Should Innuos Drop the NG

[Bill Allen]

The Innuos Zen Streamer

Imagine if you will a Zen Garden, various material features surrounded by small stones, raked to perfection to achieve harmony with its surrounding that one can reflect upon.





If one built a new garden would you name it a 'next-gen' Zen Garden? No ... size, features, complexity have no bearing ... it's simply a newly built Zen Garden.

 

[Bill Allen]

I see the Zen Series Streamers as a never ending pursuit of musical perfection, never fully achievable, but with continued stilling or pacifying of external noises one could reflect on a near approximation.

The Zen Streamer should be totally customizable, add, or even remove features to match your current musical expectations. Some people may a want a simple landscape, others a more complex picture. I myself would like to experiment with features, adding and removing as I evolve my understanding.

Perhaps a custom tuning service where Innuos could log into your Zen Streamer and 'rake the rocks' if you will.
That would be a really cool feature!

Thoughts?

 

[frank7036]

Innuos can already log in to your box online to QC, change settings etc. and push updates to you if required.
The over-the-air updates to Sense ( and the Kernel) already happen - I am trying to understand what more are you thinking of?

There is obviously a limit to how far the current hardware can accommodate firmware upgrades. Once you get to that point you would have to purchase a new model or return the box for an upgrade of the hardware anyway.

From a business pov I cannot see that a fully customisable model would be a sensible proposition. It would be a nightmare to support/QC.

 

[Esscee]

Plenty of suggestions have been made for various additions/changes to the Innuos way forward, whether it being hardware or software.
Surely having a good value for money unit ought to be at the forefront, remembering the more that gets added can also end up as "Jack of all trades but Master of none".
Just because some suggestion might be useful to a "handful of owners" does not mean it will work satisfactorily for the majority, which is why the people in the background at Innuos will sift through what can work and what might not.
Not everyone may have a suitable speedy Broadband connection so streaming is not a important option for them as an example.
A well designed functioning unit at a sensible price level with the knowledge of further updates and sound improvements ought to be the aim.

 

[frank7036]

Just because some suggestion might be useful to a "handful of owners" does not mean it will work satisfactorily for the majority, which is why the people in the background at Innuos will sift through what can work and what might not.

Isn’t this what the “wish list” / vote site is for? Ideas get thrown about, Innuos reviews them and if seen as a good idea and are popular they move up & along the implementation process?

Not everyone may have a suitable speedy Broadband connection so streaming is not a important option for them as an example.

How many people nowadays don’t have an internet connection good enough for audio streaming?? Even in Australia, which doesn’t have the greatest internet speeds it isn’t an impediment to audio streaming.

What is the “sensible” price band you are thinking of?

Doesn't implementing a new feature require a certain amount of resources within a box.. The higher spec’ed units will get it 1st and then it may cascade down to lesser models or as a stand alone box/module. Isn’t this where Innuos are going with the NG and Stream models?
I suppose it depends on where Innuos want to compete in the market.

 

[Bill Allen]

Yes it's hard to be clear with only a few words, an analogy.

First off, I'm suggesting there is only one Zen Streamer. LIke the picture above, you can start with a basic Zen Garden, adding features should not change the name. I suggest they drop the NG! I mean look at the fossil record of names used in the past, no need to continue that trend moving forward with the Zen.

Innuos already offers plenty of new features to add to your Zen Garden, if they want to call their maxed out version the Zenith, so be it. However with the new modular approach every feature on the Zenith should be available to the Zen owners. Perhaps Innous already offers this service on a custom build basis and I'm talking semantics.

However let's not forgot our hobbyist roots, adding these features is childs play for many of us, no need to send the Steamer back to Portugal. Who is to say "My Zenith" reflex's the current Innuos version. I may not like the sound of new upgrade power supply, or even the i7 processor version, but I do like what the pSLC drive brings to my Zen garden. I'm not suggesting adding unsanctioned parts, just the freedom to experiment, who knows what we may discover along this journey. Very Zen!

I have already discovered how sensitive my basic Zen Streamer is, adding storage drives took days to stabilize and changed the overall sound, luckily I like what I hear now. Next I want to add an internal Phoenix USB board and compare to my external Phoenix USB. I plugged a USB cable into the internal USB port which is used for both the Phoenix & I2S boards. Guess what, this unused board port requires breakin', sounded poor for days. Further I unplugged my current SPDIF board from the montherboard. (Located right next to the Internal USB port). Quess what, sound improved to my ears, no doubt less resources being used.

 

[Bill Allen]

Woke up today in Kona, HI to sunshine, fresh coffee, and Sense 3.3.0.

Performed my normal post update ritual, unplugged all cables from the Zen Streamer, re-powered 'everything' including my Ubiquiti router. Queued up my favorite Qubuz playlist, whoa, Innuos has indeed re-raked my Zen Garden. Gone is the denser, straight forward, heavier feel to my soundstage post my storage SSD installation. Back is the whimsical dancing soundstage with free-floating, full-torso, vaporous apparitions. Something my Zen Mk3/Phoenix USB combo could only hint at. Yes there's always that Innuos House Sound in common but the new Zen Streamer paints a much more detailed picture. KInd of a Piccaso vs Renoir sort of focus ... if you know what I mean.

I really enjoy the huge step towards realism , something I have never experienced with digital audio in the past.

 

[frank7036]

Innuos have stopped producing the mk3 series, Zenmini, Zen, Zenith & LPSU are being replaced by Stream series.
Tech support continues for Mk3 units.