Innuos Zenith SE

innuos zenith se/ chord dave must be a killing combo.   But no dealer with chord dave in France, and innuos se is also a limited production i think...

in the review of the dave, the reviewer uses the zenith se( ear magazine).

The Dave can be auditioned at the cabasse acoustic center ( Paris)

Stringerbell posted:

The Dave can be auditioned at the cabasse acoustic center ( Paris)

thanks, i didn’t know. will see that.

Analog

i had the Dave at home for a few week demo,fed from my Core,and it was fantastic.Sorry though,I have not heard the Innuos Zenith to compare...come on man,stick with the Naim sound!

There is also a new Mk3 version of the whole Zen products family with the Zenith Mk3 apparently implementing some of the technology used in the SE and the Mini having a S/PDIF output. And then there is the announced Innuos Statement, of course.

I think that these (and the new Antipodes CX) are potentially interesting devices but I do not like the fact that, as the Naim Core, they lack certification for a standard Linux distribution.  At least the Innuos and the Antipode seem to support MinimServer.

analogmusic posted:

Just read a review of this on the ear website, Jason Kennedy full of praise.

It's also a 5000 GBP server, blimey now that is serious cash.

Not sure if anyone got the chance to compare it to a Uniti core?

Did anyone get the chance to hear the Zenith SE, which apparently got a much improved power supply?

The SE sounds fantastic analogue compared to feeding my Chord TT with an iMac or a laptop.

You know you're tempted as you are with the ATC Active 40's!!!!!

My dealer drops Melco and Aurender for Innuos...this MUST be good!...hope to have a demo soon...

My local Dealer sells Antipodes servers,and before I bought my Core,I seriously considered their top of the line model...but it was 10k Canadian,which scared me a bit,no regrets with the Core,but I still wonder about the Antipodes...

No quarter posted:

My local Dealer sells Antipodes servers,and before I bought my Core,I seriously considered their top of the line model...but it was 10k Canadian,which scared me a bit,no regrets with the Core,but I still wonder about the Antipodes...

can you borrow the antipodes and try it at home?   i would be very interested to know, perhaps you too, how it compares to the core fed by the dave.  

No,he does not have a demo unit,he is a distributor,so that was another reason why I went with the Core.The company is based in New Zealand I believe,so I am not sure if they would of sent a unit for me to demo or not.In the end,it was the price that made my decision for me,and possibly this forum,where most people seem to believe a NAS is all you need,which might very well be true.One thing that I did like,was it is Roon ready,if I decided that was something I wanted in the future.

No quarter posted:

No,he does not have a demo unit,he is a distributor,so that was another reason why I went with the Core.The company is based in New Zealand I believe,so I am not sure if they would of sent a unit for me to demo or not.In the end,it was the price that made my decision for me,and possibly this forum,where most people seem to believe a NAS is all you need,which might very well be true.One thing that I did like,was it is Roon ready,if I decided that was something I wanted in the future.

nas is all you need is with streamers like ndx, nds.....But in the core or antipodes / dave combo, the player is the core or antipodes.  The connection is by usb or spdif.  I am sure you know it, but here the core or antipodes are not only nas.  

Did you find the core/ dave involving, with enough prat for a naim sound africianados?

French Rooster posted:

No quarter posted:

No,he does not have a demo unit,he is a distributor,so that was another reason why I went with the Core.The company is based in New Zealand I believe,so I am not sure if they would of sent a unit for me to demo or not.In the end,it was the price that made my decision for me,and possibly this forum,where most people seem to believe a NAS is all you need,which might very well be true.One thing that I did like,was it is Roon ready,if I decided that was something I wanted in the future.

nas is all you need is with streamers like ndx, nds.....But in the core or antipodes / dave combo, the player is the core or antipodes.  The connection is by usb or spdif.  I am sure you know it, but here the core or antipodes are not only nas.  

 

From what I’ve read, people who have used the likes of Melco and Zenith rather than a NAS say they sound better, and IIRC that includes connecting to streamers or connecting direct to a DAC.

French Rooster posted:

No quarter posted:

No,he does not have a demo unit,he is a distributor,so that was another reason why I went with the Core.The company is based in New Zealand I believe,so I am not sure if they would of sent a unit for me to demo or not.In the end,it was the price that made my decision for me,and possibly this forum,where most people seem to believe a NAS is all you need,which might very well be true.One thing that I did like,was it is Roon ready,if I decided that was something I wanted in the future.

nas is all you need is with streamers like ndx, nds.....But in the core or antipodes / dave combo, the player is the core or antipodes.  The connection is by usb or spdif.  I am sure you know it, but here the core or antipodes are not only nas.  

Did you find the core/ dave involving, with enough prat for a naim sound africianados?

Yes the Core/Dave was involving with lots of PRAT,but I could not justify the price for the performance increase over what my Core/272/XPSDR gives me.At some point you just have to be happy with what you have.My dealer had just gotten in his Qutest at that time,so he wanted to try it with his Blu2,so I was able to pry the Dave out of his hands for a few weeks.

analogmusic posted:

Just read a review of this on the ear website, Jason Kennedy full of praise.

It's also a 5000 GBP server, blimey now that is serious cash.

Not sure if anyone got the chance to compare it to a Uniti core?

Did anyone get the chance to hear the Zenith SE, which apparently got a much improved power supply?

