Zenith MkIII problem – Roon no longer recognizes my usb DAC when connected to Zenith


My Innuos Zenith MKIII worked great with no issues for 2 years. I left it on 24-7 only rebooting once or twice a month to clear the cache.

While working fine for about two years, the Zenith was configured as follows:

  • The Zenith was connected to my BMC Ultra DAC with a ViaBlue KR-2 usb cable plugged into the “DAC” usb port on the back of the Zenith.
  • The Zenith was connected to an EtherRegen with a ViaBlue EP7 ethernet cable plugged into the “LAN” RJ45 port on the back of the Zenith.
  • (The ER uses an AfterDark Emperor Clock, and both the ER and Clock are fed by an AfterDark LPS).
  • The ER is connected to the modem via a TWL ethernet cable to the wall outlet, which is connected to a Silent Angel Bonn8 switch that is connected to a Fios premium modem via a Supra Cat8 cable.  Both the Bonn8 and modem are powered by an LPS. 
  • The Fios modem is connected to its source by Fios optical cable.

In this configuration, Roon recognized the BMC Ultra DAC as a UPNP device when connected via usb cable to the Zenith’s “DAC” usb port.

However, after I purchased a new rack, disconnected all components carefully, labeled each wire, set the components aside and then hooked everything up the same way on the new rack, Roon would not find the BMC DAC no matter what I did.

Usually if the Roon could not find the DAC, simply rebooting the Zenith, waiting for the blue light on the Zenith, and then turning on the DAC solved the problem.  But this time, no amount of rebooting, changing cables, ethernet and usb cables, switching the ethernet connection from the Zenith “Lan” port to the Zenith “Server” port and checking my Roon settings -- using the Zenith, per Roon’s settings, as a Roon “StandAlone”, or as a Roon “Endpoint” -- solved the problem.

Ultimately, to check that the DAC worked, and that the ethernet connections to and on the Zenith worked, I hooked up an extra ProJect StreamBox S2 Ultra between the Zenith and the DAC

  • I ran an ethernet cable from the ER to the StreamBox and a usb cable from the Streambox to the DAC.  

That worked.

In that configuration, Roon found the StreamBox, and the Zenith worked just fine as a Roon core.

The only thing that changed between Roon finding the Ultra DAC and not finding the Ultra DAC was unhooking everything and reinstalling it on a new rack and installing the latest Innuos update, version 2.2.5.

I am hoping that someone here knows how to get the Zenith to work as a server so that Roon will find the DAC and I no longer have to use the StreamBox in my main system.  I would greatly appreciate any tips, solutions or mention of issues that I may have overlooked.

Thanks,

Marc

tump350

I do apologize for the inordinate delay in posting the solution but, here it is:

Spoke to Nuno at Innuos multiple times and he ultimately told me to simply set the Zenith MK3 to play through Innuos' Sense program and that that the MK3 should be restored to the way it was (apparently, various software updates from Windows, Zenith, BMC, Fios(modem), etc did not work well together at the time and running Sense cleared them up).  I did so for an entire evening and, low and behold, when I reset the MK3 to play through Roon, all three of my systems were recognized including the BMC Ultra Dac; everthing worked fine without having to use the ProJect StreamBox.

What a coincidence/hassle and surprise -- I changed audio racks and everything stopped working for a couple of weeks until I received and understood enough advice from the manufacturers to get it sorted out.

Innuos does provide great support though and IMO their products are generally bullet proof.

 

Post removed 

Thank you guys for the wise suggestions.  I have already reached out to Innuos.  They have not yet responded.  I will triple check the setup, but there really is only one physical switch (on the clock, only), and only two choices between ports, not counting the network switch, that I will check again.

Usually in such a situation a coble is in the wrong port or a switch got flipped.  No matter how careful you are, errors happen.  recheck the entire setup.  You have proven it works.

 

Marc, contact Innuous re your situation. Their customer service is excellent.

They're very responsive and will get the problem fixed.