REPRODUCED FROM HI-FI+
InnuosPhoenixUSB reclocker ByAlan Sircom
Innuosisbestknown asthe m usicservercham pion; the com pany’sZEN line ofdedicated m edia servers thatare loved asm uch fortheirplatform -agnosticism as they are for their excelent perform ance.They range in price from the reasonably-priced half-width ‘singing shoebox’ZENm iniM k3 (reviewed –with its optionalLinearPowerSupply Unit– in Is ue 177 of Hi-Fi+) right up to the two box, cost-no-object Statem ent(reviewed in is ue 168)and we have both liked every model and thought they were wel-placed in price and perform ance term s. The InnuosPhoenixUSB isadeparture forthe brand, inthatit’snotam usicserver;it’saUSB reclocker.The PhoenixUSB sitsinside Innuos’half-size case (a form factorshared by the ZENm iniand LPSU)on three isolating feetand hasasingle USB input,alone USB output, and a three-pin IEC power socket. It perform s a setoffundam entalhousekeeping tasks to the USB outputofahostdevice and costs£2,249. W hile for m any that m ight be an understandable ‘wait, what?’ m om ent (m ost USB housekeeping gizm os costa fraction ofthatkind ofprice),in fact whatthePhoenixUSB doesisso fundam entalto USB outputthatitjustifiesitsplace in the m odern audio system ,and does so atsuch a degree thatthose
other‘USB housekeeping gizm os’areshownto be cost-cuting exercises in a truly high-end USB-based system .Perhaps m ore im portantly,it alowsthe notion ofa ‘truly high-end USB-based system ’withoutqualificationsorcom prom ises. The first ofthose housekeeping features is the Innuos PhoenixUSB’s signal regenerator. Unlike m ost,thisUSB regeneratorchip hasno switching regulators and requires three distinct power supply feedsthatare m etby the com prehensive linear power supply, but even this is supplemented by three individual sets of regulatorchips. The nextm ostim m ediate im pactofthatpower supplyisittakesoverthe 5V powerrailwithin the USB chain. This has long been considered a source ofnoise to the extent where early USB cablesactualycut,rem oved orphysicalyisolated the 5V positive and negative conductors.They quickly stopped this because of the use of galvanic isolation in USB connectors(and the fact that– technicalyspeaking – a USB cable without its5V linesisnotclas ed asa USB cable),butthe problem didn’tentirelygo away.Innuosgiving this
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