support USB. This puts the burden of clocking on the DAC, which can be a very good thing if the DAC has a good clock. I am guessing the Tambaqui is pretty good. If you are using SPDIF, then the streamer supplies the clock. And the cable you use in either case is important, choose carefully and include it in your budget.

My experience with Innuos has been great. I abandoned my Aurender after only a few months due to the app software and the software in the unit itself. I find Innuos intuitive and straightforward. Sorry to hear about your experience @boxcarman , I hope your experience improves.

Zione, I know I am in a learning curve on the Innuos Sense app.  After communication with the support group at Innuos, things are improving.  Sound quality is now as good or better than ever.  I had to change some settings and tomorrow we are updating software.  It' s partly my impatience when things don't come together promptly.  I could have used better setup instructions though.

Thanks all for the further feedback!

yoyoyaya, I will check out the NAD M50.2; phishhhh4, good to hear about the simpatico nature of your Tambaqui and (Innuos) Pulsar; zlone, thanks for your discussion of clocking. Given the overall excellence of the Tambaqui, I’d expect that it would robustly handle all major functional demands placed upon it, but I should try to verify that a bit.

I’m also realizing that I really need to get a better overview of the rudiments of this domain, and so have begun reading the lengthy digital audio chapter of Harley’s latest edition of his "Complete Guide." While I personally regard him as highly suspect as a reviewer of particular gear (all the new flagship stuff he reviews seems to be continually amazing and "revolutionary" in his writeups and he seems to live in a world that generally doesn’t acknowledge typically diminishing returns and "small differences" at the high end; plus there’s his gushing "MQA of it all"), still my sense is that he’ll provide a generally accurate review of the basics, just so I basically understand the newer ’digital audio landscape.’

I think I’m also realizing that perhaps I should consider the alternative of buying all of these gear functions separately. In that case I could direct a relatively greater share of my expenditures to a 'top-notch'-sounding standalone server with internal flash storage (my ultimate priority here), preferably one with excellent proprietary music library software- i.e, devoting as least half of my overall budget for my upstream-of-DAC budget to it; with the other half going to various other functions, which are secondary, those being a cd transport (yup, I still want to spin some discs), a convenient cd ripper; and least important for my listening patterns, an adequate streamer for periodically listen to Qobuz or other internet-streamed content- mostly just to find what I'd want to purchase for download

Given that, in addition to the all-in one Innuos options, I’ve also begun looking at middle-of-range Melco Music Library units (but welcome other equivalent options); transports like the Jay’s Audio CD2-MK3 or the one by Melco; the Melco cd-ripper unit, and after all that is determined, a relatively modest streamer function (at least for my foreseeable listening future).

If anyone has experience with the Melco servers vs that function in the Innuos Gear, or vs other likely contenders in this category, please feel free to chime in, thanks! Also, for the other semi-luddites among us, any experiences/perspective on transports, particularly those I mentioned or those in that price range?