Innuos zen mini type things.

[phoenixpete]

I have seen one of these units for sale on Facebook and noticed it has the facility to rip your cd,s via its own cd drive , so basically you can rip your cd collection straight on to the zen mini. At present l am just using my Sony CD player, power amp and a beresford dac with variable output as pre amp. Do l just connect the zen mini or similar to the dac via a digital cable, or usb cable and will it play when selected on the dac or do l need something else to make this work? I am hoping it will be compatible with my iPad for song selection etc. Not sure though. I just want to get all my cds together for convenience really, not too worried about streaming music unless it is really easy for a dummy.
Any help gratefully received. Or any other recommendations?
Thanks.

[Clive197]

From 1 dummy to another. If the price is right, you won’t go wrong buying the Innuos Zen Mini. You will be able to rip your cd’s using a tablet (iPad) using Innous’s own software app. However you will need a separate app to control selection and playback. Differences between Zen Mini, Zen and Zenith is mainly down to build quality and components which will effect sound quality.

[phoenixpete]

From 1 dummy to another. If the price is right, you won’t go wrong buying the Innuos Zen Mini. You will be able to rip your cd’s using a tablet (iPad) using Innous’s own software app. However you will need a separate app to control selection and playback. Differences between Zen Mini, Zen and Zenith is mainly down to build quality and components which will effect sound quality.
Thanks for your help. It is up for £475 and is a zen mini mkii with 1tb drive. I can’t find anything similar that has the ability to rip cds straight on to its own hard drive. Will it just connect to my pre/ dac with a digital cable or am l missing something?

[CageyH]

It will connect with a USB cable. There is no digital out on the Zen Mini, according to the info on the Innuos web site.

[phoenixpete]

Ah, thanks�� I have usb on the Stan dac so that should be ok. Innuos say l need to connect to my router for track info and album cover stuff etc. But my router is nowhere near the hi/fi and it has no spare Ethernet ports anyway. Any ideas how to get round this? I don’t think the innuos does WiFi so could be a problem. I could connect it to my router temporarily whilst ripping my cds l suppose? If that would work?

[webby60]

It would work but the problem will be when you want to play the CD's that you have ripped to the Zen Mini as it needs to be visible on the network which means a wired connection at all times.
FWIW I think at £475 it's overpriced. The unit will probably be at least 3 years old and I think that particular model was £699 new.

[struth]

Ah, thanks�� I have usb on the Stan dac so that should be ok. Innuos say l need to connect to my router for track info and album cover stuff etc. But my router is nowhere near the hi/fi and it has no spare Ethernet ports anyway. Any ideas how to get round this? I don’t think the innuos does WiFi so could be a problem. I could connect it to my router temporarily whilst ripping my cds l suppose? If that would work?
An ethernet switch and as long a cable as you need is answer. this is a 4 but they come in any size
https://www.amazon.co.uk/NETGEAR-Ethernet-Unmanaged-Internet-Splitter/dp/B07PYSNSDD/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=6SP9OE5B1PIW&dchild=1&keywords=ethernet+switch+4+port&qid=1601815460&sprefix=ethernet+switch%2Caps%2C177&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUExWDE2T1lHVkZORklPJ mVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwMjc5NDEyMjkwUklSUE1URzdCUiZlbmN yeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwMTQ1NDA5NkpTQ0cyTEpHOFRKJndpZGdld E5hbWU9c3BfYXRmJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm9 0TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

[phoenixpete]

An ethernet switch and as long a cable as you need is answer. this is a 4 but they come in any size
https://www.amazon.co.uk/NETGEAR-Ethernet-Unmanaged-Internet-Splitter/dp/B07PYSNSDD/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=6SP9OE5B1PIW&dchild=1&keywords=ethernet+switch+4+port&qid=1601815460&sprefix=ethernet+switch%2Caps%2C177&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUExWDE2T1lHVkZORklPJ mVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwMjc5NDEyMjkwUklSUE1URzdCUiZlbmN yeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwMTQ1NDA5NkpTQ0cyTEpHOFRKJndpZGdld E5hbWU9c3BfYXRmJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm9 0TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

Ah thanks Grant�� I did wonder if an Ethernet splitter/expander would be an option. I think this is the way to go, just going to wait until a cd ripper/streamer comes along at a good price. Thanks for all the help��