Innuos Zen - any tips?

Hi all, just got an Innuos Mk3 Zen to replace my NDX today. V happy with it so far. Any tips for how to get the best out of it, from anyone who’s got one? Am both streaming Qobuz and ripping CDs.

A good network is all you’ll need. Maybe a switch and reasonable Ethernet cables. No need to go mad…

What are you connecting it to if it is replacing your NDX? Or is it a Zen mini with the internal DAC?

Thanks - it’s going into a Qutest and fed from an EE8. V impressed with Qobuz stream already.

Ah ok, if you are looking to spend more money look at the phoenix usb re locker and phoenix net switch :grin:

In my experience chord DACs and Innuos go well together

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I have done something similar, I have ordered an Primare NP5 Mk 2 streamer which I will be running through my NDX DAC section. Should be a good combo. I am happy with the sound from it overall, but this should give me more streaming options, improved usability and maybe an uplift in sound quality. Longer term I was considering an NDX2c or maybe move on the NDX and get an NDAC but keep the Primare. Just need decide on the Coax cable now.

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Just enjoy it. That and your DAC are a cracking combination.

As a fellow Zen and Naim owner, I thought I would give you my thoughts. I hope you enjoy adding the Zen to your system.

Don’t forget to get a new USB drive to use for backup. Ripping can be tedious, I would not want to do that all over again. I have ripped 850 albums. You have a choice of manual or assisted ripping, two ripping speeds and storing files as wav or uncompressed flac. If you have better hearing than me, you might find a difference after experimenting with those switches. Experiment and compare to Qobuz, you may find the HD flac download is preferable to the CD rip anyway.

There is an option in the Innuos Sense app that would let you stream over ethernet to the NDX if you want to build a second system. Alternatively you can use the Focal/Naim app to play CD rips to the NDX, but the second option doesn’t give access to Qobuz.

It took me a while to realise the search option from the home page of the Sense app will search Qobuz for artists, albums or tracks. In the sense app you can set an album from Qobuz as a favourite so you can find it again later. Occasionally the link from a favourite album to Qobuz fails, but there is a resync option in the Qobuz settings page of the sense app. This will sort out the dead albums.

There is a Logitech music server running on the Zen that you can access via TCP/IP port 9000. Once or twice you may need to use that to setup BBC Sounds (if that floats your boat). Innuos provide instructions on how to do that.

Fantastic, thank you for taking the time to share all that. The BBC Sounds tip is a really good one. I’ve not got lots of CDs to rip, but they are old ambient albums that largely can’t be found on Qobuz. Agree that the interface is way better than Naim’s and it’s been very user friendly to set up. Very impressed so far with it. Naim are going to have to work v hard to keep up with them based on initial impressions. I’m guessing it will be sensitive to a decent power cable - currently using the one in the box.

Yes the Zen benefits from a power cable upgrade and a USB cable upgrade. I find it best to resync as you add Qobuz favourites as it integrates all your ripped albums and saved albums in Sense.

One additional thing. I believe the advice from Chord is to put your DAC on standby when not in use and ditto the Innuos. I rarely remember to do this but it is good practice.

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