I was just looking yesterday at this! So the answer is yes! :)

Yes, please.

YES and YES

I have tried the zen, zenith by itself and with the Phoenix USB reclocker. With every step the sound improves dramatically in my system. Granted I have a very highly resolving system. The improvement in power to the system is what makes the sound better with each upgraded model in the Innuos line. I ended up ordering the Statement that is scheduled to arrive this week.

One thing to note for anyone looking to demo these streamers, make sure to give it at least 250 hours of burn-in. Also switching out the power cord to a quality cable improves the sound further.

Thanks Adrian, it seems many people who have tried it really like it.

Thanks for the info!

But one of the most optimized 1 tb ssd on the planet for music!

I am using a 2011 Mac Mini (cost me $300 CAD used) with Audirvana and it sounds good. Also I heard that mechanical drives sound better than SSD, I am not sure if that is true.

@@dannyng5427 Only way to know is AB test it! Yeah Mac are pretty sought after for music server.

@@ThomasAndStereo I am pretty sure the MK3 sound better than the Mini. I have done AB test with Cambridge CXN V2, the Mini is more transparent, CXN has better dynamic but I prefer the Mini.

It provides a better digital signal Especially if you are streaming

Thanks Dave for the comment. Glad you are enjoying it.

People out there rely on these reviews, they don't always have the opportunity to listen to these components. I'm fortunate that I live in a city with lots of audio stores to at least listen to a few. Take care

I feel guilty for your „heart“: because you are correct, if you are feeding directly a DAC you would need a player software unless you would use streaming DAC with its own app. This was my only critique for the ZEN music servers that they do not come with fully fetched software for all purposes like Playback and advanced library management.

Congrats on your purchase, yeah let me check out the Innuos mini.

Awesome, thanks for sharing your experience.

I see, I personally would like to review the basic one myself.

@@ThomasAndStereo It great that all Innuos devices can be used both as RoonCore and Roon Endpoint integrated with Tidal, makes everything easy to use!

I have a SMS200, I need to give it a try, it is just sitting there.

How do you compare between LUMIN and Innuos? I am deciding between the two but I mainly need a streamer transport only

Well, they do have an entry level one.

Nice, what recommendations?

Thomas & Stereo Dear Thomas, DOGE a small company out of China, I tried the Doge 8 clarity (2019 edition) after 2 weeks, I sold my US made pre’s, that new were at double & triple the price. I tested again with the Doge 7 tube Dac , again a beautiful analog sounding machine. A keeper, will now order the prima donna integrated to taste their amplification.

Nice, they did reach out to me. YOu said the Doge clarity is good?

Thomas & Stereo good is an understatement, I first ordered the Doge 8 Clarity then the Doge 7 Dac, I just ordered yesterday their new Doge 5 integrated.

Haha...it was nice knowing you.

Yes, but some DAC will need MAC drivers. For example, my exasound E28.

I did not AB test it myself but for my friend, he felt there was a a consistent difference. Meaning he was able to pinpoint to me where the difference shows up. I personally think those differences are so small that people need to really go into deep meditation to hear the difference. I doubt many people will pass a double blind test when comparing. Having said that, some people that I have met have a hearing of a bat and they will be able to but most people I doubt will.

I try to focus on things that make a big difference and also look at things that don't get people throwing pitchfork at me.

Nooooooooooooooooooooo.. I just sold it and shipped it out this morning. I was trying to clone the harddrive the day before :(

@@ThomasAndStereo oh no. Sorry... I can send you the disc for future reference. It definitely works...

If you can! My other friend has one that is dead. Can you email me at turbotan@gmail.com?

@@ThomasAndStereo yes sir... I left the disc at my 2nd home with my home theater system. I'll email later this week. I believe the entire disc has close to 600mb on it. We can talk via email in case you want the entire disc will all the contents. I got the disc from an employee and became very popular on the forums. lol

I was looking into one actually. It seems complicated.

I'm using the Allo usbridge signature player and I have to say it's a lot of quality for the money 💰

@@ThomasAndStereo it's really easy feel to reach out if you need any help

Thomas & Stereo I have the Allo Digione Signature, great little streamer with Volumio, but it was a pain to set up if you aren’t that technical. Once setup, it has been fine

@@ThomasAndStereo I as well have just recently bought the Allo USBridge Signature with the linear power-supply called Shanti, all together just below 500,-€, Running moOde software as OS and it was not difficult to set it up to just play/stream from my NAS and Tidal. It only has quality USB out, no wifi, no SPDIF, and is as stripped down as much as possible for a small computer to reduce noise. I'm using the free APP mconnect on my iPhone to control the stream from my NAS and Tidal. I can as well stream from my MacBook with Audirvana to the device without any additional setup, only to select the device in Audirvana. Would love to see a comparison to the costly units.

