Innuos - better than a NAIM CDX?
- Thread starter markharro
- Start date
Killersteve
pfm Member
Don‘t know the Arcam rDAC, but I have switched from a Rega Isis to an Innuos Zenith with Teddy Pardo DAC without any regrets.
Neil P
pfm Member
So that's approx £4k of innuos & dac versus approx £6k of CD player. I am impressed! As per a previous thread I started, I'm mulling over whether to switch from my Rega Saturn R to a streamer, but as I have a relatively small CD collection, I think the Saturn gives a lot of bang for its buck. Also for me having one box, and fewer cables and power supplies etc is a bonus.
Spraggons Den
pfm Member
I agree, having all of your cds on an Innuos is appealing if you have a decent DAC plus you can use the streaming services for hires material.
Killersteve
pfm Member
If you only want to hear a small CD collection, you should go on with the Player. If you also want to hear music via streaming, the Innuos is a very good choice.
Killersteve
pfm Member
You don‘t need Hi res. CD Quality via Tidal is as good as a CD or a Rip from CD.
My CD collection is not huge, but they are ripped onto my Innuos Zen. The best thing is, I am now in the process of ripping my brothers collection. After that my best mates collection and so on. In a few months I will have over a thousand albums ripped, so what's not to like.
My system control and playback all happens from the comfort of my listening chair and no more trawling through my CD's looking for this and that. As you say the Zen allows me to stream Tidal. No regrets.
tvheadhunter
pfm Member
Killer Steve: Have a teddydac as well and was thinking about the Innuos. Do you connect it through usb? Got mine before the usb upgrade. More thoughts on the combo.
fim
pfm Member
I have both an older Innuos (zen mk2 xl) and a cdx and I can’t say I preferred one over the other.
Actually scratch that, Innuos is probably preferred due to ease of use but SQ wise I didn’t notice a big difference vs the CDX.
Nowadays I am using roon with a ND5XS2 though which is definitely on par with the cdx as well.
Actually scratch that, Innuos is probably preferred due to ease of use but SQ wise I didn’t notice a big difference vs the CDX.
Nowadays I am using roon with a ND5XS2 though which is definitely on par with the cdx as well.
Spraggons Den
pfm Member
Eh...why wouldn’t I want to enjoy the same piece of music at a 192/24 rather than 44/16?
Killersteve
pfm Member
Yes, I have had a Teddy DAC with 192kHz Async USB modul. Have changed to an other DAC in the meantime. The Zenith is connected via USB. There are no other outputs. The Zen Mini has also Coax and optical outputs.
Killersteve
pfm Member
Killersteve
pfm Member
Do you think the quality is better? It’s not! Have had a Hi res Qobuz account but heard not really a difference between „only“ CD quality and Hi res. It sounds different yes, but not better.
nostromo
pfm Member
This is my experience too with Qobuz and with locally played files. The 44/16 version of the same recording to me has better pace/rythmn. I can say I don't prefer any of my 192/24 recordings compared to 16/44 including Pink Floyd, Peter Gabriel, Bowie, Fleetwood Mac and so on. I find this strange even to myself and would like to understand why.
mikechadwick
pfm Member
I’m using a Zenith Mk3/ Phoenix USB reclocker. I think you’d need to spend quite a bit more to improve on this.
mikechadwick
pfm Member
Not sure I totally understood your question re OS but the Innuos is really flexible - it can be used as a Roon core or Roon endpoint or as a UPnP streamer. Currently I’m using iPeng and the Zenith as a Transport into my DAC via USB. Sounds sublime, the most natural digital audio that I’ve experienced. Using Roon is pretty damn good as well!
boneman
pfm Member
I've read a few reviews recently comparing the zen mini with a node 2i and they have mentioned that the interface to use the zen was not as intuitive/well designed as teh node interface.