Have you seen the Sonore SonicOrbiter SE, as an endpoint?

I could not agree more. Mine came with a single sheet of instructions - that helped. But it was up and running in - oh, I don’t know - maybe 60 seconds? Pretty darned easy.

I agree how easy the SE is to set up. With the selectable output modes, and the support you get with this product, you just can’t go wrong. And as said earlier the Sound Quality is outstanding.

I got mine in the mail today. Really easy to setup, tried Roon Ready mode first, then HQP, and connected an AQ Jitterbug to the USB. Definitely sounds great. I got the SonicOrbiter instead of replacing a Sotem USB card. The small foot print is also really nice, now I can rid of an audio PC in my living room,

i just ordered one along with a power line extender! So will the sonore device now be my Roon core? And will I uninstall Roon on the laptop I am using as a core now and install a control program instead?

Chris - don’t uninstall anything. You still need your core, whether it’s Roon or RoonServer. The SonicOrbiter SE does not replace it at all.

What it does do is allow you to have an endpoint that your core can get to over a network (like your power line extender), that your core can send music too. The SonicOrbiter will digitally pass that music along over USB or Toslink to your hifi - likely your DAC.

That makes sense. Thanks.

The Sonicorbiter SE will always be a Roon player (RoonReady). You will still need a Roon Server running someplace on your network.

I just got mine. Gosh it is tiny! I haven’t tried to use it except to see that it slows up on my network. Still waiting for the Ethernet extender to show up.

I am also considering the SonicOrbiter. While I understand to switch it between the DAC and a cheap hardware device, I was wondering whether it would provide any added value if I connect it between my NUC and my DAC (Devialet D200).

If it helps: I tried a Jitterbug at the NUC and it made really not difference at all in sound quality. So maybe it also depends on the quality of the DAC, which in case of the Devialet D200 is very high.

Klan - Just to clarify your question…

It sounds like you have your NUC connected to your DAC (Devialet D200) now. Given that you tried a Jitterbug, I’m going to assume you connect over USB (vs. AES/EBU, TosLink, or coax). What it sounds like you are considering is a SOSE, wired network connected to the NUC, attached to your DAC over USB. Is that correct?

IMO there are too many unknowns and variables to be able to tell you with any certainty whether that will sound better. I’d venture to say that it is not possible to say things will sound better with the SOSE with any certainty. Likewise, in most instances, I think it’s fair to say it might. What we don’t know is the noise the NUC is contributing to your analogue gear (if it’s physically close to it), or what losses you are experiencing due to a long USB cable (if such is the case).

Were I a betting man though, if you’ve got a short, quality USB cable now, and if you have that NUC a meter or two away from analogue gear (and analogue cables), then you won’t hear much of a difference. But you might. Sorry knowing with certainty is not possible.

But I will share this thought with you…

I have no idea if my NUC - when it was on my hifi rack, USB connected to my DAC - contributed any noise or sonic degradation to my system. I never heard any. But I never listened for it either. So I guess that means it was not obvious. But I still got a SOSE and moved the NUC to another room out of precaution. In my case, that would not make things worse, and might have made them better. Again, never bothered listening for it. But in a music reproduction system where interconnects can cost more than a SOSE, it was an easy decision to make.

you got my setup right and thanks for your valuable feedback.

Your assumptions all apply to my situation, which is why I will not opt for a SOSE at the time being.

Just as a data point. I had been using a 5m Belkin USB cable from my Core to DAC. I replaced that with an Ethernet connected CuBox-i2ex running as an NAA and a 1m USB cable (Mapleshade Clearlight). I heard a definite audible improvement, but can’t apportion it amongst the various changes.

Funny - I had a similar experience when I moved from my Cubox-i running Sqeezelite connected with an AudioQuest Forrest USB cable to the SOSE running RAAT connected with a Nordost Blue Heaven USB cable. Significant difference in SQ (particularly on high-res material!), but I can’t say which of the three changes matters. Likely a combo of all three.

As much as I love my Sonicorbiter SE, the one thing I wish would operate differently is that if I ever turn off my DAC, I have to reboot the Sonicorbiter in order for it to see the DAC as an NAA endpoint. Given that, I either need to leave the DAC on always, or I might as well just unplug the Sonicorbiter whenever I turn off the DAC.

Any fixes or ideas?

Discussion of NAA and USB disconnection here. Waiting for HQP to stop completely before disconnecting has helped some people.

This has been fixed with the latest version of NAA. In the Sonicorbiter SE web interface go in to Apps -> Software manger and click update. That will get you the latest version of everything including the new NAA.

The Sonicorbiter SE is super easy to set up and use as a Roon endpoint. I recently made a change to my system and try to send audio to it from Dirac Live - but the Dirac Audio Processor does not allow me choose the Sonicorbiter from the drop down menu.

Is this expected behavior? If so is there a workaround?

The Sonicorbiter SE supports many protocols for network audio. Roon, DLNA, NAA are all supported. I don’t think Dirac Live supports these does it?

I will look into it - but I don’t think it does. When I asked the question I think I was hoping against hope - because Dirac was so easy to set up to my NAD integrated via USB.

Thanks for the quick response. Thinking of buying a second Sonicorbiter very soon.

I don’t use Dirac but I use Acourate which is similar. Acourate only outputs to ASIO driver, so I think the selections you are seeing in the Dirac drop down box are probably the ASIO drivers installed on your PC or the devices setup in your Midi Output if you are using MAC. These will only work via USB.