No. Interesting.

No, Mr. Jazz yes and he was very surprised.

Thanks Nick for sharing you experience 😉

If you are asking for software, the Bluesound has pretty good software while this one does not. This one wins in terms of sound quality.

@@ThomasAndStereo no not software but that helped too. Lol. I was asking about how it sounds just as a streamer, you know all the galvanic isolation and being a quiet network streamer. Thanks man !

Node 2i is a streamer and this is a music server so can't compare.

Thomas & Stereo but it can also stream from Tidal etc.

Nice I have to give it a try the Zen.

Not in the plans

Thomas & Stereo this might be of interest: www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/dummies-guide-to-pi2aes-throw-away-your-pc-or-laptop.8878/

@@topkho Yeah, I was looking at those at one point, I finally gave up on it as I was too lazy to figure out everything.

Thomas & Stereo same here but it’s not as difficult as it seems. Looked really really daunting and off putting at first - I’m nota computer geek and don’t want to be one - but in fact is not. It’s all done on your phone...

I am sure I can as I am really comfortable with computers, just lazy!

Wow, they won a lot of recommendation too.

Which model? do you have detail?

No you cannot connect this to your speaker. Think of this as a cd player but instead it uses a harddrive to store music. What you are looking for is an integrated amp.

@@ThomasAndStereo Thank you so much for your reply. Could you please suggest a few models which I could look into? While using the AVR earlier I could notice the KEFs are power-hungry. Cheers

Depends on your budget

@@ThomasAndStereo roughly USD 1,800/-. Thank you so much for helping me.

Why not email them to confirm. Yes you can access it with your computer. Jriver I don't remember but they are quite responsive.

@@ThomasAndStereo "Why not email them (Innuos) to confirm"? I started my efforts with the audio store's personnel. Upon them not being able to answer my questions, they conferenced me in with an Innuos representative. Mark, from Innuos, was basically reading from a script, singing the virtues of the player, but had little more than that by way of the information that I was seeking. He constantly interrupted my questions, and kept answering things that I did not ask. I concluded that was his modus operandi, for trying to hide his lack of knowledge on the subject matter. He knew only the basics that accompany the literature for the product. I respect people that say "I don't know", or "I'll get back to you with an answer", etc. But this guy just kept changing the subject, and it was frustrating. So I pressed him for an answer to the JRiver Media Center compatibility question, and his answer was "No", the player is not designed for that (which was a wrong answer that he just guessed at (but I did not know, yet, that his answer was wrong)). With the above experience, I had little faith at expecting meaningful communication from e-mailing Innuos. So I asked my questions in JRiver's forum, and got no replies (it is not something that that community really deals with), and I also search (via duckduckgo.com) for articles (nothing answered my questions) and I search youtube (and you mentioned what I was looking to have answered). Finally, I decided that I have nothing to lose by e-mailing support@innous.com After a few back and forth e-mail exchanges, Emmanuel Le Quere , Innuos North America Sales Manager, wrote the following: "J River works with the UPnP protocol. The great thing about LMS is that it has been there forever and is free software, so many people are working around it... There are plug-ins available (for free) for UPnP that I personally use. With one, you can use your j-River on your computer as the Graphic Interface and direct the music to the Statement for playback. You can have the best of both worlds." (best of both worlds meaning: be able to use the fantastic JRiver Media Center front end, and delivered to my DAC via the silent, jitter-free transport of the Innuos player). I do not understand what LMS is. But I do understand that he wrote that the Innuos player would work with JRiver's Media Center. In one additional e-mail exchange, I asked him if there would be any loss in fidelity, by not using the Innuos' built-in player. He replied: "No loss in sound quality... they use the UPnP protocol to carry the data but the LMS player to play the music." Again, since I do not know what LMS is (even after I read the wikipedia page), I do not entirely understand his reply. The part I do understand is "No loss in sound quality". That is the long saga that I experienced. Now I will be borrowing the Innuos player from my local audio store, just to make sure that it gets along with my gear (not all quality components are a good match for each other). So it is good that can listen in my own living-room, which eliminates any guess work before plunking down my hard-earned $$. Cheers!

