Still a Rooner (lifetime subscription) for archiving, etc. Listening, I’ve switched to InnuOS 2.0.x.
Early days for InnuOS 2.
Seems that the player software optimized for specific server hardware leads to better results? Just a matter of what server hardware you prefer. I don’t know this, just suggesting it and happy to be refuted.
I do not think that Innuos is intending to make a new Roon. On the other hand, offering such a complete player with a very good sound quality goes in my opinion in the simplification of the audio quality according to Innuos. It only takes a few minutes to get everything in place without having to worry about complicated settings.
Roon offers a lot, but for me it becomes too busy and resource intensive.
Yes, for those who want to use multi-iroom or HQ player or other convolution it’s fine, but for listening in one place Roon is actually too complicated.
For me there is no comparison to be made, the products are different, the customers are different, the usage is different and therefore the expectations are also different…one point that Roon should not ignored is the sound quality that Innuos offers. There is something going on that Roon is not doing, and for the Roon team listening to a system with Innuos should awaken something.
This has been discussed previously as to reasons, if you check other threads. One substantial difference is that Innuos use very long buffers, which leads to less electronic noise since there are many fewer disc accesses (Lan play) or data requests back to the remote streaming server. There is also a question of how data transfers from the streaming server are done, whether they are push or pull. Roon cannot do the same implementations, e.g. long buffers, because they have to accommodate many different hosts, not all of which are architected to allow that kind of data structure.
Ok thanks for these information
I won’t use it unless you are able to switch devices within the app like you can with Roon.
Nice note and very interesting. I’m curious about the threads you mention re: buffer lengths. Could you provide a pointer (s)? What you’re saying makes great sense and helps me begin to understand how a music player can effect SQ. Also helps me understand why my naive hope that there could be a stripped-down, more push, less pull Roon music player version is implausible, adapting, as it is designed to do, to many different servers. Hadn’t fully appreciated how amazing what Roon has accomplished is. Getting there.
BTW, when one adds an album with InnuOS, it populates Roon’s My Albums and the liner notes become available. Gotta have my liner notes.
Sorry that I can’t find anything quickly without doing a lot of looking. One interesting discussion I recall was from someone who had tried varying the lengths of buffers used for storing streamed (?) audio. I remember him as being a programmer with access to system code on a Windows system who wanted to experiment with the effect of buffer length on sound, so he set up a series of buffers ranging from short to very long. And concluded that the effect was obvious in the extreme, and made a huge difference. If I find the thread, I’ll post it.
Thank you. I know how re-finding things can go 
Very interesting re: buffer length experiment. I’m assuming SQ increased with buffer length?
Yes, the longer the better.
Yes and folks are telling us that bits are bits and music players are neutral conveyors of that information…, and then there are issues of push vs pull, buffer length etc, which have a distinct impact on SQ. Best to stay humbly attentive in this pursuit.
I don’t think its positioned as a Roon killer. I think it is a value add for people who are looking at Innuos but don’t want to have to pay for Roon and dislike the iPeng route. For me the value of Innuos is the incredibly clean digital signal that gets to my DAC.
Interesting product, but probably not very useful for me because I am using a Linn Klimax DSM/3 streamer with the optical ethernent as an input.
So I have an Innuos Zenith SE which is currently acting as a Roon Core and through USB cable directly connecting to a Kii Controller and a pair of Kii Three’s. It sounds as you might expect, pretty good.
I don’t use Roon DSP, because there is infinite adjustment within the Kii’s and they handle jitter and other noise really well.
My question to others out there…
I have a now unused, Intel NUC6i5SYB (actually an Aleutia R50 fanless PC) that I’m considering converting using ROCK - then using this as my Roon Core and having the Zenith operate as a Roon Endpoint via USB to the Kii Controller. That should allow use of the Innuos 2.0 as well… although I am really happy with Roon and especially the multi room facility.
