Son & Heir first streamer recomendations

A dedicated music server is mostly about convenience, namely you have a large CD library and you want the pain of ripping and handling the metadata taken care of for you. Other than that, it’s basically a PC with an embedded OS on it. If you have a modest quantity of CD’s to rip, I’d say under 1000, then the benefits of having a dedicated music server are more difficult to justify. A good quality NAS will do the things a music server can do quite comfortably, with a transport/streamer like a Uniti product, you can access and control playback using an app on your phone and also benefit from direct access to multiple online services like Internet Radio, Tidal, Qobuz and Spotify which I would assume would be of interest and beneficial to your son.
A Uniti Atom/Star/Nova will do everything in one box so will be simple to setup and live with and not take up a lot of space at all especially the Atom.
A NAS (Network Attached Storage) is just a hard drive with a network connection over Ethernet and this will take care of storage and serving of any audio files in the local collection.

Thanks but the Innous is a one box solution with out need for a NAS, he has speakers Spendor SE6’s and AMP so looking at what Innous offers inc UpNP, steaming, I Radio plus 2TB of storage for 1.5k seems the best option and if goes higher in future can use the Innous as a DAC

Ok, so if amp is already taken care of then the Innuos Zen Mini is a solid choice. I did a fairly extensive home demo of various music servers around 1 year ago and I thought the Zen Mini was a competent option overall compared to the others I evaluated. I did have a listen to the LPSU at the dealer showroom but didn’t try it at home, I’d expect you’d be fine using it without to be honest, it wasn’t instantly apparently to me what it was bringing to the setup, certainly on the short time I had with it anyway. Good luck!

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thanks for comments

Just one to watch potentially with the Innuos. Check what their software/ app looks like.
I went around the whole Nas/ Zen mini/ Zen thing at the start of the year. Things may have changed but the app looked a bit duff from memory. My dealer was pushing using Roon to drive the Zen mini. Which appeared a workaround, and did not do the Zen model which was what I thought I wanted.
In the end I went via Nas and asset.

thanks for the heads up, I use Asset on my NAS (QNAP) which is a delight - I moved from Wonkey as soon as I could

Yep, asset and minim work well.
The Innuos app, wasn’t. You used a third party squeezebox thing. The dealer kept promoting that Innuos were developing a proper app. Then pushed Roon. Which of course works well and looks good. But, at the time and didn’t use Roon. I just wanted an app ( a bit like the Naim one) to drive the Innuos. Setting up the Zen is, or can be, via a web browser once it is connected to your home network. And that bit looks ok. But, the driving of the player via an app looked less well developed.
So, potentially a reasonable piece of hardware with a clunky interface.

2 years in with a Zen mini 2 and easy going
Very good sound and easy to use. Back up is merely popping a usb hard drive into the back.
Easy to set up and Support is excellent should you need it. It’s been a great buy.
Whilst it may not be ‘pretty’’ orange squeeze is free and works well. Ipeng for ipads etc is about £10. On my network I found web control and set up was easiest with a Kindle fire which are cheap as chips. Go for it as a standalone - the external power supply is quite dear and not essential at all

If anything I would have thought you’d upgrade the DAC and use the Innuos via SPDIF or USB as a future upgrade.

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I recently bought an Atom 3 weeks ago for my second system, and a Zen Mini III to act as a roon Core server just a few days ago.

The Atom is a great device on it’s own, and with a power amp (doesn’t have to be Naim, although that would be ni£e) is a next system step up in it’s own right.

Whether it is streaming from internet radio, local files (USB), a NAS, Qobuz or over Airplay or as a roon endpoint, or receiving an Analogue input, it is such a flexible and performant unit and really good value for money. Those features are common across the Uniti range Of course it does have an integrated power amp.

I did briefly try the Zeni Mini III as a roon core AND end-point into a Chord DAC, and I would say that the standalone Atom gives better / clearer SQ.

As a roon Core the Zen Mini III on it’s own works extremely well - the roon migration from my Intel NUC was seemless and took just 15 minutes to carry out - I did subsequently move the music files onto the Zen from a SSD.

Note that this usage is without the additional optional LPSU on the Zen Mini, and that my purpose for the Zen Mini III is as a roon Core only as I have 3 roon endpoints (including the Atom) which I am very content with. I did discuss the relevance of the LPSU for my purpose with the dealer, and he reckoned that would not be necessary.

I have not yet tried the Analogue-out from the Zen Mini III (it has only been in the rack for 48 hours).

As I bought the Atom secondhand and the Zen Mini as ex-demo my capital investment is the same as if I had bought a brand-new Atom at ‘full retail price’.

If I could only buy one of these devices I would buy the Atom, and rip my files to a good quality (e.g. Samsung 850 evo) SSD via computer - a lot depends on how many and how frequently the CD’s will need to be ripped.

I second @Thegreatroberto’s thought here. When I tried Innuos , I wasn’t entirely convinced by iPeng – but I know the app is generally well regarded. I guess we have different preferences and things we look for when assessing an user interface. Sound quality, obviously, is most important – but issues with the user interface can really spoil the enjoyment of music. So it’s really important, I think, to try software before committing to hardware…

just as an update got the Innous Zen 3 and PSU which I collected today

set up time 5 Mins, download I Ping (son only IPAD)

ease of set up - could not be easier
funtions - perfect
Innous - web interface - perfect
Network - on first time
IRADIO - works perfectly
so In summary Son is pretty happy, therefore Mother is happy - fathers cred as gone up (slightly)

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Did you go for the standard 1tb HDD?
But that got me a bit was innuos’s pricing for bigger HDDs. The extra size disks were disproportionately expensive. And even more so when it came to wanting a bigger SSD.

2TB with the separate PSU

Even works on my NDX through Asset might try a QNAP vs Innous in due course

Son is delighted with it

2Tb is the obvious choice. Still irritated they charge an £100 more for 1 Tb extra. My dealer didn’t have an answer, not a suitable discount when I was in discussions. When I asked what the Zen ( full size) brought over the Zen mini plus PSU, his answer was “little”. And then suggested I’d want a zenith! Well you would, but not at £3k.
In the end I went Synology . I already had the two HDDs. So for £300 I had what I wanted. I rip via iTunes to Alac. Works for me, and I leave the Nas in another room connected via RJ45.

In situ on my old Quadrapire stand with NAD 5211 and the delightfull NAD C370 AMP

been in for 24 hours, lot’s of rips, lot’s of music and I could choice to play on my system via network using Asset -

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