Innuos Zenith SE MkII

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@austinpop and I already have ours.  Mine is further ahead in the burning-in process.

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Roy is getting the DX3 soon but suspects it won't be as good as the SE.

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My initial impression of the SE right out of the box was that it's no worse than the sMS-200 Ultra, dX-USB Ultra, ISO REgen and modded switch.  I don't have my Paul Hynes SR7 yet, so I was using an HD Plex to power the dX-USB Ultra and @austinpop's SR4 to power the sMS-200 Ultra.  The ISO and switch were powered with LPS-1.

 

I haven't switched back-and-forth between the SE and the SOtM stack for about 5-6 days.

 

@austinpop and I tested my vanilla PC as core with the SE as a Roon endpoint and couldn't tell any difference between it and the SE as core.

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@austinpop and I haven't been able to get that configuration to work yet.

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We can't see the DAC when we try using the Innuos SE to sMS-200.  We were trying it on Roon.  I'm don't think we've tried it on the internal player.  However, we have tried the internal player in other configurations.

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The comparison has already been done for the most part.  @austinpop compared the the SOtM stack to the Zenith and so have I.  I've been waiting to post findings until I get my SR7.

 

The SOtM stack has already been compared to the Signature Rendu.  I think audiostream.com compared them.  Therefore, the Zenith has been transitively compared to the Signature Rendu. 

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2 hours ago, thyname said:

 

Thanks Alan,

 

It does not make sense for me to use the Innuous Zen as a Roon Endpoint, and stream via it and USB to my Ayre. Ayre has a network bridge built in. And I try to avoid USB audio when I can.

 

Basically for me the Zen would be a server (Roon Core), and the only other use is to "clean" the Ethernet signal going to my Ayre, by going first from router to Zen, then from Zen Ethernet out to Ayre. Basically Zen acting as an Ethernet Bridge / or switch. Right?

 

In which case, does it really matter, since I am already using a pair of fiber optics isolators in my ethernet chain (powered by linear PS)?

@austinpop and I tested LAN versus USB with the Ayre QX-5 Twenty, and surprisingly, the system sounded better through USB--at least with a SOtM tX-USB Ultra behind it.

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@thyname

 

We tested it with the Innuous SE as Roon Core.

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33 minutes ago, thyname said:

 

‘You say “USB”. USB to Ayre from what streamer? Or Innuos was both core and endpoint?

 

Innuous SE to tX-USB Ultra via USB to the Ayre.  There was no endpoint.