Innuos Zenith Mk3 vs Zen Mk3 + Phoenix

Ianderson I did not compare the Zen 3 to the Zenith 3 though I did wrestle thinking over the price difference between the two ,.., Is there a appreciable difference in performance between the stand alone Zenith over the Zen 3 ? for that extra $1,500.00 ? that 1500 bucks would go along way purchasing the Phoenix.
However I would imagine pairing the Phoenix with the Zen the Zenith is left in the dust .
The Phoenix is the game changer .

It hurt my brain making that purchase decision on the spot and I ultimately went with the Zenith 3 and Phoenix, I’m very happy with digital playback now .

Thanks for the feedback guys! This question predicated on the fact my local dealer just took on the line and his initial order started with a Zen and Zen-Mini. The Zen has broken in and sounds very good, knowing the price difference to the Zenith, it great to hear there there is a lot of value in that move and the SQ improvement is well justified.

i reached out to experienced dealer (Dave from Audio Doctor) and explained I was in Canada and in spite of the fact he can’t sell up here, he was gracious enough to spend 40 minutes with me explaining the differences. He’s got a ton of experience, has a lot of lines to compare with, and he confirmed what you guys are saying, the SQ is much better with the Zenith and it’s worth the extra cost. A special thanks to Dave for helping when he had no chance of selling me an Innuos product, by provided me an passionate unbiased view of the digital market space.

I’ve heard the online show demos with and without the Phoenix and on a decent set of earbuds I can hear the SQ improvement. I just wish I could have afforded the Phoenix at the same time. 

I’d also prefer to see Innuos build the Phoenix capability into a Zenith deluxe. When you consider the outboard device forces you to add another USB & Power cable it can add significantly to the investment.

As a result of all the consistent feedback, I’ll order the Zenith. Thanks everyone!

The Phoenix reclocker is a half way house. Asynchronous USB puts the DAC‘s clock in charge of clocking the transport/server. Rather than spending money on a reclocker one should spend the money on getting the best DAC clock possible, ideally a 10Mhz master clock. After adding a 10m Ocxo clock to my DAC, the Zenith MK3 made a quantum leap. It is truly an excellent server/player.

Antigrunge,

What clock did you go with? Perhaps a Mutec, or a Cybershaft? I’ve been doing some in depth reading and learning about them. Having a reference clock synced up to the DAC, Server/Renderer, and network switch seems to make sense. Is that what you’re doing?

My benchmark for 1) the amount I was investing 2) the pieces I was eyeballing didn’t lead my thinking to a reference clock before my purchase, particularly since none of these pieces has a reference clock input.

I did end up buying the Phoenix, And even at a halfway house it is a very appreciable difference and worth the investment to me. It was an easy choice because, I qualified for a special discount courtesy of Innuos promotion - I’m very pleased with the SQ. Particularly when I’ve got my dealers Aqua DAC in the rig (I have an Ayre Codex currently) I suspect the Aqua has a decent clock in it.

When one adds up the investment price is for a good digital rig, and when I compare the system (with Aqua La Scala) to my VPI table / Dynavector cartridge, the vinyl is less than 1/3 of the price and it’s still measurably better.

This digital stuff is a massive rabbit hole that keeps evolving. At least at this point it’s worth listening to, as all my previous digital attempts were hard on my ears. I’m grateful it evolved thus far. It’s good enough for the living room system where my wife and daughter can operate it with ease. I can enjoy it too when I’m feeling lazy, or it’s background music for dinner time etc.. I’ll stick with Master tape and Vinyl in the dedicated room.

Did you do anything with a network switch? I’m thinking that aside from the DAC upgrade, my next investment should be a etherregen, or SoTM switch perhaps.

Continued feedback is encouraged everyone. Thanks!