Local Files

[fireguy]

It's anyone familiar with using the Innuos Pulsar as a playback for local files? I'm considering buying a WD Red SN700 2TB with a Sabrent EC-SNVE for a curated selection of hi-rez music purchased from Qobuz, Windham Hill etc. I was told that Innuos actually recommends this setup. I should mention that my Innuos Pulsar will be feeding my new Accuphase DC-1000 DAC.

I'd love the idea of the Innuos Statement NG or Zenith NG (even though I don't own cds to rip and store). But from a streaming and local playback component are there significant differences in SQ?

 

[Stephen Healy]

It's anyone familiar with using the Innuos Pulsar as a playback for local files? I'm considering buying a WD Red SN700 2TB with a Sabrent EC-SNVE for a curated selection of hi-rez music purchased from Qobuz, Windham Hill etc. I was told that Innuos actually recommends this setup. I should mention that my Innuos Pulsar will be feeding my new Accuphase DC-1000 DAC.

I'd love the idea of the Innuos Statement NG or Zenith NG (even though I don't own cds to rip and store). But from a streaming and local playback component are there significant differences in SQ?

We recommend that WD Red SSD, but in the context of it being installed directly into a STREAM series or a ZEN/ith Next-Gen.
It's a bit different from the PULSAR, because you have to put that SSD in a caddy enclosure to connect via USB. There is not much inherent benefit to this over just buying a regular external USB drive, because the same limitations will exist; it will inject some noise into the USB subsystem, and it will not integrate into the overall Sense library the same way - music connected by USB will not merge with streaming services, or be able to be added to playlists etc. So in this instance, I would actually sooner recommend a NAS drive for storage instead. This is more mechanically separated from the PULSAR, and files from there will integrate more normally into the Sense app library.
CD Ripping does remain entirely optional for both STATEMENT or ZENith NG; the point here is that they have full capacity to maximise a locally stored music library, whether doing any further ripping or not. In the 'hierarchy of storage' preferences for local files, the built-in SSD still very much remains #1 from our perspective.