Innous Zen Mini MK 3

@stevehuff , nice writeup. No question Innuos is a sonic step up but for many, Roon will be a critical piece given the other UI alternatives. I had the same experience with Orange Squeeze as you had with iPeng. It is clumsy with only the most basic control functionality and I can see some people being disappointed with it. Roon is great but with a cost of $119 per year or $699 lifetime it could be a barrier for some folks. I was also prepared to take the plunge on the lifetime membership but saw they increased it $200 as they are trying to maintain income via yearly subscriptions. The increase is at least a temporary deterrent for me and am opting for the yearly plan for now. I can't help but think that there will be a less expensive alternative inside of 6 years.

(I originally posted this response under a different thread)

I own a Zen Mini Mk3 now for about three months, but have no experience with any other music servers; this is my first.
I am quite pleased with it.  I bought the Mini only, no LPS.

Very easily ripped my small 250 CD library; the Innuos OS is very intuitive and friendly feeling to me.

Reasoning that the perfect DC supply for the mini would be a battery (no AC ripple, appearing as a straight-line DC pattern if observed on a scope) I brought in a massive 12V auto battery and hooked it to the Mini.  Worked fine, no surprise but, as you can imagine, it was difficult to quickly A/B between the battery and the wall-wart switching supply that came with the unit.  I could not hear much difference, perhaps a slight improvement.  I measured dc current to the Mini at 250 ma idle, and 350ma with the hard drive spinning.  Very easy load for an auto battery.

The Innuos LPS is spec'd to have an output of 16VDC so, knowing that I would NOT be leaving a 12V battery laying around our living room, I picked up a surplus, high-grade industrial, linear, 15VDC power supply.  Working beautifully and does sound better than the wall-wart switching supply that came with the Zen.

With regard to a DAC, I used the Zen's built-in DAC for a month or so, Sounds fine.  I recently bought a very reasonably priced Chinese made DAC that is quite noticeably better.  Had my wife sit while I (blind) A/B'd between the two DAC's and she consistently picked the new DAC as sounding much better.  

My system is:  Zen Mini Mk3, Counterpoint 3.1 preamp, Cary AES SE-1 300B kit-built amp, all feeding my Klipschorn's, recently upgraded with Greg Roberts/Volti full upgrade package.  A completely awesome upgrade, BTW, worth every penny and wish I'd done it ten years ago!

Again, this stuff is all kind of new to me, but I am really happy with my sound.

-Jim

Jim,
Thanks for your comments.

@jimintally Hi, can I ask what DAC you got? I'm looking to get the Zen mini but will be pretty maxed out after so I'll be looking for a DAC that won't cost too much. Many thanks

@chrizola ... if you feel that you will be maxed out after purchasing the Zen Mini, then my humble advise is that you should look elsewhere. If you read any reviews or product descriptions of the Zen Mini, you can’t help but notice that there is scant or no mention of the built-in DAC. I feel that the Zen Mini should only be reviewed as a streamer and CD ripper. You would surely need to add a decent DAC if you want better sound.

I was seriously considering the Zen Mini but there were a number of factors why I dropped it from my list. First is obviously the lack of a decent DAC. Secondly, I don’t know how much of the production cost goes towards the CD ripper. My view is that I shouldn’t pay for anything I don’t intend to, use. I really wish Innuos can release a pure streamer at a lower cost. And the last reason is that most reviewers feel that the Zen Mini by itself is a decent piece of equipment but nothing to write home about. You really need to add a power supply, which is another $600 or so. So now, all of a sudden we’re looking at roughly $1850 just for the streamer. Plus maybe another $1000 for a good DAC.

Personally, I would spend more on a great DAC instead of a streamer. If you’re maxed out, buy the best DAC you can get and add a Bluesound Node at half the price of the Zen Mini and use it purely as a streamer. Just my 2 cents.