NOTE: this is an updated review of microRendu. Measurements were updated to use bitperfect path and max volume.
Introduction
One of the latest trends in digital audio is to use a "streamer" device. This is something that sits between your music server on the home network, with then direct connection to the DAC. A lot of such devices have been built with Windows and Linux operating system on top of PC computer hardware. Sonore's microRendu is different in that it is built as an embedded, black box implementation.
This thread is about its measurements and not a full review. But briefly, this is a tiny device the size of a set of playing cards:
Both the packaging and aluminum enclosure scream "budget" equipment. So if you are getting this device as audiophile bling to impress your friends, this is not it.
The unit as mentioned, is a "bridge." It sits on the Ethernet network at one end and USB connection to the DAC at the other. It is stated that it has more optimized USB interface and power (?). Net result is assumed to be cleaner output in your DAC and subjectively impressions posted so far back this.
The device does not come with a power supply. To make sure I tested mine in some kind of standardized way, I ordered it with the recommended ifi iPower power supply (see http://ifi-audio.com/portfolio-view/accessory-ipower/).
ifi measured specifications say it is much cleaner than even typical "linear power supply." I plan to test the supply by itself in the future. For now, it is being used by microRendu as an integrated system.
Total cost was $702 US dollars.
My test setup was typical of the past. My HP laptop playing a J-test signal connected either directly through a USB cable to ifi DAC or going to microRendu and then the same ifi DAC. In all cases what you see is what comes out of the analog output of the DAC. In other words, it is the sound waves that your amplifier will send to the speakers to be heard.
The input signal (J-test) for this purpose is just a single somewhat high frequency tone. The ideal system will show one tone and one vertical line as analyzed by my Audio Precision analyzer. The J-test in digital domain has an amplitude of -6 dbFS.
For reference, let's start with ifi DAC directly connected to my USB output of the HP laptop. This is on Windows 10 using standard Foobar 2000 with ASIO driver (i.e. "bit perfect output"):
The ifi iDAC2 has three settings. Above is the "standard" output which has a flat noise floor until it drops at higher frequencies. The "bit perfect" switch setting which I am not showing, has an increasing noise floor. For the rest of the tests, only the "standard" setting is used.
The ifi DAC2 by itself shows excellent response especially given its low cost. Noise floor is flat, smooth and without anything to complain about.
J-Test Response Through microRendu
Now let's perform the same test but this time using microRendu as the bridge to the DAC. Because this is a networked device, you have to use a network capable player. On my everyday HP laptop, the only choice I had at the moment was DLNA. microRendu supports this as one of the protocols so it worked out without any issues. Here is the output:
This is not good. Addition of microRendu and ifi Power supply has resulted in many new distortion/noise products. The degradation is as much as 30 db! The noise floor is now very jagged, correlated (has patterns) and increased compared to using the DAC direct. We went from the clean, noise floor of the DAC by itself (in green) to this chewed up noise floor.
From psychoacoustics point of view, anything that has such patterns will be more audible than one that is smooth, even if its level is lower. So the addition of microRendu is a step backward in reduction of audible noise.
Mind you, all of this is at very low levels and very likely not audible. But to the extent someone wants to hang their hat on this device having "less noise," they just lost that argument.
Further in the thread I show the increased noise floor to be mains frequency of 60 Hz in US and its harmonics. This shows that microRendu lacks good power filtering and that iFi power supply has a dirtier output than the USB connection on my laptop!
By the way, microRendu comes with a stub/rigid large USB to regular USB connector (don't know what it is called -- sorry
). So I also tested with that:
Testing with my linear lab power supply shows the problem to go away:
The differences are within variations of measurements so clearly you don't want to use an iFi iPower supply with microRendu lest you want to be worse off than using the DAC direct through USB.
I happen to also have a linear power supply on loan that was design for the Regen, the SBOOSTER BOTW (https://www.sbooster.com/). I was pleased to see it perform similarly to my lab supply:
It has selectable output but up to 6 volts (ifi is at 9 volts and I set my lab to the same voltage). Here is the measured output:
Note:
Testing audio equipment can be error prone. I don't do this professionally and it is possible I have made mistakes. As such, I invite the manufacturer to represent their views, differing measurements, etc. I will be happy to include their comments and/or correct my data.
Summary
The combination of Sonore microRendu and ifi iPower is not good news. Performance is significantly degraded by injection of AC mains input of 60 Hz and its harmonics. If you are going to use microRendu, then you should opt for a power supply like the SBOOSTER that has measured system performance that demonstrates its performance in this system. Once there, this device is useful from functionality point of view in allowing the DAC to sit remotely on a network. From audio performance point of view, the measurements do not show any improvements.
As always, comments and suggestions are welcome.
