Trying to Decide on my next Purchase

Dave and Troy,

Thanks for the prompt response and advice.  In your opinion, is the Innous Zenith SQ noticeably better than the 50.2?   Can you answer my NAD questions :-)

Base on your recommendation and reviews on this site, I will definitely give the Innous Zenith serious consideration.  

Roon is not a consideration.  I tried it and it's great software, but LMS fits my needs well enough.  I have over 16K music files on my NAS with 25 custom playlists of my favorite jazz and old school R&B artists.  I have about 1200 vinyl albums, about 1000 CDs, and a couple of cases of 10-inch reels.  I still, occasionally, rip a vinyl album or song to add to my collection; play a single CD or album; or play a reel when I want to back to the glory days!

Thanks again for the advice.

Regards,

Johnnie

The Innous is designed to run Roon, got no idea what you mean by LMS fits my needs well enough. Roon is one of the best music management softwares out there and you can do extensive playlist creation.

I've been using LMS for a very long time.  LMS works for how I want to listen to and manage my music library; it also allows me to manage my whole house music setup with ease. 

I reviewed Roon and realize it has many features that LMS lacks, and that I can manage my music setup with Roon - but I have no desire to change to Roon or any other music management system.

I’m referring to Logitech Media Server.  And you are correct on software being a major factor.

I have Squeezebox Duets and Raspberry PI players all around my house.  I use a Duet with my M12 most of the time.  When listening to Tidal masters, I use the M12’s BluOS module.  

I’m giving the Innuos serious consideration.  With it I could kill two birds with one stone.  Get a CD player for my new gear, which I need, and Squeezebox player, which I don’t really need but would eliminate the need for the Duet.

caphill, I purchased an Innuos Zenith MK2 and I’m quite happy with it. Having said that, I might have gone the Naim route if I read your email beforehand. A close friend of mine purchased a Naim Unity Star with some Focal speakers and the combo sounds really good.

I also upgraded my turntable to a Technics SL-1200G w/ Ortofon Quintet Black cart. I’m in vinyl heaven.

I still have the NAD gear, and I must say as it's broken-in along with the power cords and interconnects that I purchased, it sounds pretty good.  But, I do plan to replace the NAD gear with something else; I'm not yet sure what that might be.  I'm looking for a better pre-amp/amp or integrated amp match for my Tannoy 8 dcti speakers.  

avlee -  The excellent hardware features are more than negated by truly horrible software support

This is another reason why I'm ditching my NAD gear.  My experience has been that their support is non-existent.  For example, I needed to apply a firmware update to the M12's BluOS module that I purchased and installed.  You can easily download the software from their site, but there are NO instructions on how to install it.  And the install package has two files with no information on which one to use.

There was no way to get help from NAD.  After 4 or 5 emails with BluOS support I gave up because they were no help either.  I asked very specific questions and got vague answers, or references to the NAD site - which I already tried to use. 

I've been a computer geek since 1968, so I finally figured it out for myself. BluOS support said they'd update the documentation to provide step-by-step instruction about 6 months ago but have not, but did release another firmware update - with the same NO instructions.

caphill - thanks for the information.  I haven't set a budget.  This is my retirement system, so I'm going to get what I want - but at the same time, spend as little as possible. 

I've considered an integrated tube amp, but then I'd need a good DAC and phone preamp.  I've considered a McIntosh integrated amp that comes with everything, but I've always like separate components.  

I've considered keeping the M12 and buying a better DAC, phone preamp, and either SS or tube power amp.  I'm doing research, talking to folks with more knowledge and better gear that I have, and auditioning dealer gear.  I hope to have everything I need before Christmas :-).