If you are interested in the SE, at page 236 of the CA monster thread "A novel way to massively improve the SQ of computer audio streaming" you can find a review of the Innuos Zenith SE with a detailed comparison to a SoTM Trifecta chain. It should not be easy to get a SE meanwhile, but the Zenith Mk3 should be readily available. What I do not like of these devices is that they all come with an integrated ripping station. For the new Antipodes CX, one can buy the separated P1 isolation block and ripper.

Im very tempted by the uniti core, but it got no tidal.

@Phil Harris, is this something the uniti core will ever have?

In the meantime I will have to audition the innuos......... blimey. 5000 euro worth of server....

analogmusic posted:

Im very tempted by the uniti core, but it got no tidal.

@Phil Harris, is this something the uniti core will ever have?

In the meantime I will have to audition the innuos......... blimey. 5000 euro worth of server....

Hi,

As a music ripper and server then it is not intended that streaming services such as TIDAL, Internet Radio, Spotify, Qobuz etc. would ever be added to the Core.

Best Regards

Phil

Hi Phil, understood. 

All these servers from Melco, Innuos and Antipodes are highlighting a new product opportunity for Naim, essentially a Naim version of the Antipodes CX that rips, serves, acts as a Roon Core, handles services such as Spotify Premium, TIDAL, Qobuz etc..

Just sayin'

Best regards, FT

Naim seem to have headed in the opposite direction with the Core, as its predecessor at least had iRadio. I guess they don’t want to make their streamers obsolete by putting their functionality into the Core, so that all you then need is a DAC to make up a complete djgital source. 

To me, that seems to leave the door wide open to the likes of Innuos, as even their entry level Zen Mini does Tidal, Qobuz, Spotify, Roon and iRadio as well as ripping and serving. The crux of the matter, of course, will be how good they can sound compared to a Naim streamer for similar money. 

Indeed Chris.  At the other end of the scale from the Zen Mini, I find that a Melco + Chord DAVE to be more musically satisfying than the Melco + NDS/555PSDR. 

Equally, it's okay having Naim streamers as Roon Ready endpoints (if this is the correct term), but Naim needs a Roon server with the processing power to do it properly (i.e. with DSP running if required) - something that standard NAS drives from Synology or QNAP cannot do.

To obtain a decent Roon server, we have to look outside the Naim family and I'd prefer to stay in the family if possible.  Hence the post above.

Best regards, FT

Innuos Zenith Statement  is coming out in summer - sounds like a Naim inspired box! Raw AC/DC lps in a separate box, 8 regulators/dc rails in the main box, EMI optimized custom new mboard, new cleaner USB board. Price expected to be double the SE.

analogmusic posted:

Im very tempted by the uniti core, but it got no tidal.

@Phil Harris, is this something the uniti core will ever have?

In the meantime I will have to audition the innuos......... blimey. 5000 euro worth of server....

If you do audition a Zenith SE I would be very interested to know how you think it compares to the standard Zenith Mk 2, which I have & am very happy with.

At under half the cost of the SE version the Zenith Mk 2 would be well worth a listen before handing over five grand.

Morton posted:

analogmusic posted:

Im very tempted by the uniti core, but it got no tidal.

@Phil Harris, is this something the uniti core will ever have?

In the meantime I will have to audition the innuos......... blimey. 5000 euro worth of server....

If you do audition a Zenith SE I would be very interested to know how you think it compares to the standard Zenith Mk 2, which I have & am very happy with.

At under half the cost of the SE version the Zenith Mk 2 would be well worth a listen before handing over five grand.

can you add a linear ps to the innuos zenith ?    5v or 12v output ?

Zenith has LPS, the mini has SMPS

French Rooster posted:

Morton posted:

analogmusic posted:

Im very tempted by the uniti core, but it got no tidal.

@Phil Harris, is this something the uniti core will ever have?

In the meantime I will have to audition the innuos......... blimey. 5000 euro worth of server....

If you do audition a Zenith SE I would be very interested to know how you think it compares to the standard Zenith Mk 2, which I have & am very happy with.

At under half the cost of the SE version the Zenith Mk 2 would be well worth a listen before handing over five grand.

can you add a linear ps to the innuos zenith ?    5v or 12v output ?

As DRPO says the Zenith already has a linear power supply, I also notice that the Innuos web site says that the SE is now sold out.

ChrisSU posted:

...

To me, that seems to leave the door wide open to the likes of Innuos, as even their entry level Zen Mini does Tidal, Qobuz, Spotify, Roon and iRadio as well as ripping and serving. The crux of the matter, of course, will be how good they can sound compared to a Naim streamer for similar money. 

It also depends on the DAC, of course. I have not done any direct comparisons but I would not be surprised if an old Naim DAC or a more recent Chord DAC would match the sound quality of a Naim streamer when fed with a clean USB or S/PDIF stream. I am using, among others, an Allo DigiOne to feed a Naim DAC. It runs both a UPnP server (MinimServer) and a UPnP renderer with interfaces to Tidal, Qobuz, internet radio, etc. In https://forums.naimaudio.com/to...allo-digione-player, MM argues that "Allo into nDac into 272/250DR is more detailed than 272/250DR alone. With s/h prices the way they are, the Allo+nDac is a better upgrade than a xpsdr, super lumina etc.". Anyway, the current Naim streamer are a no-go fro me. But I would be interested to hear how the new NDX 2 sounds in comparison with my current system.