Sonore Rendu, et. al., vs. Roon Rock USB Direct

Probably has been hashed and rehashed ad infinitum by now, but, (I’m fairly new to the community, so apologies in advance if I’m bringing up a tired-old subject) I’ve recently taken my Sonore microRendu out of the chain and am going from my Roon ROCK USB-out direct to my Oppo UDP-205 USB DAC; actually fairly soon after acquiring the Rendu. Not trying to create controversy, but just trying to assess an overall feeling of opinion – Which do you think sounds better; ROCK USB Direct-to-USB DAC vs. any intermediary USB Cleaner/Filter/Modifier (Sonore, SOtM, iFi, UpTone, etc)? Truth is, I’m just too lazy to reintegrate the microRendu at this point for comparisons, unless it is truly revelatory. Now thinking of relegating the microRendu to my bedroom setup, mainly as a music streamer. I, for one, haven’t experienced any life-altering listening differences, but I like it as a product.

  • john

@da_Choge - if you are interested in selling you microRendu please let me know.

As far as your question is concerned, I think what matters is how it sounds to you. There’s a lot of opinions here on these forums but your ears are yours and yours alone.

Cheers,
Vince

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Are you making a statement or asking a question? Because it sure seems like you are making a statement.

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In spite of what some believe, the mR was never designed to be a decrapifier.

It and the SOtM SMS-200 are strictly meant to be used as transports.

Of the 4 devices you mentioned, only iFi and Uptone are advertised as USB cleaners.

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No . . . not really making a statement positive or negative about improvement in sound quality or decreased sound floor with the Rendu, just was interested in everyone else’s experiences. I think I read something in the community that said some people were thinking a direct connection is as good or better than through the Rendu - trying to decide whether to put it back in the chain and give it a go again. I took it out initially because of some suspected conflicts, and didn’t really give it long enough of chance to come to any definite opinion. And after resolving the conflicts, I don’t think the microRendu was responsible for them at all. I do like its use as a transport (as Slim mentioned) very much - it’s a cool, very versatile little unit.

  • john

Well, the microRendu may not itself be a decrapifier, but it certainly was designed to get a super clean USB signal to your DAC. It being fed by Ethernet automatically cleans things up by isolating the microRendu from the noisy general purpose computer or server. So Ethernet is the decrapifier. The microRendu is built with only the necessary hardware and quality clocks and quality USB implementation. Things get even better when using a quality linear power supply.

The ultraRendu takes this another step up.

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I certainly don’t think that is the case. I use an ultraRendu with a Teddy Pardo LPS and it sounds much better with Roon than using any of my computers directly connected to my DAC. Getting Ethernet between the DAC and the noisy general purpose computers and servers is a big win for sound quality.

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Did you notice any difference when you switched out the mR? Seems not, at least not apparent enough to be immediately noticeable by you, so there’s your answer.

When I added my uR into the mix there was an obvious difference, no back-and-forth required, so there it stays.

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Agreed, but that’s true for any Ethernet connected transport.:sunglasses:

But, most Ethernet connected transports don’t go out of their way to not mess up the good work that Ethernet has done. And that is the point of the Rendu series.

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Ah, so that’s the point.

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I’ve never been the sharpest tool in the shed but I don’t understand this :tired_face:

@dabassgoesboomboom

Sure you do. The most common device used at the end of an Ethernet connection to feed a DAC is the RaspberryPi. That device makes a lot of noise and has a terrible USB implementation. Whatever good using Ethernet did the RPi undoes…

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Yes, many people say that. The question is does this noise make any audible difference? Archimago, for one of many, has demonstrated that it doesn’t.

There are better transports than the RPi (Allo for one, probably ODroid), but people who want to make a case for mR etc. always use the RPi as the whipping boy. Also, here are many devices that are designed to clean the USB signal without buying any over-priced costume jewelry.

[Moderated]

Come on, folks.

John is using an Oppo UDP-205! That’s a very nice piece of hardware. You could probably connect it to the ROCK machine with a piece of old rope and it would sound just fine. Why not just leave it the way it is?

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[Moderated]

Look, I have tested many different setups and many different endpoints. The RPi3, by itself, was the worst endpoint I listened to. A friend’s Allo sounded a lot better as did the microRendu. The ultraRendu is what sounded the best to me so that is what I went with.

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Moderators have deleted part of a post which infringed the guidelines and subsequent posts referring to it.

Please keep the discussion about the ideas and not each other.

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Demonstrated with what? With listening or with his questionable measurements tools?

And how do we know what he measures has any meaningful impact to SQ? For example, does measuring sperm count indicate anything for the status of a patient with a heart condition? (Full disclosure, I am not a doctor, maybe it does)

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Streamers gotta be the second most controversial thing in Audio (after cables).

There is a very large group of folks that swear on Constitution (or Bible) that a Chromecast Audio sounds just as good as a dCS Bridge. Albeit they never heard the dCS.

One of the problems is that it’s very difficult, for a lot of people, to find places to hear any of this stuff hooked up and working. So they have to rely on others estimations and we know where that takes us.
The days of popping into your local HiFi shop and listening to a, fairly, limited choice of components and assembling a system based on advice, your ears and lying about the price to your significant other has been replaced with all that www.all.hifi has to offer.

Never mind a whole new set of acronyms and jargon. I work in IT and have been into computer audio for years but even so the spread of technologies from DNS to DSP that roon covers is stretching.
Oh for the old days of being taken for an idiot, man walks into HiFi shop sketch.
https://www.cookdandbombd.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=11008.0