@@NoEgg4u Thanks for sharing and let us know your result. This will help others too.

@@ThomasAndStereo I will share my results. But it will be at least a week, because I do not have a shelf to place this additional box. And it needs to be near my DAC, because the only output on the Innuos player is USB, and my USB cable is 2 meters. Yes, longer ones are available. But cables matter (even USB data cables matter). I am not going to buy a longer cable for this test because 1) a longer, inexpensive Walmart-type USB cable will kill the sound quality, 2) a longer quality USB cable is expensive, and 3) it is important to keep USB cables short (no more than 3-meters -- although 5-meters is supposed to be the limit, I will not flirt with the limit of its reliability). So I have to buy a stand for the Innuos box, that will allow me to place it close to my DAC. This is going to delay my efforts to do a listening test. And then there is the issue of a quality power cord. Quality power cords are critical for all digital hardware. I might be able to find one, temporarily, but it is yet another delay. By the way, can you or anyone reading this explain what LMS is? Is it just some background process that I need not worry about? Is it something I have to configure? I am blank on what it is and how it fits in to this whole process. Thank you.

@@ThomasAndStereo I listened to the Innuos player, and was very impressed (for the most part). It handily sounded better than my laptop (with JRiver's Media Center) feeding my DAC. Everything was quieter and more focused, and it allowed me to hear more into the music. But as good as the improvement was (and it was significant), it was not all positive. The bass became a problem. Although it was more focused, etc, it now sounded disconnected from the rest of the stereo. There appeared to be an emphasis on the mid-bass, which I believe is responsible for the issue. The audio store's owner suggested that I replace my pre-amp and power-amp's after-market power cords with the stock power cords, and use after-market power cords only for the DAC and the Innuos player. Unfortunately, after I replaced all of my power cords, I gave my stock power cords to the store (they were always misplacing power cords for some reason). I am going to the audio store, today. They are loaning me stock power cords, and I will repeat my listening session. By the way, I had a heck of a time getting my laptop to connect to the Innuos player. It turned out that my laptop was using a range of IP addresses that were not routable to the Innuos' IP address. Once I determined that that might be the issue, I knew how to fix that, and I was able to connect. But I still had a problem, because the Innuos support person told me to direct my web browser to the Innuos' IP address at port 9000. For example: 192.168.0.2:9000 That worked, but it was only for setting up the Innuos player. After yet another delay, due to e-mail being the only option to communicate with Innuos support, it turns out that you leave off the port number to access the part of the player that plays the music. For example: 192.168.0.2 The Innuos support person e-mailed me to wait until I purchase the player, and only then will he instruct me on how to get JRiver's Media Center to feed the Innuos box. I replied back that he needs to help me get this working on the loaner Innuos player, because that is why it was loaned to me. I will not spend thousands and cross my fingers that it will be to my liking. I am running out of time, because the store wants their Innuos box back today or tomorrow. If I cannot lick the problem with the bass, then this will be no sale. I cannot have a stereo where some frequency, some item, some anything, stands out. That item becomes a source of irritation. By the way, I suspect that most people use their smart-phone or tablet to control these players. Such a set-up requires you only to install an app, and you are good to go. I prefer to use my laptop, and it seems that Innuos is not especially adept at having clear instructions for this type of set-up.

Harddrive is quiet as it is SSD.

Well, even Innuos has a higher end model themselves.

@@ThomasAndStereo so what does that say unless Mr Cantor's Krell isn't up to the task! ; )

Not really unless Melco reach out to me.

Only if they send me.

Sure I understand all that. In fact I used to own a computer store and repair computers. As I said, this is a solution for certain people. If you meet as many audiophiles and heard as many system as I have, you will find everyone looks for different solutions. We all understand the whole idea about any gear is to minimize noise and for sure you can achieve a lot of amazing stuff by doing what you said. The SOTM server I have here is also another solution at an incredible price.

I do understand that the Zenith sounds very good as it should do because it`s been tweaked properly, but for me the hardware inside does not justify the price, just like many other products on the market, although someone else might have a different opinion. They`re using a Supermicro motherboard and not one built by them , that mobo can be purchased by anyone else.

