Yeah, that’s kind of how I felt 6 months ago when I dived into all this. 
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And thereby hangs the tale.
I prefer, in this as in all things, to rely on repeatable, scientific measurement as opposed to obscure, subjective poetry, that, by its nature, can not be experienced by another.
Does one believe in the logic of Darwinism or the faith of creationism?
Up to each one, I suppose. Certainly, few cross from one camp to the other.
Agreed.
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Thanks, Scott. This is the type of info I’m looking for. I’d also welcome further objective theory, as well as subjective observations, about going from a Roon ROCK NUC directly to the DAC as opposed to a Rendu or “Rendu-like” intermediary. I don’t really need the Rendu in my main setup because the NUC server is close enough to the DAC to make a direct connection. But I absolutely need it for my bedroom setup where I do run Roon, but may decide to get an affordable USB DAC to use with my AVR setup there. Who, knows, if I really end up liking the micro, I may even be encouraged to get an Ultra (or even potentially better yet, opticalRendu) for my main setup. Just thinkin’ …
- John
John,
Amir Majidimehr (the founder and guru of what has been called “the cult of Audio Science Review”, though I find it helpful) has an analysis of the microRendu, which can be found here.
Thanks, Bill. I have been reading Amir’s website for a little time now and appreciate its no-nonsense approach, but most of the followers do seem more than ready to make anyone who offers any subjective opinion feel very unwelcome (hence, I guess the reason why it is referred to as a “cult” by the “unwashed” masses of “audiophiles” - I didn’t know about it being labelled a “cult”, but find that amusing). I like their purely objective approach, but like subjective observations as well. And, of course, I more than welcome Amir’s placement of the Oppo UDP-205 at the top of all the DACs he’s reviewed 
. What I don’t really like is most follower’s “glee” when high-end stuff measures poorly - they seem like they want it to fail.
And back to topic - I’m not a “religious” devotee of the Rendu line, but I welcome all observations (both supportive and not) about it. Guess I’ll have to put it back in the chain and give it another go; and I’ve always got a use for it in my bedroom if that doesn’t work out.
- john
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Watch this hilarious video.
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That is hilarious. Refreshing - thanks for that. I always appreciated Michael’s narrative, even if he did get a little esoteric now and then. Miss it.
- john
Yeah, me too. The objective pieces are interesting, and I’m shocked the so-called hi-fi magazines don’t hire people to do exactly that, but the subjective impressions are also valuable and interesting. Mind you, both need to be taken with grains of salt.
John, put aside all the tweaking talk, you just answered your own question here.
You don’t need it for the main system so don’t get one.
You do need one for the bedroom so get one.
Don’t spend any more time thinking about it.
The differences are very small, if you want to invest any more time in improving the system, invest in speakers and the room, maybe through DSP room correction. Everybody agrees this has much bigger impact than tweaking the digital bits.
See this discussion thread:
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I don’t get it, really I don’t.
You have a Nuc with Rock AND the microrendu at your posession. Yoo come over here asking wich connection sounds the best. You spent way more time in this topic and reading online about the difference between direct NUC connection and the microrendu then it takes to simply set them up side by side. Again, I completely don’t get it. Stop reading, stop arguing and start listening for yourself and report back.
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How do you know that…were you part of the design team:)
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What I can tell you is that the power supply matters, but mostly in combination with unbalanced DACs. We have always told people to get the best power supply they can afford. However, you can still get very good results even with an iFi powering the unit which runs for 50 USD. The decision is always yours. The other thing I can tell you is that the Rendu is not a bottleneck so connect it to anything you have from price point gear to very high end gear.
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I wasn’t arguing at all - just wondering what others’ experiences were. But, it does seem that others like to argue about this Also, point well taken; in the end, personal listening is the only thing that really matters. Thanks!
- john
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I’ve read your previous posts, in which you semi-admitted as much by side-stepping the question.
I could find them, but I’m tired of this whole discussion.
I’ll take that as a no:)
I don’t side step anything…in fact, I’m more revealing of our products than most other owners. I personally don’t use USB decrapifiers and don’t really promote them. A lot of people use them…to each his own. We design whatever we think is important right into our endpoints.
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Nobody has mentioned the fact that the uR is a network endpoint… designed for networked audio. If you want solid, reliable, hard wired multi room audio, you can’t use USB… it’s only good for 16 feet! You could of course use active USB cables for however many feet you need but that would be a whole other bag of worms and silly. The question is, if your server/streamer is right next to your DAC, do you use USB or ethernet? Personally, I’m looking at DACs with built-in ethernet since my SonicTransporter is in my main rack and my uR could go upstairs. Seems to me that this solution would save on unnecessary format conversions… ethernet to USB to whatever the DAC uses. So the next question becomes, which DAC input is better, ethernet or USB or S/PDIF!
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There are quite a number of endpoints that are Ethernet or WiFi to USB. Sonore has a number of products that are Ethernet to USB. There’s also a myriad of Rasberry Pi products. Take a look at Allo. They are really making a name for themselves.
Says it all.