AXPONA 2025

In two adjacent rooms on the 14th floor of the Renaissance Schaumburg Hotel, Innuos launched its latest Stream1 and Stream3 devices. Conceived as “the gateway to high-performance music,” the Stream series works with the Innuos Sense app. The app’s latest additions include a portal to the IDAGIO classical-music streaming service, Spotify Connect, Qobuz Connect, and more.

The entry-level Stream1 can be outfitted with an external LPS1 power supply for improved sound. It comes with a USB audio output and supports dedicated add-on modules for a Standard DAC Board, Performance DAC Board, PhoenixUSB Board, or S/PDIF Board.

The higher-level Stream3 features a thicker 10 mm enclosure, an ARC6-CX active-rectification LPSU, and an optional PhoenixDAC dual-mono internal DAC offering RCA and XLR outputs, OCXO and Femto clocks, and independent analog regulation.

Innuos’s Nuno Vitorino discusses the new servers at length in the accompanying video, while an adjacent display allowed showgoers to compare the Innuos Stream3 with the Innuos ZENith NG music streamer/server equipped with a PhoenixUSB Board ($20,700). Also in the chain were a PhoenixNET network switch ($4349), a PhoenixUSB Reclocker ($4349), a D’Agostino Pendulum Integrated amplifier ($16,000), a dCS Bartók DAC, and Wilson Audio SabrinaX loudspeakers ($23,000/pair).

A Transparent Audio PowerWave X power conditioner (starting at $4200), an HRS EXRD-1942-3EV equipment rack ($10,895), and $14,000 worth of Transparent cabling completed the setup.

While timbres were virtually identical through the Stream3 and ZENith NG, the more expensive server delivered a notably quieter background, greater air, and richer tonal colors. Both made extremely engaging music through the clear and natural-sounding D’Agostino Pendulum Integrated amplifier. Regardless of the server, I loved the colorful and timbre-true sound of cellist Anastasia Kobekina’s performance of Fandango per violoncello solo (inspired by Boccherini’s Fandango).