Yep, too derivative to be of any benefit now…
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Normally it takes about 6,000 posts on these pre-release threads before anything turns up. Remind me, what is the purpose of this product?
I’ve been waiting 7 years for PSA to make something that I need, the FR20 look fabulous in metallic grey, and I suspect they will be a superb speaker, unfortunately I bought similar metallic grey speakers 2 years ago.
Now, I know Vince celebrates being the first poster on this thread. But this thread was hived off from others. If we add some up we have:
@bruces : 2016 PS Audio Music Server In The Pipeline: 1722 posts
@beatboy77 : 2019 Octave Questions: 583 posts
@vkennedy61 : 2021 AirLens thread: 2843 posts plus
I am sure there were more. But this is as far back as I go. Total is about 5150 posts.
So 850 to go for the AirLens launch!
@jamesh : But how many more posts until the AirLens beta launches?
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A 5-year (give or take) product development cycle is asking for redundancy.
I bought an Innuos server in February 2019 to act as a Roon Core and music server. Close to 4 years later, it doesn’t work as a Roon Core any more, but it now has its own streaming platform that I use for my main listening. I still run Roon Core on another device, to play music elsewhere, which pulls music off the Innuos.
So in under 4 years the machine has completely changed in function and use, and it’s remained on the production line through this period.
To me that’s a good device, that can change with the times and remain useful. The biggest risk is exposure to 3rd party software redundancy, as is the case with Innuos and Roon 2.0.
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Best guess right now is January 2023.
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Thank you.
I have a Zenith Mk III and recently bought a Roon lifetime license. My Zenith is at V2.2.4. It can still be configured as a Roon Core, but I believe that where you change this setting has changed. Now you have to choose between Innuos Sense or Roon. You can’t do both at the same time.
System > Settings > System Mode
Choose Standalone for Innuos Sense
Choose Endpoint for Roon
I have the same ZENith MK 3, what do you prefer (sound wise) between Sense and Roon?
I have been busy and have not had time to compare Sense with Roon. I also have a HiFi Rose 150B that I use primarily for background music and I set that up for Roon and reverted back to Sense on the Zenith.
I will have more time to compare the two after I retire next year. The people who have Roon on this forum generally like the interface for exploring the music they listen too and discovering new music, but sometimes note some lack in sound quality, as in not as good as something else they have heard. Some who have an Innuos streamer have commented that they like the Sense interface better than Roon.
I guess that it comes down to the interface and the sound quality between the two. Each person will need to draw their own conclusion based on their associated equipment, cables, etc.
BTW: The main reason I have not done serious listening with the HiFi Rose is that they re-scan the entire music library on both internal and external storage each time the unit is rebooted. Rose Forum members have noted that this re-scan can take hours to complete, even if nothing has changed. Therefore, I removed my connection to my NAS and only have a few test tracks on the internal storage so that the re-scan is quick.
After the AirLens comes out, I may try it between the Innuos Zenith and the DS DAC Mk II (which I will buy when it becomes available) and see if it is an improvement over going from the Zenith via USB directly into the DS DAC Mk II.
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Thanks for that. I was wondering where they’s buried Roon. It was still 1.8. Updated it all now.
I reckon usb should be excellent from Zenith to Mk2. Zenith usb out has its own LPS and Ted says the usb in the Mk2 is very well implemented. Don’t see that AirLens should be of any use.
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I think this quote may still apply in relation to those silly silver disks called CDs when loaded into a proper transport/Dac or dare I say CD player. Honestly wonder if a $35k Gryphon Ethos spinning CDs can be bettered by the equivalent amount spent on streaming equipment for the same music on the CD
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You need to calculate CD storage and of course the time to keep them cataloged.
4950 albums in my digital library, that’s a lot of CD/SACD storage.
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I’m wondering if when the AirLens is released Paul will decide streamed files are as good as a silver disc.
