Innuos Zen - is it still useable?

[CageyH]

I have seen a Zen Mini Mk1 for €150.
I know I can’t use the latest Innuos app with it, but is it still a useable option?
Will it perform better than my PC as a music streamer?

[Lawrence001]

I'm not sure what the software is like but I imagine it's a proprietary variation of Vortexbox.

If it's not supported any more there's a risk it can't find album metadata when ripping as the original source no longer works, so it's worth checking this first.

If so, you might be better off reinstalling the latest Vortexbox software on it, this is what I did on my pre Innuos Liv Zen and it worked better and got metadata. There's a fix for getting the album art working again but I've not tried this yet.

You can control playing with a phone/tablet using Squeezer (Android) or an iPhone app whose name eludes me. File management can be done via a windows PC on the same network.

In my opinion it's a better source than a normal computer but I've not done an A/B.

I've set up an owners club for Vortexbox on the Wam with some tips for owners as the company website is not maintained that much any more.

[CageyH]

Thanks Lawrence.
I shall have a look.

[CageyH]

I think I am going to give it a miss.
I don’t think it will add much in terms of functionality (in fact it will do less than my HTPC) and I think any improvement in SQ will be marginal.