![]() S/PDIF connections, and pretty decent through its phono outputs. It’s routinely excellent through USB and Ethernet, very good through optical and coaxial Sonically, the ZENmini Mk3 varies according to output. In short, the ZENmini Mk 3 does what all good servers should do act invisibly, letting other products in the chain do their jobs well. Configuring the ZENmini Mk 3 to talk to Tidal, Qobuz, or Spotify is easy and quick too. ![]() The joy of this is the ZENmini shares the same basic library management system used by all Innuos products, and unless you want to configure your music library in a weird manner, it works in a very logical way. It does allow the user a fair degree of editing a ripped disc’s metadata should you wish to go off piste, but in fairness, the ZENmini Mk 3 got things right more often than not. ![]() It doesn’t go down the route of comparing to online absolutes, because accurate rip systems do not necessarily point to the optimum version of the recording. Ripping a disc generally involves little more than putting a disc in the slot, waiting a few minutes, and taking it out again. ![]() Meanwhile, apps like iPeng Playback (iOS) or Orange Squeeze (Android) fill in the gaps in the meantime.įor the most part, the ZENmini runs entirely under its own steam. That’s changing, however, and the company is developing an app. The ‘almost’ part comes from the fact the company‘s products are so commonly used with third-party streaming systems, its own apps have taken a bit of a back seat compared to the demands made to ‘get products out the door.’ The company’s own app hasn’t been a major concern because so many ZEN products were used in Linn and Naim systems, where an app was almost surplus to requirements. And the ZENmini Mk 3 addresses all these avenues with almost equal aplomb. Some will want this to run under its own steam, some will want it to be controlled by a third-party controller like Linn’s Kazoo, some may even want it to operate as a Squeezebox server, or a Sonus server, or even a Roon server. It’s here, too, where Innuos needs to demonstrate a lot of flexibility. There are no other displays and the ZENmini’s music playback, handling, and management are all removed to either a computer, a tablet, or a smartphone. Aside from the obvious slot-loading CD drawer in the ZENmini Mk 3, they look interchangeable from the front. The half-width cases of both ZENmini Mk 3 and LPSU are almost identical, with the same gently angled front panel with a power button in the bottom right corner. As with most music servers, there ain’t much to see. It runs off an Intel N4200 Quad Core chipset with 4GB of RAM, making it on a par with an entry-level laptop in raw computing power. The ZENmini Mk 3 is a small ripping server with 1TB of WD Red hard disc as standard (you can configure it to have up to 8TB of on-board storage). As standard, the ZENmini Mk 3 comes supplied with a perfectly servicable laptop-style switch-mode power supply ‘brick’, but there is an option to upgrade that with the LPSU linear power supply unit, to bring the ZENmini Mk 3 closer to ZEN Mk 3 performance. The flexibility continues at the power end. Moreover, because of this multiplicity of potential audio system options, the ZENmini’s interface needs to reflect a wide range of users, from the tech-savvy enthusiast who dreams in TCP/IP right down to someone who considers the ZENmini Mk 3 to be their first musical venture into the 21st Century. The ZENmini Mk 3 might be used in a networked system with one user, into an older DAC with only coaxial S/PDIF connections, into a music system that only has a TOSlink optical input, or to replace a CD player in a system with an amplifier that only has line-level RCA inputs. Where the more up-scale models are designed to output purely to USB or Ethernet (because the assumption can be made that the prospective ZEN, ZENith, or Statement user has a network streamer or USB-supporting DAC), the ZENmini Mk 3 makes no such reductionist decisions. The ZENmini Mk 3 is the most flexible Innuos product to date. As befits the magazine, we’ve tended to look more to the top-end of the Innuos tree, but in many respects the humble entry ZENmini is the device that has the toughest job to do, because it will have to fill in so many different gaps in audio systems. As its name suggests, the Statement speaks to the high-ender who has a cost-no-object approach to audio, while the ZEN range covers everything from those dipping their toes in the music server world to those seeking a useful high-end solution. Innuos’ range of ZEN music servers each have their specific niche, that perfectly suits significant parts of the audio enthusiast market.
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