@@Spwrey I actually asked them about the motherboard cause another youtube brought that up which he later made another video to apologize for assuming that. No, no one can buy that motherboard, it even has a customized bios. Hardware alone never justifies the price and this is true if you look at everything in the industry. Look at a $1000 speaker, probably $100 in parts? But to bring something to market and the cost of doing business is something that needs to be factor in. Also, there are many things to consider, for example, the look of a product. The ease of use and so forth.

Indeed there are many things to factor in, but even though the server sounds really good, you can still get maybe 90%-95% of that just by doing the tweaks yourself at a much lower price. Although there are a lot of people that don`t bother with that, they just want to buy the device, plug it in and play music, and for them a server like the Zenith is perfect.

Bo Bo, if someone is running a very revealing system (aka hi-end) then the quality or price of the components that make up a product is a mute point. They are seeking the 'best' sound quality for them. I run such a system and can assure anyone that the Zenith is a serious piece of kit. If you can find/build a computer based system that equals it, then start doing so as it will sell very well. In the meantime, I will enjoy the streaming and server capabilities of the Zenith.

In the next few videos.

I probably will touch on it a bit more when I talk about the Lumin streamer.

@Thomas & Stereo; thank you.

Sorry, I have not listen to those 2 yet.

This stuff is so confusing. And there are different types of streamers. I still don't understand the difference between a network player and a network bridge, and of course you can use either to stream music. I'm ready to give up lol

Khalid Akkad - you cannot give up! Thomas will explain it to us. I am confused too.

A streamer is a dac that will get music from the internet or from a music server.Not all streamer have a built in drive to house the music so it must get it from somewhere. I can explain better when I make the video on the Lumin streamer.

Thomas & Stereo - thank you!

Thomas & Stereo some streamers don't have a built in DAC though, such as SoTM sms 200 ultra. I have a server which serves as Roon core, a streamer that serves as Roon end point, and a DAC. All three separate.

Only into speakers.

Nah! I will be tramatized for life if I failed the blind test 🤣

Would love to and wish they would reach out to me.

Oh I would need to AB test it to really answer you. Cause if they have the song in 24/96 native, then it might be better?

Thomas & Stereo I would like to say the answer is HDtracks, you can AB test if you won’t believe

I do have songs I bought from hdtrack and the cd / SACD too. Maybe I will do an ab test one day

I had the bluesound node 2i before and great little streamer but for a different market.

This Innuos Zenith MK 3 music server is on another level from Bluesound.

@@midorihibiki what level might that be on a scale of 1-10 ? worth 4x the cost - I think not (for me)- ... Rolls Royce is on another level vs a Corvette - - the Corvette will out perform all day long, --and be right there with any other car 5 times + the cost... what's the point?

@@Audiojunkabus You can search John Darko who has many music servers and streamers. He did a sound comparison of many budget to high end gears. I do not have Bluesound and Innous server so can not say but Innous Zenith MK 3 servers definitely win Bluesound in term of sound quality. Hope that could help you. Moreover in audiophile the more you spend money to buy better/high end gears does not mean you get the better performance to ratio money. So if you're happy with your gears then you can stop. However if you want more then you need to be rich or save more money, sometimes spend thousands, double, triple or even more but just get 5-10-15-20% better results.

Yes and I will be next or very soon.

@@ThomasAndStereo Thrilling!!! I am still yet to listen to Gershman Avant Garde and Graham Acustics LS5/5. I think that's my top end. They are very similarly priced, and they both seem to have tone sound as goal, sounding as lifelike as possible, rather than as detailed as possible. Looking forward to your impressions!! I know there is a good representative of Graham acoustics over in Montreal. It would be interesting if you could eventually consider checking the Graham acoustics. It's comparable to Rogers :)

@@BastianUllr Yeah,these speakers are really something. It will be a very interesting video as I have lots to talk about. Graham...hopefully one day.

Raidho D3

In the audio world, there is no limit. Most expensive DAC I heard was $100k, different people shop at different level, now I just need to win that damm lottery.

@@ThomasAndStereo so true, poverty limits our imagination 😂

Ripping should not be a problem. You are preserving the exact copy of the data on the cd.

@@ThomasAndStereo my friend ripped with an Highend machine (Xo-one) and with a pioneer bluray toploader (external computer drive). He compared both rippings and came to the result that this 100€/$ pioneer make a awsome job. Ripping isn't like ripping

Yes I agree for the Gustard so when I use the Lumin Streamer, there is a big difference.