Edit: Part 2 of this review on the hardware front is here: http://www.audiosciencereview.com/f...ore-microrendu-hardware-tear-down-review.770/
Introduction
One of the latest trends in digital audio is to use a "streamer" device. This is something that sits between your music server on the home network, with then direct connection to the DAC. A lot of such devices have been built with Windows and Linux operating system on top of PC computer hardware. Sonore's microRendu is different in that it is built as an embedded, black box implementation.
This thread is about its measurements and not a full review. But briefly, this is a tiny device the size of a set of playing cards:
Both the packaging and aluminum enclosure scream "budget" equipment. So if you are getting this device as audiophile bling to impress your friends, this is not it.
The unit as mentioned, is a "bridge." It sits on the Ethernet network at one end and USB connection to the DAC at the other. It is stated that it has more optimized USB interface and power (?). Net result is assumed to be cleaner output in your DAC and subjectively impressions posted so far back this.
The device does not come with a power supply. To make sure I tested mine in some kind of standardized way, I ordered it with the recommended ifi iPower power supply (see http://ifi-audio.com/portfolio-view/accessory-ipower/).
ifi measured specifications say it is much cleaner than even typical "linear power supply." I plan to test the supply by itself in the future. For now, it is being used by microRendu as an integrated system.
Total cost was $702 US dollars.
My test setup was typical of the past. My HP laptop playing a J-test signal connected either directly through a USB cable to ifi DAC or going to microRendu and then the same ifi DAC. In all cases what you see is what comes out of the analog output of the DAC. In other words, it is the sound waves that your amplifier will send to the speakers to be heard.
The input signal (J-test) for this purpose is just a single somewhat high frequency tone. The ideal system will show one tone and one vertical line as analyzed by my Audio Precision analyzer. The J-test in digital domain has an amplitude of -6 dbFS.
For reference, let's start with ifi DAC directly connected to my USB output of the HP laptop. This is on Windows 10 using standard Foobar 2000 with ASIO driver (i.e. "bit perfect output"):
The ifi iDAC2 has three settings. Above is the "standard" output which has a flat noise floor until it drops at higher frequencies. The "bit perfect" switch setting which I am not showing, has an increasing noise floor. For the rest of the tests, only the "standard" setting is used.
The ifi DAC2 by itself shows excellent response especially given its low cost. Noise floor is flat, smooth and without anything to complain about.
J-Test Response Through microRendu
Now let's perform the same test but this time using microRendu as the bridge to the DAC. Because this is a networked device, you have to use a network capable player. On my everyday HP laptop, the only choice I had at the moment was DLNA. microRendu supports this as one of the protocols so it worked out without any issues. Here is the output:
This is not good. Addition of microRendu and ifi Power supply has resulted in many new distortion/noise products. The degradation is as much as 30 db! The noise floor is now very jagged, correlated (has patterns) and increased compared to using the DAC direct. We went from the clean, noise floor of the DAC by itself (in green) to this chewed up noise floor.
From psychoacoustics point of view, anything that has such patterns will be more audible than one that is smooth, even if its level is lower. So the addition of microRendu is a step backward in reduction of audible noise.
Mind you, all of this is at very low levels and very likely not audible. But to the extent someone wants to hang their hat on this device having "less noise," they just lost that argument.
Further in the thread I show the increased noise floor to be mains frequency of 60 Hz in US and its harmonics. This shows that microRendu lacks good power filtering and that iFi power supply has a dirtier output than the USB connection on my laptop!
By the way, microRendu comes with a stub/rigid large USB to regular USB connector (don't know what it is called -- sorry
). So I also tested with that:
Testing with my linear lab power supply shows the problem to go away:
The differences are within variations of measurements so clearly you don't want to use an iFi iPower supply with microRendu lest you want to be worse off than using the DAC direct through USB.
I happen to also have a linear power supply on loan that was design for the Regen, the SBOOSTER BOTW (https://www.sbooster.com/). I was pleased to see it perform similarly to my lab supply:
It has selectable output but up to 6 volts (ifi is at 9 volts and I set my lab to the same voltage). Here is the measured output:
Note:
Testing audio equipment can be error prone. I don't do this professionally and it is possible I have made mistakes. As such, I invite the manufacturer to represent their views, differing measurements, etc. I will be happy to include their comments and/or correct my data.
Summary
The combination of Sonore microRendu and ifi iPower is not good news. Performance is significantly degraded by injection of AC mains input of 60 Hz and its harmonics. If you are going to use microRendu, then you should opt for a power supply like the SBOOSTER that has measured system performance that demonstrates its performance in this system. Once there, this device is useful from functionality point of view in allowing the DAC to sit remotely on a network. From audio performance point of view, the measurements do not show any improvements.
As always, comments and suggestions are welcome.
Edit: Part 2 of this review on the hardware front is here: http://www.audiosciencereview.com/f...ore-microrendu-hardware-tear-down-review.770/
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