Apologies if this has been covered before, but has anyone carried out an in depth comparison of the Naim Core vs the Innuos servers in terms of their software functionality; eg ripping, importing previous rips/purchased digital media, metadata capture/retrieval etc?
Put simply, is either option a clear winning choice?
Thanks for your thoughts,
ATB, J
I originally went to audition an NDX2 to replace my CDX2. The grindr was streaming via a Zen Mini with an option to change that to a Core. Ended up a year late coming away with no NDX2 but a Zenith. when demoing we accessed the Core after a bit of faffing as it had different music on it locally. At the time Innuos hadn’t introduced their Sense software. As a family our priority wasn’t at that time local storage but we thought the Core software looked easier to use than the Innuos. That all changed with Sense snd at this point I’d say the Naim software does the job but the Innuos is arguably some way ahead in terms of useability.
Thanks Mike,
ATB, J
The Core is a really poor end user experience for the price.
Look at the number of recent threads on the Core not fetching metadata. Breaks too often.
I’ve said it many times on this forum. The software around the Core is poor, and infrequently maintained.
It’s the naim component which gets the least focus and love from the management (and hence software team). One wonders why they bother selling it.
Excellent hardware, terrible software.
Doesn’t even deal with basics like a 2CD set.
As a Core owner I could not recommend it to anyone.
The naim Core, with great software and metadata database integration, could be a fantastic product. But it’s currently just a little bit sh1t.
I went from uniti serve to Innuos Zennith, it sounded way better than the uniti serve ever did, easy to use and I really like the sense app.
I didn’t compare it directly against a core but after 12 months very satisfied with the Zennith.
Yikes. The perils of poor eye sight and a very weird autocorrect. That should have read “former”.
I compared both - core and zenith.
Core has a bad user interface. Innous interface is a dream
Zenith also sounds better - for me an easy choice
Am I right in thinking the Innuos machines have factory replaceable memory whilst core is user replaceable? That might be important to some users (me). I’ve not compared them for sound quality or ease of use but I find the Core easy to use. And I like the look and I trust Naim.
Yeah that has been a difficulty for some people on here when drives have gone faulty. I eventually decided to just use my pc and asset software. But if I had gone for a ripper I was torn between Innuos software and being able to install and replace my own drive as you can with the core.
Maybe Naim should ask Innuos to write the software for the Core 
Please, please Naim, as the unhappy owner of the Naim Uniti Core, will you do as suggested and hire Innuos team to write better software for the Uniti Core? Yes, I know this will not happen, but it is said by way of a complaint. I so regret buying this Naim product. I have gone over to Roon as a result. Also, as a result of the poor software and even worse, the use of a non proprietary form of WAV which has caused me no end of troubles, I don’t trust Naim, and I wouldn’t dream of buying another Naim product .
When I very recently started streaming because of the issues raised here and elsewhere I elected against a Core and chose a NAS/dBPoweramp which is actually far from perfect itself but has been good overall. However, the Zenith eeks away perhaps I might🤥
But it’s a shame it’s putting you off other Naim products because over 20 years of owning Naim amps and CD players, never a glitch notwithstanding a routine laser change on the CDS3.
Regards,
Lindsay
When the Core was first announced I thought it sounded great, and that I’d end up as a Naim owner again. Then upon release its limitations and idiosyncrasies put me off. If only it was properly implemented, able to take and seamlessly integrate files wherever sourced/ripped, together with album art, and had a rendered output (direct to DAC) quality exceeding the Melco and Innuos products of similar price…