SonicOrbiter SE end-of-life?

Hi all,

just noticed this product is out of stock, any idea if it is being phased out, or when will it be stocked again?

Raymond _ I was told the future of this product is under review at Sonore, so i bought a second hand microrendu for almost same price… I t works very well as the endpoint to feed my Naim system.

Just looked, in stock as far as I can tell

Thanks guys, I did try to order it and went as far as PayPal payment page and was told the item is out of stock, finally got an email from Sonore confirming the product is phased out.

Yeah, thats what i got, then went Microrendu - works a charm, but would have liked a choice on outputs…

so look for a secondhand microrendu

And Danny if you want to go the second hand route I may be able to help

just saw this, might interest someone. Hope I’m not violating rules by posting the link

I got a used Sonicorbiter for $150. Liking it a lot even with the stock power supply.
Even the Micro Rendu isn’t on their site any more.

The mR is still there. The link from the home page is actually 2 links: one for the full mR and another for the update

Ok, thanks.
You would think they would want to retain a lower cost option too with all the PI. USBridge, and other things out there but I guess they don’t see it that way.

The low cost option is the Pi nowadays.Difficult to compete against really.

A lot of people don’t want to deal with Pi and Sonores software offers a lot of benefits. I’m very technical and don’t want to deal with Pi.

They may yet come out with another lower cost platform. We don’t know why they discontinued the SOSE, so not logical to conclude it’s a “forever” strategic move.

Agree, the software benefits and ease of use is, I think, one of the reasons for their success, and why an “expensive low cost” option, as it were, may still be on the horizon.

To be honest Picore and LMS offers similar and it’s really not that difficult to set up. The hard work is done by others and the user just needs to follow a short set of instructions. I was a complete Noob and I did it. I’ve used Sonore software. It’s fine but nothing groundbreaking.

I don’t think anyone is assuming this is a forever plan for Sonore. I hope not. They did tell me several weeks ago they were no longer selling the SonicOrbiter and gave me options on their existing products so if there will be another lower cost option it doesn’t sound like it will be any time soon. I don’t know why it is still on their web page and people find out they aren’t available only after they go to PayPal. That’s a pretty poor customer experience.
The value of their software which they have invested a lot into is worth it for me to pay extra for plus support and easier setup.
I started as a Unix sysadmin in 1990 and have gone far beyond that in IT since then so I’m not afraid of being able to do a PI I just don’t want to deal with it. Plus I read a lot about jitter etc with Pi’s which I haven’t really sorted out what I think of that. It seems most of them are optical and I want USB.
I have a 4th gen Apple TV connected to my Samsung JS9000 via HDMI and the TV connected to my Kef’s via optical. Plugging an iFI purifier in between them took things up a notch. Using a Sonicorbiter to the Kef usb port took things up another notch. It really sounds great. Plus if I want to use Shairport or UPNP/DLNA it’s built in and easy to switch.
My only concern right now is Roon to my Kef LS50w speaker via USB. I’m thinking the Allo USBridge might be the best option for me right now or just hang on to the SonicOrbiter until Roon comes out with their solution for the Kef’s. It sounds like that is a month or two away but they warned it probably won’t be full RAAT. I assume that will work via the ethernet port which would be really nice for several reasons, both sound quality, and not having to switch sources manually as I do between optical and usb now.

2 posts were split to a new topic: Measurements: Raspberry Pi 3 as USB Audio Streamer

We are planning an interesting low cost solution;)

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That’s good to hear :slight_smile: