Sonore microrendu making waves

[rikhav]

Hi Rikhav what I was told was that I2s is only good for very short paths ( less than 1/2 feet ) and that it's very susceptible to rfi as it was never meant for external transmission





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Hi Arjun
That's what's confusing
Maybe I missed writing that in my last post but I have not listened to or have had a i2s based streamer and dac in my setup

I know a few members on audio circle quiet well now and asked them why they and many others are selling off their uptone regen and similar products.
What would they use instead of that as there is nothing new in the market which is a replacement for usb regens

On this quuery of mine 2 of them told me their dac has a i2s hdmi input and they tried a streamer with i2s HDMI out.

What they claim is that it's the best they have heard their dac sound so they won't be using USB any longer

So unless we hear it ourselves there can't be sure shot answer to what is the best

In relation to the question of what output to use, ibwas always made to believe since the time I entered this hobby is that TOSLINK should be avoided at all costs

After nearly 8 years in the hobby, I managed to try toslink and to my surprise it was the moee musical and natural sounding then usb and coaxial spidif

My raspberry pi has all three outputs snd my dac has all three inputs

The result may differ with a different dac and streamer

 

[prem]

Kushnava, if you are planning to use USB, micro rendu is the way to go IMO. If you want to experiment with coax or optical then it's a different story.

 

[arj]

Incidentally Siva of AP is making a raspberry pi streamer + dac for a great price soon..not heard it yet but knowing him might be worth the wait


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[rikhav]

Incidentally Siva of AP is making a raspberry pi streamer + dac for a great price soon..not heard it yet but knowing him might be worth the wait


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That's great to know .
Wish we had some more details

I recently read that with RPI biggest issue is drivers of any components. With every OS upgrade drivers are not optimized and so we are not able to use full potential of the component or the OS

Still am very keen to know what has Siva developed and would he call this his budget series dac cum streamer or something which is reference quality

 

[Kushanava]

Just ordered Pi 3 + Hifiberry DG + . I thought with my current Ifi Micro DSD this should be good enough. Will wait patiently for the digital world to change and see if there are more Dacs with I2S implementation.Also thought with Pi it will be more supportive of video playback also and can serve as an HTPC solution in future.

 

[rikhav]

Just ordered Pi 3 + Hifiberry DG + . I thought with my current Ifi Micro DSD this should be good enough. Will wait patiently for the digital world to change and see if there are more Dacs with I2S implementation.Also thought with Pi it will be more supportive of video playback also and can serve as an HTPC solution in future.

If possible dont order the digi plus to use full potential of your dac
This is if you are believer in software upsampling of pcm files to higher rate pcm or to dsd

 

[Kushanava]

https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCR4tuhqPppVp-PD0q17sPEA
Rishav - i am driven by this solution.What is the alternate solution you have??

 

[rikhav]

https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCR4tuhqPppVp-PD0q17sPEA
Rishav - i am driven by this solution.What is the alternate solution you have??

I have not used rune audio since long. When I got raspberry pi I compared rune, volumio, moode, picore player and moode audio had best sound quality

You can upsmaple all your pcm 44.1 music to 768 by moode audio. I am not sure if moode audio supports 768 bitrate but it surely supports 358

Your dac supports pcm.bitrate upto 768 and dsd 512

Digi plus will only support bitrate till 24/192 so to use higher bit rate of your dac you will need to use USB

 

[Kushanava]

I don't prefer upsampling and would always try to use original signals except for dsd files.
Hopefully there will be better I2s dacs in future that can connect directly to the I2s ports of Pi instead of the hifiberry.

 

[rikhav]

I don't prefer upsampling and would always try to use original signals except for dsd files.
Hopefully there will be better I2s dacs in future that can connect directly to the I2s ports of Pi instead of the hifiberry.

