Article: Review | Innuos PhoenixUSB Reclocker

[Hiker]

Like some I never have an opinion on said component without a demonstration of course , first at the dealer then listening to it in my own system. Well it turns out this all in one box USB regenerator / power supplies and data clock proved its worth the salt , I bought a Innuos Zenith server including the Innuos Phoenix the same day I borrowed it from the dealer.

Call me what you will ,...🥱

[Hiker]

2 hours ago, Tait said:

 

Congrats on the purchases Hiker!

 

Did you try the Zenith with an without the Phoenix during your demo?

If so what improvements did the Phoenix bring?

 

I've got a Phoenix on order which, fingers crossed, should be arriving at the end of the week!

 

Did I listen to the Zenith with the Phoenix and without of course. The dealer ripped a couple of my own CDs and as good as the Innuos Zenith mk3 is my scepticism of the Phoenix just being a over priced USB regenerator immediately vanished.

 

The dealer would only lend me the Phoenix and Zenith on their day off with a strict promise to return them the following day however it didn’t take long to realize I had to own them , like 15 minutes,....Tait there’s nothing I could add that already been said , I’m extremely happy with Innuos .

 

[Hiker]

Not to take away a single thing from AustinPops hard work and great review of the Phoenix a online reviewer John Darko explains exactly what the Phoenix is in detail , the data clock , power supplies and what have you which initially got my interest. Also I’m not so hung up wanting to use l2s any longer.

[Hiker]

4 hours ago, ConcreteCow said:

Fascinating read of this thread...
Not sure what I would like to do. Innuos Phoenix or Denafrips Gaia?
The Phoenix would be connected via USB to my Zenith MKIII then to a D90 MQA DAC.
If I chose the Denafrips Gaia the connection would still be USB Zenith III to Gaia but from Gaia it would be I2s to the D90 MQA DAC.
Any thoughts anyone?

Is the Denafrips Gaia the same type of component from input to out put as what the Innuos Phoenix and Ideons Audio two offerings are ?
i could be wrong about the Denafrips Gaia , I don’t know a single thing about it other then it costs a lot less naturally ,  the only serious competition that I’m currently aware to the Phoenix are Idion Audio  Master Time and the $7,000.00 Absolute Time .

[Hiker]

2 hours ago, edwardsean said:

I love my Phoenix, but I would bet the Gaia would give it a run for its money–for a lot less money. 

 

The internals show a pretty impressive build and Denafrips has done a marvelous job in providing value through their direct to consumer model. 

 

The only fundamental limitation is the lack of USB output, which for me is a deal breaker. If your DAC can accept I2S, I would think the Gaia would be a better choice factoring in cost. 

Your guessing by just looking it, Looking at the internals of Denafrips terminator with curiously no serial numbers anywhere looks impressive also however a previous 1 bit FPGA proprietory design dac from Eastern Europe that sold for almost a grand less was preferred over the Denafrips by 2 out of 3 of us checking it out in our own systems is much more preferable then reading online excitement some love to join in , I’m not saying you do this of course.

So I’d be a little more sceptical , I just had the Ideon Master Time to directly compare to the Phoenix , its equally as impressive as the Phoenix, same cost however I wish I had it for a solid month .

[Hiker]

On 8/3/2020 at 2:00 AM, yyz said:

Denafrips serial numbers,

https://www.vinshineaudio.com/so/5dN3cxJA5#/main

Just to clarify back 2017 when I had the Denafrips Terminator there were no S/N that we could see inside or out , however that’s not saying one could be found if we stripped it apart .

Actually listening to Idion Audio’s 3R Master Time and Innous Phoenix they are very impressive at what they do .

[Hiker]

4 hours ago, ConcreteCow said:

Hi Hiker,

What's your view please with the Ideon Audio 3R Master Time and the Innuos Pheonix?

I would like to buy either one and would like more opinions between the two before decisions are made.

Many thanks.

The owner of the Ideon Master Time brought it over to my place just for a couple hours to check out side by side with the Innuos Phoenix , you get a immediate jump in performance with either .

Though I would like more time with the Ideon and hopefully we can trade components for a few days or longer .