Should I have ripped my cds on the Innuos Zen Mk3 into WAV ? I did in flac.
Also my conclusion was that Qobuz sounded better without Roon.
Thank you, I suppose Small 2x5 Slow Blow (T)…
FLAC is not lossy. There used to be a metadata issue with WAV files. All this is ancient history. Some audiophiles still seem to have an issue with FLAC, I don’t know why.
FLAC was popular 10 years ago because storage was limited and cost money. The first streamer I looked at was the Meridian Sooloos about 15 years ago and it was limited to 500mb, so FLAC lossless made a big difference (I understand it is not compression, it removes redundant data).
It’s a bit more complicated. There is a fundamental difference in thinking between Roon and Innuos.
Roon is a software product and its designers have it doing lots of stuff all the time. Hence, when they came to hardware, the minimum spec is Intel i3 and the Nucleus+ uses Intel i7.
Innuos is a hardware company so they want as little processing as possible because there is less electrical noise, hence they are not Roon compliant. Their Sense app and moreso the 2.0 operating system allowed them to get away from what they saw as the problems with Roon.
There is a long thread on the Roof Labs Community
This should make no difference to PS Audio customers using Air Lens.
Basically, they explain here how their system differs from Roon.
… and a helpful post:
Us Devialet users are in the strange position where Innuos think usb direct is even better than ethernet (which is by definition galvanically isolated). Go figure.
So there seems to be a lot of system dependency, but I would expect the Air Lens to be a beneficial interface before PS Audio DACs, quite possibly other DACs as well.
There are a lot of things I don’t understand. For example, Innuos told me that a reclocker would be a better upgrade than upgrading from Zen to Zenith spec. By why is that, given the DAC does the reclocking? Also the Digital Lens in the PS Audio DAC should reduce noise, which is why I bought one, so why the need for galvanic isolation?
A lot of these components seem to be doing similar things, sometimes the same way, sometimes other ways. It seems very technical and I find it quite confusing.
Innuos say that because the Phoenix USB reclocker has a fantastic clock inside but also takes a great deal of care with how it treats and feeds power to the clock and USB elements.
In my system I had the pleasure of having the PhoenixUSB and MScaler for a week. While they perform very different jobs, it was my experience that the PhoenixUSB provided as substantial an improvement as the MScaler (Zen Mk3 and TT2). Different improvements to be sure, but of comparable scale. This was not the case when I had the WFS Reclocker. It made the Zen sound worse.
Zen to Zenith adds an extra linear power supply inside. It’s a bit quieter. But it’s no PhoenixUSB, which is of course drawn from the reclocker inside the Statement.
As explained above, the extra LPS in the Zenith is required specifically to reduce the electrical noise from the SSD drive. With the SATA drive in Zen you don’t have that issue, but you do have mechanical noise.
SSD is meant to be more reliable. I use SATA with external usb backup and if the SATA fails I’ll get it replaced.
When I replaced my QNAP from SATA for SSD, which makes a massive difference, I scavenged the drives and use them for my photo library.
The ZENith is here now.
Within a few hours I can put it in the system. Being a demo unit hope in a shorter burn in time.
Burn in?
If you use Sense, I hope your Matrix usb/HDMI switch is transparent. Might be best to do direct usb first.
I had this problem with an Intona usb filter, an Auralic Aries could not see through the filter to the DAC on the other side of it.
I had the same USB Intona isolator that I removed because I had better results without it.
It seems this evening I will manage a hard (for me) technical work through a trial and error process. Wish me good luck!
Good luck! It should be a major improvement over MacMini. But I don’t know. 
What format do you prefer ?
I don’t. As I have a 4TB hard drive I ripped WAV, but I buy FLAC files as well.
Good luck, but it’s not that difficult:
- Plug in power cable.
- Plug in ethernet cable
- Connect with usb cable
- Turn on
- Download Sense app (or go to IP address on a computer) - the app will find the server and tell you the IP address.
- Enter your Tidal/Qobuz account details.
- Pour a nice drink.
- Press play.
- Tell us what you think
Here I am. Very fast and easy set up. 5 minutes, no more. Matrix via Dragon HDMI to DS DAC and Roon via Squeezelite included. I’m a lucky non-IT man!
Then 2 hours listening.
Wow! A big big difference compared to Mac Mini. Now I’m using Roon and really is a major improvement Donald, you guess it! More realistic, open, extended soundstage, bla bla…
What surprised me more is second step. I tried Sense App playing directly within the Innuos environment. It opened a new world of quality, detail, engagement in SQ, stunning! I’m lost during last hours at the point I forgave time passing (I’m under wife’s pressure, luggages to prepare for a 3 days vacation tomorrow, as usual in the worst moment possible!). Tempted to abandon Roon instantly if this quality will be confirmed during next days.
Highly recommended.
Just a question: via Sense App how can I search for new music on Qobuz? Not a specific search typing letters like googling, just surfing through cover pictures for new releases or genres. If this lack would be fixed bye bye Roon! It would be useful in Home page finding albums to explore not only the ones already imported or played, like the New section in Qobuz or Roon home page. The Search page is useful but awful if restricted to search only by typing something I do not know at all in this moment.
More experiments needed to compare streaming vs CDs but I’m sooo happy as I am.
Nice! I use Stylus App and am very happy with it. I never had Roon so I cannot compare. But it’s an improvement over Bridge 2 and McontrolHD for sure.
Congratulations!
Not surprised compared to Mac Mini. I bought a Roon Nucleus and it was much better than my Mac Mini. When I got the Auralic Aries G2 it blew them both away! Enjoy the next level streaming!
Bingo! I found what I was looking for in Sense App.
Select Music screen, scroll down, click on Qobuz et voila!
Bye bye Roon (maybe).
Yes, I’ve not touched Roon since the Sense app appeared. I’m a very happy boy.