As Nuno says above, there is no imminent risk of Mk3 being replaced and that line will continue to run for awhile. The ZEN MkII cannot be upgraded on a component level to a Mk3, so you would perhaps need to look at a full trade-in or part-exchange with a dealer to move up to either ZEN Mk3 or ZENith Mk3, either of which would be an upgrade but the ZENith Mk3 especially so.I've been considering upgrading my Zen MK II bought in 2017 for a while, but I'm not sure what to do. I understand that you can upgrade to the Zenith MK3, but how much will it cost and I can't help but wonder when the new lineup will come out? Will it also be possible to upgrade the Zenith MK3 in the future?
Hi Thrifty, i invite you to raise this question on a new thread on the Product Chat board - this specific thread is about first reactions to new NG devices.I recently purchased a Pulse and a Phoenix USB. Both units were purchased through Audio Mart. I recently trialed a HiFi Rose RS130. I thought the RS130 would be my next streamer, but after 100 hours there were some strange peaks in base (at 71db) that were not there with the A6, phono, nor CD versions. The peaks were 3-5 db which were very annoying. I returned the RS130. The sales rep suggested a Pulse but wanted to look at other options. Ultimately I did end up purchasing the Pulse, plus the Phoenix USB, believing that this would deliver what I was looking for. Both units arrive this week.
I looked at several other manufacturers including Aurender, Lumin, and Auralic. I also considered the Pulsar, but liked the idea of keeping the USB clock separate. Ultimately, I did end up purchasing the Pulse, plus the Phoenix USB, believing that this would deliver what I was looking for. Both units arrive this week. Besides that, the two items purchase price was over a $1000 lower than a used Pulsar. The Pulse will be replacing an Eversolo DMP-A6 which was quite the upgrade over the Cambridge CXN v2 (my first streamer DAC and I returned it within a week) and the Bluesound Node with an aftermarket PD Creative LPS (OK, but I did not like the App and the sound was not as good the CD source). The DMP-A6 is a close match to the SACD source. I do like the Eversolo app and a lot of the non-DAC controls, but feel the soundstage needs to be wider with more instrument separation. The Graphic and Parametric EQ were particularly handy as I was testing various other equipment choices.
The rest of my equipment includes: Pass Labs XA 25 power amp, Benchmark LA4 Pre-amp, PS Audio Direct Stream Mk1 DAC, Technics SL 1500 turntable with AT540ML with RigB body, Marantz SACD 8003 (old but still decent), Acoustat 1+1 Speakers (92 inches tall) with active SPL Crossover (German) and dual Rythmik F12SE subs. These are in a room with 20 ft ceiling, 30 ft long and 20 ft wide (approx).
I am looking for any recommendations regarding the testing and implementation of these units. Any suggestions?
Hi Malc, they'll compete in a broadly similar area to the STATEMENT; we're of the philosophy that once you reach this level of system, digital source becomes separate from DAC, just as an integrated amp will start moving to separate pre and power.I think the Zen and Zenith NG look excellent developments by Innuos and look forward to the opportunity to hear them. I do wonder about which segment of the hifi marketplace they will compete ? Currently high end streaming solutions tend to be combined with high end DACs, very few of these DAC manufacturers don't have a streaming solution built in. Are Innuos thinking of any DAC development/partnership to compete with this ?
I try and avoid duplication of streaming functions and currently run the Innuos Statement NG with Chord DAVE. Personally I avoid overlap of functionality with the likes of DCS, Weiss, Linn etc.
Sorry my bad - can I put it another way. Can Roon core/ server safely be installed on either ZEN NG or ZENith NG. Although it was possible to install it on the ZENith mk2 it was not, apparently, recommended or supported by Roon!Roon-Ready only applies to endpoints. The ZEN/ZENith NG works as Roon Core so the Roon-Ready certification does not apply.
Many thanks NVitorino for clarifying the Innuos/Roon relationship (this relationship does not come over very well in some of the posts I have seen in relation to Innuos and Roon on the Roon Community forum!).There is much disinformation about our relationship with Roon. We've always been in touch with Roon since 2017 and we are one of Roon's largest partners in this space. Our agreement with Roon is that Innuos provides user support for Innuos customers using Roon as Roon does not have access to our OS, so it would be difficult for them to troubleshoot issues that may be caused by some interactions between our OS and Roon. We're happy to provide support to our user base when using Roon. Hence Roon Support team says they do not support our platform because that's our job. They also mentioned the CPUs we used before the ZEN/ZENith NG we're under Roon's minimal specs but, as explained many times, as long as you don't need very CPU intensive operations such as DSD upsampling, they've been just fine. This is similar to Roon's own Nucleus One.
The ZENith NG has an i7 and 16GB of DDR4 RAM along with a very low latency SSD, so this should be well on par with the recommended Roon Core specs.Many thanks NVitorino for clarifying the Innuos/Roon relationship (this relationship does not come over very well in some of the posts I have seen in relation to Innuos and Roon on the Roon Community forum!).
The reason I am interested in clarifying this is that I am very strongly thinking of upgrading my existing ZENith mk2 SE to a ZENith NG. I currently use Roon ROCK, on an Intel NUC, because I do occasionally have need to upsample to DSD128 and have some minor DSP operations carried out in Roon (room correction and speaker positioning) but would very much like to have my Roon core/server on the Innuos because I think this would be more sensible and efficient, as I currently hold my library on the ZENith mk2 SE and would also do this on the NG if I went for it. So, before spending a large amount of money (for me) on an NG, I need some confidence that it will do what I want - including running Roon Core/server and it’s upgrades.
As an added point, l do use Innuos Sense, on occasion, and must say that it is a great piece of software, but having invested in a life time Roon membership (before turning to Innuos) so like to make use of it and some of the additional benefits that it brings to the party.
I have now had the opportunity to home demo a ZENith NG against my ZENith Mk2 SE. I must say that, to my ears and in my system, the differences were not night and day! The difference is more subtle and is about an increased level of “transparency” - ability to sense more space around instruments and voices, perhaps this is a function of the improvements in the power supplies, but anyway, I have placed an order.The ZENith NG has an i7 and 16GB of DDR4 RAM along with a very low latency SSD, so this should be well on par with the recommended Roon Core specs.