I have the Innuos Zen mk3, it’s been great no problems, run Roon core with it, sounds fantastic, would recommend as replacement for US. Quite a few Innuos users on here I’m sure they will chip in.
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I’ve listened to it at my dealers and was not impressed. I also heard some Melco boxes as well but was not sold on the sound. However, I listened to an Innuous Zen at Phil’s and was impressed (@Filipe).
Ok, the dealer could not replicate my system at home, and he was reluctant to allow a home demo. So do get a home demo if you can.
Anyway, I went elsewhere and bought a black box from the Audiostore; I’m very pleased with it. It has replaced my NAS and runs Roon.
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Zen mini mk 2 here, sounds great to me and a doddle to use, can be used as a Roon core too as others have said, I got mine for €400 so was a no brainer
The Zenith - Next up in the range. Even though it has three LPSs inside I have taken it off the HiFi radial and run it from a nearby socket on a ring main. This has contributed to all round improvements along with changes to mains plug ordering. As the Zenith runs warm as does the 500 it may have been too much together. It runs TIDAL, Qobuz and Roon very nicely, but I’m not one to hanker for Roon, nice as it is.
The Zenith drives my nDAC.
We have 6 power circuits inc one for outside on that CU and a separate one for kitchen/utility. Nothing much overloaded, so our power is ok.
Phil
An overall question - personal (listening) preference aside, if initially considering adding a Zen to my system, would it be worth’ trading my CDX2 to step up to the Zenith albeit losing the CD play capability?
Thanks,
KR, J
I have kept my CDX2 which I played through nDAC. I hardly use it these days, but my wife is less interested in streaming (and music!). So I bought the Audiophilleo + PurePower to link the Zenith to the nDAC. There are less expensive USB to SPDIF devices. I got cheesed off with Naim streamers and Uniti Core 2-3 years ago. There are lots of choices for how play ripped music. If you buy a Zen Mini it has SPDIF output. There is a thread about my experiences with the Innuos boxes.
Innuos Zen Mini MK 3 - Feedback Request
Phil
I went from a Zen MK3 extended home demo, I would have stopped their but dealer struggled to source one, so I went Zenith MK2, all to me where fundental major upgrades, the Zen are good, but the Zenith are way ahead by some margin.
If you couple and Audiophilleo SPDIF converter it ups the performance by a significant margin.
My Innuos experience was so good, I was looking to the Zenith MK3, Zenith MK SE.
To me it is all about Garbage in Garbage out, get it right and even humble setup like mine sounds pretty spectacular.
Add to that a CD drive to rip to your hearts content, good support, a functional web app and it ticks all the right boxes at a good price.
I originally want a Naim Core or Melco, the former I am glad I avoided the latter I never heard so can’t moment.
Very happy Zenith Mk 3 user here. Replaced a Melco NA1, which was nowhere near as good. An utter delight to use, simple and intuitive and you can access and modify/correct your music files via your iPad.
I compared Zen, Zenith and Statement and, whilst the Statement is quite superb, the Zenith was, to me, the sweet spot, being a significant upgrade on the Zen but much more affordable than the Statement. If I was starting again from scratch, this is where I’d start and I’d have no qualms selling the CDX2 to accommodate it.
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You need a dac to the zen. Don’t know if you know that…
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Hi Dave, Reading your post, ‘qualms’ or ‘no qualms’ ?
KR, J
No qualms,
I’m now moving up from mini Zen to full Zen (sounds like I’ve joined a cult) and all I can say is that Innuos is so good I haven’t noticed it.
I’ve upgraded as I’m upgrading my system.
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Sorry Dave,
Shouldn’t read replies on my phone :-/
Getting a Zenith to audition at home.
KR, J
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No problem J, I had in fact omitted the word “no” when I posted my comments but added it a few seconds after - you were probably just extremely quick off the mark!
J, You can start with the 272 just in UPnP mode but you might be tempted later to add a XPS or 555 PS with or without DR to the 272 or even venture to the world of USB DACS.
Phil
All,
Has anyone any experience of transferring their UnitiServe and/or NAS music files to the Innuos platform, shouldn’t really matter which model.
I have tried remote mounting NAS directories inc UnitiServe backup folders and it does not appear to be a simple process.
Ditto importing files from a NAS folder on the the Innuos.
Becoming increasingly frustrated with a “can see it but can’t play or edit it” experience.
Thanks for any advice, or even a solution 
KR, J
I can’t see any reason why Unitiserve files wouldn’t work on an Innuos. You will need to store as FLAC on the US for the metadata to be visible.
Ahhhhhh.
So if the US recorded as wav, the metadata will be shot (spell checked :-))
Thanks Chrissu,
KR, J
If you convert it to FLAC on the US before exporting it, the metadata is then accessible on other devices. You can try just converting one album as a test to see if this is your problem.
Hi Chrissu,
So I’ve imported a few (.wav) albums from my NAS-based US backup folder, and, touch wood, the basic meta data has come across - album art, track title, composer…
Would you expect any additional data if I preconvert to FLAC and back up again to a fresh US backup folder on the NAS?
Thanks,
KR, J