I have never used any I2s dacs but as far as I know all i2s dacs have hdmi connection to carry i2s signal

But this hdmi implantation is different from the regular video HDMI in the way which it transfers data from source to dac

I hope someone can explain this is in much better way then how I have done

 

[sidvee]

Check this out
Sonore MicroRendu Hardware Tear Down/Review | Audio Science Review (ASR) Forum

What got my attention is the back of the envelope calculation of parts cost for this unit $120!! I understand the industry standard for hifi markup to msrp is 5 times factory mfg. cost, but for computer based components I though it was much lower (I think I read double somewhere). What a rip.
Cheers,
Sid

 

[rikhav]

Check this out
Sonore MicroRendu Hardware Tear Down/Review | Audio Science Review (ASR) Forum

What got my attention is the back of the envelope calculation of parts cost for this unit $120!! I understand the industry standard for hifi markup to msrp is 5 times factory mfg. cost, but for computer based components I though it was much lower (I think I read double somewhere). What a rip.
Cheers,
Sid

Add to it recommended use of linear supply to get the best out of it

For me a laptop fully optimized for audio playback with any good usb regen works best if one needs to use USB input of dac

 

[music4mhell]

Guys, i know this is an old thread..

But i wanna know any alternatives to Microrendu... anything around $300 range..(SOtM sMS-200 is one of them but still pricey)
$700 is quite expensive for me ..!!

Should i go via Rasberry Pi route and use USB out to DAC.. How much will be the difference in sound quality ?
Also should i consider Intel NUC Kits ? Are they good for USB audio out as they are so silent !

Thanks !

 

[rikhav]

Take a very old laptop
Celeron and Pentium will also do. See to it heatsink and fan are clean and they are removing the heat from the internals of the laptop
Install daphile on the laptop


Buy a USB relocker like w4s recovery or uptone regen and then you can expect a sound pretty close to remedy if not equal to it

 

[Hassan Khani]

If you have a spare PC or Laptop would suggest to install Linux Ubuntu Server LTS version + MPD Server. Control with Android app Mpdroid. Try with a USB DAC.

I have been using this for 3+ years and never had to look for an alternative source for digital playback.

 

[music4mhell]

Take a very old laptop
Celeron and Pentium will also do. See to it heatsink and fan are clean and they are removing the heat from the internals of the laptop
Install daphile on the laptop


Buy a USB relocker like w4s recovery or uptone regen and then you can expect a sound pretty close to remedy if not equal to it

wyred4sound is $200 and i will have to buy 2 quality USB cables, one from Laptop to Wyre and one from Wyre to DAC.. that will cost me $100 more..

I feel for a long run.. i should invest in Microrendu or SOtM sMS-200 .. !!
A bit more expensive, but will make my other gears efficient ..else i will be vreating a bottle neck in the chain !

 

[music4mhell]

If you have a spare PC or Laptop would suggest to install Linux Ubuntu Server LTS version + MPD Server. Control with Android app Mpdroid. Try with a USB DAC.

I have been using this for 3+ years and never had to look for an alternative source for digital playback.

I can even play from a DAP or Tablet.. But after reading a lot reviews.. it seems the SQ difference is night and day between traditional PC/Laptop and a dedicated NAA like microrendu !

 

[rikhav]

wyred4sound is $200 and i will have to buy 2 quality USB cables, one from Laptop to Wyre and one from Wyre to DAC.. that will cost me $100 more..

I feel for a long run.. i should invest in Microrendu or SOtM sMS-200 .. !!
A bit more expensive, but will make my other gears efficient ..else i will be vreating a bottle neck in the chain !

Any relocker to Dac you can use a converter rather then a cable
The uptone usb relocker does come with that converter.
Not sure about the w4s relocker
So one usb cable is good enough for you

 

[Hassan Khani]

I can even play from a DAP or Tablet.. But after reading a lot reviews.. it seems the SQ difference is night and day between traditional PC/Laptop and a dedicated NAA like microrendu !

All I was saying is try with what you have before buying an expensive Network Player. Also everything depends on what source (digital files) one have. At least I don't believe to playback CD Rips (44.1 KHz / 16 bit) we need anything better than a regular PC for playback. However it is all depends on once choice.

 

[Kushanava]

wyred4sound is $200 and i will have to buy 2 quality USB cables, one from Laptop to Wyre and one from Wyre to DAC.. that will cost me $100 more..

I feel for a long run.. i should invest in Microrendu or SOtM sMS-200 .. !!
A bit more expensive, but will make my other gears efficient ..else i will be vreating a bottle neck in the chain !

I would suggest the following : Buy a pi and on-board spdif convertor ( hifiberry) . Add a linear power supply.You already have a chord Mojo which is quite good.With the things moving so fast in the digital world , its good time to wait .There will surely be better dacs you want to upgrade to which will support networking and I2S connections. Don't waste your energy on USB just for the sake of getting better resolution.