Innuos STREAM3

The Innuos STREAM3 is a full-size music server and streamer, and a significant step up from the STREAM1. It does the same fundamental job — ripping, storing and streaming your music through the Innuos Sense platform — but the engineering underneath is drawn from much further up the range. The headline is the power supply: an integrated ARC6-CX linear supply, the kind of thing usually reserved for far more expensive servers. See the full Innuos range we stock.

Processing comes from a 13th-generation Intel Quad-Core with 8GB of industrial-grade DDR5 RAM. The whole unit is built into a 10mm CNC-machined aluminium chassis, bead-blasted and anodised, and storage is handled by an M2 NVMe SSD available pre-installed at 2TB, 4TB or 8TB.

The ARC6-CX Power Supply

The reason the STREAM3 sounds the way it does is largely its power supply. The ARC6-CX linear module uses a 300VA toroidal transformer, active rectification, CX power regulation, medical-grade AC filtering and 132,000µF of Mundorf capacitance. In a digital source, the cleanliness and stability of the power feeding the processing and output stages has a direct, audible effect — and this is a level of power supply design you would normally have to pay considerably more to reach.

Modular Outputs

The STREAM3 has a digital output module bay, so the connection to your system can be matched to your DAC and upgraded later:

• Standard DAC / PerformanceDAC / PhoenixDAC Boards — for using the STREAM3 as a complete source, at three levels of DAC quality
• SPDIF Board — coaxial, optical and AES outputs for an external DAC
• PhoenixUSB Board — regenerated, reclocked USB output built in
• PhoenixI2S Board — I2S output for DACs that accept it

Fitting the PhoenixDAC or PhoenixUSB board makes the STREAM3 a genuinely all-in-one high-end digital source; the SPDIF, I2S and USB options let it act as a transport into an existing DAC.

Connectivity

Three USB 3.2 ports, a USB-C port and two bridged 2.5Gb Ethernet connections handle inputs and networking, with a 4mm chassis grounding port and the output module bay. The STREAM3 plays PCM up to 32-bit/768kHz and DSD up to DSD512 native (DSD256 over DoP), across WAV, AIFF, FLAC, ALAC, AAC, MP3, DSF and DFF, with MQA supported. SPDIF output tops out at 24-bit/192kHz.

Technical Specifications

Who Is It For?

The STREAM3 is for someone who wants a serious, long-term music server without stepping into the price territory of the ZEN and ZENith. The integrated ARC6-CX power supply is the difference: at this level the server stops holding back the rest of the system, and the improvement over a laptop or generic streamer — tighter bass, a wider soundstage, a more natural presentation — becomes easy to hear. It suits a resolving system where the source is expected to keep pace with a good DAC, amplifier and speakers. If you want to go further still, the ZEN NG is the next step; if your budget is tighter, the STREAM1 with the LPS1 is the sensible entry.

Buying from Martins Hi-Fi

Martins Hi-Fi have hosted Innuos in Norwich for years, and were the first UK dealer to hold an Innuos Nazaré event. We can demonstrate the STREAM3 against your current source with your own music, and advise on the output board that best suits your DAC. It is a component that rewards being heard in a proper system rather than chosen from a spec sheet.

When you get in touch, you'll be speaking with Dave, Chris and Tim at info@martinshifi.co.uk, call 01603 627010, or WhatsApp on 07554 687137. You can read more about how we work on our Why Martins page. We are at 85–91 Ber Street, Norwich, NR1 3EY.