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  3. 191637-302

Streamer for LTA Aero

I've been shopping for a highly capable, yet sensible streamer to pair with a LTA Aero DAC... on order. I'm trying to read everything, but being just about as far away from tech savvy as one can be, I have to give great weight to the guidance of others. The streamers that are most of interest to me are the Aurenders N200 and N150, and the Innuos ZEN and ZENith. My interest in the Innuos line is due mostly to their ripping feature - that might be unfair - I have a couple thousand CDs. That being said, I'm not deaf to those who advise that If I get the streamer/DAC thing right, I'll never reach for a CD again. My interest in the Aurender line is not only that they are high end, but that they are a friendly choice for those with limited computer savvy (I ain't kidding either, my new cellphone is kicking my behind). After talking with the Aurender rep at Axpona, I was all in on the N200. Now that I've chosen the Aero DAC, I'm considering that I'll be paying for capabilities, not relevant to the Aero, and that the N150 might provide essentially the same SQ at half the price. I'm very happy with my amplifier/speaker combination and believe that it's a highly capable pairing. They're pretty obscure in this country, but FWIW, I have a New Audio Frontiers Supreme 300B SE integrated feeding SoundKaos 40 speakers. I'm open to criticism as well.

phaelon
sdl4
210 posts
 

I love my Innuos Zen Mk3!  I remember when the Mk3 versions of both the Zen and the Zenith came out, and I was trying to decide between them. I watched a review by John Darko, in which he said that there was only a very slight difference in sound between the two (favoring the Zenith just a little) and that it still took him 2-3 days to be sure he even heard a difference. My dealer convinced me that the Zen was a better value because it had the best sound-to-cost ratio in the Innuos line. 

The other thing that Innuos has going for it is its music-player software, Sense 3.0. A lot of folks who have used both Roon and Sense think that Sense has better sound quality and stability in actual use. Roon has more features (and Roon Radio is very good), but Roon is designed to work with many different types of hardware and can't be tailored to squeeze the best performance out of a dedicated hardware line like Innuos does. 

 

phaelon OP
1,049 posts
 

Thank you, sdl4. I think that helps me eliminate the ZENith.

phaelon OP
1,049 posts
 

I want to thank everyone again. At last, I’m choosing the ZEN. It might, very well, be a fact that I’ll never touch a CD again, but at least with a CD drawer, I can pretend that all these racks full of CDs have a purpose.

sls883
311 posts
 

You won't be disappointed with the Zen.  I'm very happy with mine.  

mezzguy2
3 posts
 

Hi there. I have a Grimm MU1 and love it.  I just received my new LTA Aero yesterday.  I would not recommend the combination for the following reason - One of the best features of the MU1 is its 4x over sampling, which makes my streaming audio sound as smooth as vinyl.  For songs that stream at 96kHz 24 bit, the upsampling at 4x sends too much data to the LTA and it won’t play.  The problem is solved by reducing the upsampling rate to 2x, but ever song that streams below the 96kHz doesn’t sound as good as it did with the 4x sampling and there isn’t an easy way to switch between 2x and 4x.

Hope this helps!

 

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