No, only music. Just think of it as a computer that only house music.

No I don't. Thanks.

No idea, I never AB tested it. If you did, what are the differences that you heard?

If your DAC does not need mac computer drivers, then it will work. Just go to manufacturer website for your DAC, if no mac driver ,then you are good.

I don't have it anymore but I remember you can import but check with them to be sure.

Bed time story, my videos will put you to sleep

I am actually reviewing roon right now.

​@@ThomasAndStereo I love Roon. Changed the way I listen to music, its introduced me to so many new artists I never would have listened to. Nothing comes close to the user experience period. I use Ropieee XL on a RPI4 and Roon server on a windows PC, i7. Doesn't break a sweat doing DSD and convolution filters. I am actually looking to build active speakers (2 way 15inch Compression) using Roon for crossover duties. I sold my Pioneer n70a, Cambridge CXN v2 (which I don't rate) in favour of the RPI4 sound quality into my RME ADI2 Fs. I asked because I haven't heard you mention Roon compatibility on any of the streamers etc you test. IMO, you'll never use native control apps again.

I think gear with good power supply makes a difference. If you look at higher end gear, that is one thing they have in common. Is it DSP, I don't have the technical knowledge to even start guessing.

That is what I have read and I was wondering why people say that.

@@ThomasAndStereo U16 the whole device is for feeding nice I2S signal to DAC, it's not perfect but much better than the USB interface in X26. It should be integrated into X26, but obviously, the designer decided to cut the cost.

Maybe when you play thru your cdplayer, it sounds better than your current DAC with your computer?

@@ThomasAndStereo very true my dac isnt very good currently debating a audiobyte black dragon then buy anouther mit zcord2

@@dgreenly1 That looks like a really serious DAC. What is your current cdplayer?

@@ThomasAndStereo its nothing to great my friend sold me his dvp-s9000es and it sounds great to my ears

Sorry, no idea.

Thanks for the tip, let me check out MiniTool.

Problem is windows cannot see the drive unless I 'do something to it' with disk manager and I don't want to risk changing anything on that harddrive.

@@ThomasAndStereo hmm. what exactly is it asking you to do? you should be able to mark that drive as active or something. I'm surprised minitool doesnt detect the ms600 drive by itself.

Lumin is a streamer so not the same.

@@markm5769 Yes but you will need a DAC. The Lumin, on the other hand need a drive as it cannot house music.

I don't think so. Check specs on their website.

I see but I think he then made a video and reversed his position. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/g598art335fMXac.html

Thomas & Stereo pulled his direction fast. Wondering if he was warned of legal action. Lots of contrition. Anyway, make your views it’s popular sport.

@@JingoLoBa57 I don't live in the States so I don't know about if they can sue but if that is the case, wouldn't it be easier just to take down the original video? Also I noticed he never even heard the unit so...

Thomas & Stereo lets not speculate here...🙊

Yeah, they have offered me to review the Zen Mini.

@ Bryon B. Roon Nucleus music servers are just Nuc systems. Roon buy them and modified them and install Roon Rock on them. They admit it on their website and I think they're overpriced too if you compare them to Innuos music server but whatever they do sound good that's the matter. If you could make your own computers sound good as them then you can sell as high as they do.

I had a few, Ares2, Musical Paradise, Topping D90, SMSL 400 and the list goes on but I decided to use the Gustard.

@@ThomasAndStereoDid you try D90 with Innuos? I heard D90 has very well designed USB input, so I doubt Innuos can improve anything noticeable.

I thought I did. I have so many questions everyday that I don't remember which one. I remember telling you the problem with Titan, check out Focal and b&w. KZfaq does not always notify me all the messages

@@ThomasAndStereo Thank You

So what do you think if I go with the Kanta 3, I have two parasound a21+ but only thing these speakers are no bi-amping so I would have to mono block them, solidstate. at 1000watts and they only take 300watts, what to do as I have all this power, it looks like i wasted money. would these give me sonic sounds or that does not matter. Please respond as i am about to spend more money on the focals.

Well some songs we love are not available for streaming. Especially a lot of the chinese songs I listen to.

@@ThomasAndStereo Rip your entire collection then toss the CDs or sell w/e. Good to go.

Thanks and please also do help me correct in the future, I will correct it shortly. Appreciate it.

@@ThomasAndStereo I am gratified to see the correction! Needless to say it also applies to conversations.

Nice, thanks for letting me know😀