I see the Pulsar will be very soon available. The top of the range. However the cost includes a PhoenixUsb lite inside. So wonder if it will be still better if used in coax, vs the Pulse.
Sadly pulsar is usb only, no coax
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Ah, sad to know indeed. So the question is answered.
There are two high end coaxial transports : Lumin U1 ( 9500 euros) and Grimm MU1 ( 10k, with ssd storage possibility).
And the Pulse .
Innuos must have some logic for making their top end streamer USB only?
I’ll admit I thought the same myself about it being USB only but perhaps they have such confidence in their implementation that they feel it’s all you’d need in that product.
I’m pondering a new Roon Core and looking at the options, mainly with cost in mind as opposed to going OTT on the specs.
I had my head set on an Intel NUC from their approved list but did ponder the Zen Mini S perhaps? (Although that’s almost certainly more expensive than a NUC)
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There is also the new LUMIN U2
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If you want to use DSP which you do I believe really don’t go Innous they lack the grunt for anything heavy duty and don’t even meet Roons recommended spec.
Yes, I was reminded by this after posting and heading over to the Roon Forum/FAQ.
I’ll likely go down the NUC root running ROCK, I’d run it headless like I currently do with my Mac Mini anyway. The Nucleus is appealing but the price is prohibitive vs a suitable/approved NUC, I have
no issue building one and setting it up in that respect.
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Don’t bother with a Nucleus it’s overpriced and just a NuC in a fancy jacket nothing more. I would look at something with a high single core speed and a dual core rather than lots of cores, especially if you only have one zone as DSP will only use one core per zone unless you activate Parellelize Sigma Delta which then spans over two but isn’t hugely effective at reducing the overheads or efficiency.
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I wonder if the newer Innuos servers that have more RAM and SSD instead of HDD have overcome the limitations of their earlier models with regard to Roon. I haven’t experimented with this myself, just curious as to whether these often quoted limitations still apply.
If you mean the pulse series they can only be used as an endpoint as far as I can see. The option to set as a core does not appear
I was referring to the Zen series, some of which have recently been given SSD and extra RAM.
The recent Zen Mini S has the RAM upgraded from 4GB to 8GB, in line with existing Zen and Zenith models, also SSD replacing HDD.
If I was building a Roon based streaming system I wouldn’t be using Innuos, they lack power that’s why they are not Roon approved. Yes you can run them as a Roon core, I did for a few years, but that’s the limit.
The cpu is the bottleneck and the biggest issue with DSP, it can handle some situations and only for one endpoint but will top out quickly. The other stuff will allow larger libraries to run better but the cpu is way below recommended spec and will always hold them back. They also don’t really take advantage of their playback engine and ram cache via Roon so the extra costs here are not fully utilised and only partially if you use their unsupported experimental mode.
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All valid points and thanks to you for sharing your perspective. I do have a 15k CD rips library but realistically could probably comfortably live without it these days.
I’d certainly be throwing a Hegel H590 into the mix to see how it holds up against the other suggestions here.
But the cleanest solution is to lose the speakers as well and look at Kii3 or Dutch and Dutch 8c or the new Dynaudio actives. Source direct to speakers, no excess unused functionality at all.
.sjb
And there are the ATC actives, of which the 40 is extremely good value for money, though it might nt do the lowesr bass.
Streaming counts the same as having rips if they are in your library it still has to deal with them in your database doesnt matter where it resides.
I guess my point being about music servers in general and that generally speaking they are designed as a means to consolidate a physical CD library.
I’d assume that most people using Roon are using it with a starting point of a CD rips library.
I know when I was looking in to Roon originally I was also considering Melco, Innuos and Naim Uniti Core, ultimately concluding (at that time) that Roon on an existing Mac Mini Server was all I really needed. I still have and use exactly that today!
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A lot are myself included but a lot of newer users are just using Tidal or Qobuz. They use Roon to fill the holes that the apps have in regards to curation and multiroom. As it allows you to group albums in way more ways than the native apps or apis when in your library you can even edit the metadata to a certain degree.
Seems most suggestions centre on an integrated solution. What about going the other way - any thoughts on a good Roon ready bridge/dac/power amp combo?