I have 12 endpoints of various types throughout the property. I should come clean and say that I have a mastering studio at home - and hence the Kii’s - although I am slowly giving that up and concentrating on more pure listening for pleasure these days (I’m now 58).
What’s the general view of moving from a Zenith SE as Core/Endpoint to a separate ROCK doing the CORE work and the Zenith just doing the endpoint stuff…?
Is that likely to be a good thing or not…?
Any one else done the same?
This is a difficult question to answer because the choice between an Innuos device and NUC (or indeed a Nucleus) is usually either/or. One or the other. There won’t be too many hosting on one and using the other as an endpoint. But if you want access to both Roon and Innuos OS it may be the best way, especially as you already seem to have the NUC hardware so there is no financial impediment.
Thanks Henry. I guess I can compare the Kii’s with/without the Zenith SE too.
I have to say that I’ve been very happy with the Zenith SE for playback and ripping of a vast CD collection I have amassed - I hadn’t realised just how out of control that was… 
…
That said - especially after Innuos 2.0 was released, I’ve had a few more minor interruptions in playback and/or “Roon has lost control of the audio device” errors - something I’d not seen at all prior to the Innuos move across to their new platform.
I’m wondering if the Innuos 2.0 platform (on Zenith MkII SE hardware) just doesn’t play as nicely when it’s also running Roon Core… it’s clearly not going to be optimised for Roon now - so maybe a NUC - which I have “spare” might be a good way to find out!
Sorry to be so late to this discussion, but this was my quandary as well. I moved my Roon core to my Windows PC so that I would have the option of running the Innuos streaming software on my main system, which includes an Innuos Zen, while continuing to use Roon for the rest of the house. This worked just fine. I had read on another audio forum that the Innuos software sounded significanty better than Roon, and this did seem to be true, though it is not possible to switch quickly between the different software configuations so I can’t really be sure it was not just expectation bias. Yesterday though, I played some well recorded piano jazz using the Innous sense software (as I’ve been doing for the past few months), then switched to using the Zen as a Roon endpoint and it sounded just as good. My 70-year-old ears; my pretty good, but not fabulous system. (The signal runs from the optically isolated Zen to a Matrix SPDIF converter through I2s to a PS Audio Directstream DAC to a PS Audio BHK preamp to a CODA Continuum 8 power amp to Alta Audio Rhea speakers.) Have there been improvements to the sound quality of Roon in the past few months?
Hello Guys,
So…I’ve removed the core from my Innous & moved it back to my office laptop but every time I try to restore from my latest back up files located on Dropbox (takes 20-30 mins to restore), I’m then asked to relaunch BUT… I’m taken straight back to this screen again??
After doing this twice I decided to just log in…I’ve now unauthorized the Innous as my CORE & I’ve attempted to restore from back up again…same thing, request you to relaunch but takes you back to the log in screen so I don’t know whether I have actually restores from back up or not??
Looking at ROON now on my laptop, I can’t see any of my music files (stored on the internal Innous HD & backed up to an attached external HD)?? The only files I can see are my Quobuz favorites (which does suggest I have restored from back up?).
I’ve gone to all this trouble to trial the Sense app (a few guys locally say it sounds much better) but it looks like it’s interface with an external DAC is via USB, is that correct as I can’t seem to play any tracks via the sense app to my DAC, connected via RJ45 into the PS Audio DSJnr Bridge??
Fun times!!
Matt
Currently only Usb unless the other devices support Squeezelite playback. There is an experimental UPnP bridge they are trying out but you need to speak to Innuos support to get that setup. I know a few using it that way. It’s basically the same bridge people use to get Roon via UPnP. They are working on getting better support for UPnP.
ok, thanks for letting me as I’m not a fan of USB…having said that it sounded pretty good even with a cheapy USB cable but if Sense can support RJ45 Ethrnet out, that would be better.
I don’t think you can restore direct from dropbox, copy the backup locally and try again.
