Is my Zen MK3 overkill now?

JSQT

New member
Oct 23, 2024
3
0
1
US
I'm consolidating and downsizing and moving from 2 separate systems (1 high end 2 channel and the other home theater), and I have owned a Zen MK3 since launch (I think 2018?)

Now I am wondering if it is overkill, as it seems with the home theater system I can only access files on the Innuos through the Yamaha A6A's MusicCast app. I've been a big fan of the Sense app and abandoned Roon a while ago due to the improved sound quality of the Sense app.

The Yamaha is not Roon Ready and it has no USB DAC, so it seems I'm stuck using the Music Cast app to play song files from the Zen just like a regular UPnP server.

So now I am wondering really, am I benefitting from the Zen MK3 in this new scenario? I can't use Sense, I'm not able to connect the Zen to the A6A, and although I am sure that the sound is going to be better as a server-only, it really seems overkill to have a $3K server/streamer that I have to access through my home theater receiver's music app, right?

Or is there a setting in Sense that would allow me to connect to the A6A from within Sense? As it is right now I have used it connected to my Technics' USB DAC input in Sense Standalone mode, so it recognizes the Technics DAC but there is no way to connect to other players on the network.
 
I'm consolidating and downsizing and moving from 2 separate systems (1 high end 2 channel and the other home theater), and I have owned a Zen MK3 since launch (I think 2018?)

Now I am wondering if it is overkill, as it seems with the home theater system I can only access files on the Innuos through the Yamaha A6A's MusicCast app. I've been a big fan of the Sense app and abandoned Roon a while ago due to the improved sound quality of the Sense app.

The Yamaha is not Roon Ready and it has no USB DAC, so it seems I'm stuck using the Music Cast app to play song files from the Zen just like a regular UPnP server.

So now I am wondering really, am I benefitting from the Zen MK3 in this new scenario? I can't use Sense, I'm not able to connect the Zen to the A6A, and although I am sure that the sound is going to be better as a server-only, it really seems overkill to have a $3K server/streamer that I have to access through my home theater receiver's music app, right?

Or is there a setting in Sense that would allow me to connect to the A6A from within Sense? As it is right now I have used it connected to my Technics' USB DAC input in Sense Standalone mode, so it recognizes the Technics DAC but there is no way to connect to other players on the network.
Is the ZEN Mk3 currently going USB out into your main high-end two channel system? As it would make more sense to be there than going in to an AV receiver. And across the network, you can use SenseUPnP mode to use the Sense app to actually send the audio over the network to the Yamaha if you wanted to, rather than using MusicCast - this is a feature more of convenience rather than qualitative. You could consider a PULSEmini or another Squeezelite-supported streamer to plug in to the Yamaha, which would then function as a fully compatible 'endpoint' from your ZEN in the main rack?
 
  • Like
Reactions: JSQT
Is the ZEN Mk3 currently going USB out into your main high-end two channel system? As it would make more sense to be there than going in to an AV receiver. And across the network, you can use SenseUPnP mode to use the Sense app to actually send the audio over the network to the Yamaha if you wanted to, rather than using MusicCast - this is a feature more of convenience rather than qualitative. You could consider a PULSEmini or another Squeezelite-supported streamer to plug in to the Yamaha, which would then function as a fully compatible 'endpoint' from your ZEN in the main rack?
Thanks Stephen.

Yes currently I use it into the USB input on a Technics SU-R1000 and it sounds amazing.

But I’m downsizing and consolidating a bit, I have a 2 channel tube-based vintage system I’m going to be using for 2 channel listening (I have a BSN2i for this running from a separate Roon-based system), and then to replace the high end system I want to start using the A6A for the majority of listening with multichannel and upmixed 2 channel content (ideally from the Zen server).

But the glitch seems to be that if I am using the Zen as a standalone server the only way I can access my files is through UPnP via the Music Cast app. I’ve been told there is no way to playback from within Sense to other UPnP devices on my network.

So that means using the clunky UPnP interface on the Music Cast app to access the Zen server, which still sounds amazing but it honestly seems like overkill since I’m not using any connection to any other device via USB and unable to use the Sense app, perhaps downsizing to a Mini or a Roon compatible streamer may be the best option?

Edit: another option would be a DDC to use the coax input on the A6A but I’m not convinced the sound quality would be as high as a direct network stream.
 
Well that problem is solved, it turns out for some reason my Sense app was in Native instead of Standalone UPnP mode, and after a refresh the Yamaha showed up on the list of available network players, so we are good in that regard. I was told by Innuos support that SenseUPnP was unstable and unreliable so when I didn't see any available players on my network I assumed it wasn't working. But all good to go now.

I am still wondering however if the Pulse may be better suited for my needs than the Zen but at least that can wait for another day while I get everything else dialed in.
 
Glad to hear you got SenseUPnP up and running. It is a relatively experimental feature, but if it works well for you then that's good. In principle, it should not sound any different than using the MusicCast app.
In terms of whether the ZEN Mk3 is overkill, it depends. If you have a reasonably large collection of files on it that you want to enjoy, then you would have to solve this another way if switching to a PULSE.
You mention you use Roon in another system elsewhere? To keep the consolidation simple, you could keep the ZEN as a Roon Core to play that collection of files, and meanwhile consider a PULSEmini or even PULSE to go with the Yamaha, which can run on Sense and use the ZEN as a 'NAS' for its music collection, and can output optically or coaxially directly in to the A6A.