If discs or streaming (own network, not online service) sounds better, always just was depending on 4 points imo:
- if aif or wav was also used as streaming format, not flac (doesn’t have the most relevance but quite a bit)
- how good the network/hard disk noise could be isolated from the streamer
- if the disc spinner or the streamer inherits the latest transfer technology (PSA calls it „lens“)
- if for streaming one of the better (Jriver etc.) instead of one of the worse (Roon etc.) SW is used
As 1. and 4. can be chosen at will, 2. is told to be quite completely fulfilled with galvanic isolation in the Airlens and 3. currently also speaks for the Airlens, everything else than a superiority of streaming over Airlens would put its galvanic isolation question 
But the discussion is hypothetical anyway, as SACD resolution is meanwhile surpassed by higher DSD rates and CD resolution by the availability of corresponding hires files. So in my eyes spinning discs makes only sense for those who definitely want to avoid any hassle with network stuff and/or those with a huge disc collection of albums only available as CD or SACD.
I assume most people will rip their CDs in wav unless they have storage limitations, so if going via AirLens is as good as direct from disc, there is no need to keep using CD.
I have hundreds of FLAC 24/96 and 24/192 downloads that cannot be streamed. I would have had the option to purchase a CD transcoded from the FLAC master file to 16/44 WAV. Surely the WAV file would not be preferred over the FLAC master file?
Of course I now have many hundreds of titles where a search gives me the choice of a ripped WAV file or a streamed HD FLAC master file. What then? Life is sometimes too complicated.
So I have a pretty decent file/streaming set up. Grim MU-1 with SSD storage of DSD, flac, Aif, wav files that are feeding my MBL 1611 F Dac. The Grim is isolated from the network via a fiberoptic set up so my streaming of Qobuz and Tidal Hi res files is pretty decent.
My MBL 1621a Transport playing CDs into the same 1611 F Dac consistently outperforms the same songs from DSD files on the Grim SSD. The difference is even bigger when streaming files from the internet. @aangen may make similar comments with his set-up.
I essentially use streaming to determine what albums or CDs I am going to buy. A good transport arguably can be a better value considering the low price of used CDs.
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Or is it just a better level of what’s acceptable? Is it as good as vinyl or reel? Probably not. Is it as good or better then most transports? Probably. Is it dependent on a lot of things in your digital chain? Probably. Is it going to make a bad recording sound better? No.
It was a bit of a trick question.
I’ve heard uncompromisingly good digital (dCS) and analogue (Brinkman) sources, so if I had about $100,000 for each the decision would be simple. As I don’t have that kind of money, my analogue is high performance/price from companies most people have never heard of (Claro, RCM, Expert Stylus, Origin Live with a secondary Jelco/SoundSmith arm).
Getting a clean digital feed is not difficult, mine cost $150 to install fibre from my modem and then about $250 for a battery powered media converter. The trick seems to be the digital bridge. This has been a weakness of PSA for ages, who have used a 3rd party card with limited functionality and no software upgrades. dCS did a good Bridge, now integrated into Rossini that I would buy tomorrow if I had the funds. Finally PSA are bringing out the AirLens, a digital bridge after failing to develop a server and never trying to replace the old 3rd party optional Ethernet card.
For me, bad recordings are a relatively few and far between. I am amazed how many good recordings there are that were captured with 16-bit equipment, now 24-bit is standard and 32-bit increasingly common. There is no need for an audible noise floor, but I do still hear it on some recordings.
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Sorry for the late response. The MU1 has AES/EBU and SPDIF outputs. Technically it has USB but that output misses out on the processing the FPGA outputs through the outer two inputs. Inside the MU1 is an excellent clock. To get the performance out of the MU1 requires the clock signal control the DAC. AES/EBU and SPDIF both send the clock signal with the music. USB doesn’t. If someone was interested in an MU1 they would need to accept its terms or don’t bother. It is an unusual device.
It is not even a tiny bit similar to the AirLens. It can do what an AirLens can do but not the other way around. They are incomparable.
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If you say in your case local streaming of a hires file sounds clearly worse than the same album played as CD disc, then imo the isolation of the streamer from network noise doesn’t fully take place (if it ever can), the MBL’s isolation of drive noise does, and the MBL’s transfer environment has a better sounding performance.
To judge over streaming vs. disc generally, it would need an MBL streamer in comparison which uses the same transfer environment as the disc player + their best way to isolate from network noise imo.