Room Nucleus+ vs what for dCS

I have been evaluating DACs and dCS is on my list. I’ve auditioned the Bartok, the Rossini, and a full Vivaldi stack. I’ve also heard the Rossini in a neighbor’s system and have heard dCS products elsewhere. My most recent auditions, both at the dealer and at my neighbor’s home, coincidently / by happenstance were both fronted by a Roon Nucleus.

Based on what I am hearing you express, the dealer’s choices, and what my neighbor ended up with (in all cases... the Roon Nucleus) I’m fairly sure that dCS as well as their dealers believe that dCS is impervious to the ethernet signal being sent it’s way.

Once a position gets dug, it tends to stick / stay and is amplified by those that follow the manufacturer / dealer guidance.

I happen to disagree.

I’m running a dCS Debussy DAC, Roon Core on a sonicTransport i5 and streaming files from a Synology NAS to a DCS Network Bridge.  The network bridge doesn’t support USB out so I use dual AES/EBU cables to the DAC.  Dual cables allows me to listen to DSD 128 files.

Mayor it is much harder to get to become an innous dealer so you will see far fewer Innous dealers vs Roon which are sold even on line. Also considering that you are in Canada we can’t sell you an Innous product even if we wanted to.

As per DCS or their dealers endorsing the Roon product could it be that perhaps they are afraid to recommend that the DCS’s products are not immune to the signal being feed to them and shattering their image of being the best in digital?  The other issue is that an inexpensive Roon Nucleus makes for an easier DCS purchase you don't need a really top server just use a cheap server and you are good to go.

We have talked with many customer who were not in love with the Nucleus and moved on.  As mentioned above we have elucidated all the reasons we would pick an Innous over the Roon product. 

The reality is that some people like DCS others do not, most of the DCS products are very detailed and tend to be an overly complicated product line with outboard upsamplers required as well as clocks. They do tend to throw a big soundstage with great clarity but also tend to be a bit lean in the midrange compared to the Lumin X1 or Aqua Hifi products or other R2R ladder based Dacs.

The Innous products are hardly under powered and can easily process large libraries.

Why don’t you find a local Innous dealer and test the Zen vs the Nucleus Plus and then try a Zenith and see for yourself. Run both with both a high end usb cable and ethernet and see which you prefer, we find with a really good server that USB on an Innous will beat Ethernet transmission, that is not always the case with all dac’s

The only ones saying that the Zen or Zenith are under powered don’t understand that Innous chose the most powerful processor with the least almont of noise generated by the chip running at the highest speed it can run at.

Sfseay you can easily run the highest sampling frequencies via USB, as well.

As per saying that ethernet is better we have a client with the Bartok and Statement and he prefers the USB by a mile even over the Statements very high quality ethernet output.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ Innous dealers

I just looked at the wrong number. I’m in the SF Bay Area. The only Innous dealer is Audio Vision SF, and last time I asked them, they told me I had to pay $250 to have the privilege of listening to an amp in their shop. Needless to say, I will never step foot in there. Also, I hear you @audiotroy but I want non-dealer opinions too. 

Mayor arent you in Canada? As per non dealer opinion there aren't that many here that have this kind of experience, we can reach out to our client who has the Statment runs it USB into his Bartok and see if he would like to reply.

If you are in the States we can ship you a demo Zenith to play with or if you are doing business or visiting NY we are a quick jump from the City and you can hear them at our shop.

As per Audio Visions boy that is totally shitty it is amazing they stay in business. 

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ Innous dealers