Streamer/Server to replace Innuos Zenith


I am looking to replace my Innuos Zenith mkIII. After the long anticipated wait of a few years for their own software and it is still a mess for iOS users I have decided its time to move on. What do you all suggest for something like the Zenith but hopefully a step up in sound quality? I still have a Roon license so I am OK with using a Roon based product.
Thank you
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Showing 1 response by viveka

I have Zenith Mk 3 and I second that advice of trying before you spend money.  I'd also not make decisions based on what anybody says in a orum (which I guess is also part of Doughthebiker's message).  It certainly seems called for when reading this thread and some other comments I've seen about Innuos.  I am very suspect of the some of these comments, but I'll do my best to believe they aren't motivated by anything other than trying to help a fellow audiophile.   

I will say this. My Innuos server works fine. No problems, although I had a bunch of questions and also issues with not the primary listening room but with my wife's listening room where she was running KEFs as a remote ready device.  I sought help from Innuos and they were helpful. The problem was not the Innuos but my network. But I don't like to hear how people put down Innuos server because quite frankly they were always timely in answering my emails and always willing to set up an online conference, and also check out the performance of the network. They weren't done with me once I purchased their unit. They actually wanted to make certain where the issues were and make sure they got fixed.  
Another suspect comment I've come across is the insinuation that Roon 1.8 is the better sounding player. I don't know people reach this conclusion, but that has not been my experience. Roon 1.8 may offer features that are not yet incorporated into Innu0Sense 2.06, but it in my brief experience, Roon does not outperform the Innuos software. I think you will find many people substantiating this, not just me. Quite a few actually from an overwhelming majority of comments in various forums. 
But, pleas don't depend upon forums. By all means check out the advice you come across, as forums are very useful on that score. Just don't rely on what only what you read. That's pretty risky business.

People don't consider the entire system, their rooms, their source material, the engineering quality, the fact that people hear differently (the hearing of listeners being different)' not to mention that people listen in different ways and have different ways of scoring the sound in the room.
Very little here is objective, and mostly its very selective. 

I certainly would be careful judging a server solely on the basis of Tidal streaming over the etherne and into one's DAC, amps and wildly different listening rooms.

People say such and such sounds better than such and such. There's a lot of that going on.  A grain of salt is called for, and most often, a whole whole handful.