Innuos Zen MK3

Streaming Music Server

Blog: Simple, Effective & Inexpensive Ways To Improve Your Streaming Experience

Warmth, vivid tonal colors, and musicality are characteristics strongly associated with Innuos. The Zen MK3 is no different. John Darko of Darko Audio had a difficult time distinguishing the Zen MK3 from the Zenith SE. That is quite an accomplishment considering the SE sold for $7000.

In our opinion, the Innuos Zen MK3 is the sweet spot in their product lineup. Offering class leading performance and unique features. But most importantly, it sounds incredible.

Reviews

• Darko Audio
• The Ear

Innuos designs a range of streaming products for both audio and video in the UK an builds them in Portugal, a range that contains three Zen models of audio server with a built in disc drive. The Zen Mk3 is the middle model in the line between the Zen Mini below, and the ZENith MK3 and Zenith Statement higher up. The ZEN is an enthusiast level audio component with a number of improvements over the ZENmini.

Linear Power Supply

The ZEN MK3 uses a linear power supply design with ultra-low noise regulators (40 uV), specialized Nichicon MUSE audio capacitors and a medical-grade power filter to ensure sonic transparency.

Ultra-low Noise Ethernet Input & Streamer Output

The Zen MK3 has Dual-ethernet ports with isolation transformers to filter noise significantly improve sound quality. One for the incoming data on ethernet, and the other for connected streamers. You can bypass your router and connect an additional streamer directly to the Zen via the second ethernet port, which offers up a much quieter signal when compared to a direct router connection.

Reduced Vibration

Vibration kills good sound quality so Innuos has added significant anti-vibration treatment to the chassis and  internal electronic components.

In-Memory Playback

With 2GB dedicated memory, the ZEN MK3 loads music directly to memory for playback so that it doesn’t need to engage the hard drive, improving sound quality.

Features

• Full-width Design
• Linear Power Supply with ultra-low noise
  regulators and Nichicon MUSE Capacitors
• Anti-Vibration treatment on chassis
  and electronic components
• Independent floating optical drive
  and hard drive platform
• Medical-grade Mains Filter
• Dual Ethernet Ports for LAN and Streamer
• with isolation transformers
• In-Memory playback with 2GB Cache
• Ultra-low Noise USB Audio Output
• Quad-core Intel CPU, 4GB RAM

 "All in all the Innuos Zen Mk3 makes a very good case for using a dedicated audio server rather than a NAS drive and network switch, it sounds considerably better for one, making even a high end NAS seem distinctly crude by comparison. It also gives excellent results with both USB and Ethernet connections thanks to the efforts that the company has put into creating a quiet power supply and well isolated outputs."

SPECIFICATIONS

• Type: Music server with HDD storage and CD ripper
• Storage: 2TB WD Red hard drive. 4 and 8TB available
• Network connection: RJ45 Ethernet
• Digital Outputs: RJ45 Ethernet direct, USB 2.0
• Back up connection: USB
• Formats supported: WAV, AIFF, FLAC, DSD, ALAC, OGG Vorbis, AAC, MP3
• Sample rates: 44.1kHz, 48kHz, 88.2kHz, 96kHz, 176.4KHz. 192kHz, 352.8KHz, 384KHz , DSD64, DSD128, DSD256
• Bit depths: 1bit, 16bit, 24bit, 32bit
• 8GB DDR3 Low-Voltage RAM (4GB Dedicated for RAM Playback)
• CD rip format: FLAC (zero compression)
• Streaming services supported: Qobuz, Tidal, Spotify Premium
• User Interface: Web browser, third party control applications
• Other Features: UPnP server, DLNA device compatible
• Dimensions (HxWxD): 70 x 420 x 320mm
• Weight: 9kg