Sonore microRendu

[Strojo]

Anyone having issues where their bit-depth is changing mid-song?

 

I have a mRendu connected to a Brooklyn, both powered by a Uptone JS-2 (7v and 12v respectively), red by a Roon headless server running on Win10 Pro. Every so often, my Brooklyn screen will "randomly" switch from 24/192 to 32/192 during playback, causing some nasty "static". In order to fix the problem, I either have to restart one or more of the components, or press pause in Roon and then restart playback to "resync". Trying to figure out if this is coming from the mRendu side, as I didn't have this problem when I was feeding the Brooklyn directly from a PC, linking back to the Roon Server.

[Elescher]

Regarding boot up/down issues. I know that Jesus is working on it.

[vortecjr]

Anyone having issues where their bit-depth is changing mid-song?

 

I have a mRendu connected to a Brooklyn, both powered by a Uptone JS-2 (7v and 12v respectively), red by a Roon headless server running on Win10 Pro. Every so often, my Brooklyn screen will "randomly" switch from 24/192 to 32/192 during playback, causing some nasty "static". In order to fix the problem, I either have to restart one or more of the components, or press pause in Roon and then restart playback to "resync". Trying to figure out if this is coming from the mRendu side, as I didn't have this problem when I was feeding the Brooklyn directly from a PC, linking back to the Roon Server.

The first set is to verify that you have the latest firmware for your DAC.

[Strojo]

The first set is to verify that you have the latest firmware for your DAC.

 

I do.

[bmrcc]

Hi Jesus,

 

After software update, Mytek 192 DSD DAC USB2.0 cannot be found again.

I did try power cycle the Mytek and reboot the microRendu. So Mytek is powered ON when the microRendu boots up.

It was working fine with Mytek USB 2.0 before the software update.

Current SW version is still showing V2.1 and "nothing to do" now when I choose to update microRendu again and then "Back to main menu".

 

Could you please advice if anything related to this software update action?

DAC Diagnostics

No audio devices found. Attach a USB DAC to this system.

 

System settings – Custom DAC

Audio device list

Error in alsa-capabilities (v0.9.1): aplay did not find any soundcard.

[chetthejet]

Regarding boot up/down issues. I know that Jesus is working on it.

 

I just did a software update after having been gone for 5 days. When I hit the "Reboot" button, the microRendu most definitely powered the unit down (no lights). Pulled the power cord, reconnected and the unit powered on and booted up fine.

[Albrecht]

Are these comments referring to an online forum you can point me to? I'm curious to learn more...

 

https://www.qnap.com/i/en/tutorial/con_show.php?op=showone&cid=201

 

I believe that there was some discussion about it also here, in Optical, - as well as in Storage section. Sorry, - I don't remember it all. Also briefly in the QNAP Community forum, - but there, - (in the users section), - they have been a bit dismissive about Audiophiles wanting to try stuff.

 

Cheers,

[vortecjr]

Hi Jesus,

 

After software update, Mytek 192 DSD DAC USB2.0 cannot be found again.

I did try power cycle the Mytek and reboot the microRendu. So Mytek is powered ON when the microRendu boots up.

It was working fine with Mytek USB 2.0 before the software update.

Current SW version is still showing V2.1 and "nothing to do" now when I choose to update microRendu again and then "Back to main menu".

 

Could you please advice if anything related to this software update action?

DAC Diagnostics

No audio devices found. Attach a USB DAC to this system.

 

System settings – Custom DAC

Audio device list

Error in alsa-capabilities (v0.9.1): aplay did not find any soundcard.

That update has nothing to do with supporting this device.

Do the following in order:

Power down the DAC and the microRendu

Power up the DAC

Power up the microRendu

Wait for 88.2 to show up on the DAC's display

Go to Settings in the GUI, select the output mode that you were using, check the settings and press Save

[bmrcc]

That update has nothing to do with supporting this device.

Do the following in order:

Power down the DAC and the microRendu

Power up the DAC

Power up the microRendu

Wait for 88.2 to show up on the DAC's display

Go to Settings in the GUI, select the output mode that you were using, check the settings and press Save

 

No it did not work. Tried different power sequences too.

 

I also suspected my USB cable but changed to the hard adapter still no 88.2 show up.

 

But other USB DAC works fine after that software update done in microRendu. The update says "complete".

 

What else can I check to make this Mytek 192 DSD DAC recognized (this device seems more complication in power up steps than other DAC USB plug in. I followed the "Known issues" with microRendu)?

 

Anything recommended me to do in the Custom DAC settings?

 

Thanks in advance for your kind feedback.

[vortecjr]

No it did not work. Tried different power sequences too.

 

I also suspected my USB cable but changed to the hard adapter still no 88.2 show up.

 

But other USB DAC works fine after that software update done in microRendu. The update says "complete".

 

What else can I check to make this Mytek 192 DSD DAC recognized (this device seems more complication in power up steps than other DAC USB plug in. I followed the "Known issues" with microRendu)?

 

Anything recommended me to do in the Custom DAC settings?

 

Thanks in advance for your kind feedback.

Okay...now I'm curious. I'll look into this tomorrow when I can set up my Mytek 192 DSD DAC and test it here.

[feelingears]

I see we're hot in bug-fix mode; sorry if this is a distraction. Someone was asking a while back about the sound quality of Squeezelite mode vs. others so I thought I'd report my findings. For reasons I won't bore you with, I've had the time to test this idea with the same songs over and over, over the past couple weeks since receiving my mRendu.

 

The executive summary is on my system, the Logitech Media Server (LMS) and Squeezelite mode are notably superior to the MPD/DLNA with MinimServer. So much so I just deleted MinimServer and hope to god I never have to go thru that hassle of installing and setting it up again. Because others here had voiced their positive opinion of how LMS/Squeezelite sounded, I just did that first although I thought I was going MinimServer because it sounded "easier" to set up. And because of the usability, I wanted to like MinimServer. But even from the first plays, I didn't get the feeling the music was "right." I sat with it, waited a day, tried again. Then switched back and the difference was immediate to my ears/system.

 

I've got (had) both servers running on an older Synology DS112 NAS. I used Squeezebox for my control point with LMS, and Linn Kazoo with MinimServer. I tried Linn with the LMS but it was flaky so I bailed.

 

What did I hear: There was a sense of being a bit compressed or rolled off with MinimServer, especially the highs. Bass was there but looser and more blob-like. It blurred the midrange and made songs feel a little indistinct. Also, it felt recessed (or "back" in the soundstage) and thus didn't drive the music (rock) as I've been accustomed to with the LMS version. I switched everything back to LMS and there it was: tweeters came to life, the extension of the frequencies up top opened up, bass leaned and tightened, and the pulse moved up front in the soundstage, driving the music like the engine it is.

 

I might've been satisfied with MinimServer/Kazoo but as it happens I just spent a night at a friend's house eagerly wanting to show off the mRendu. No dice. Whether it was his network, or his running a Sonos at the same time, or his mainstream home theater receiver doing the amplification, or his Martin Logans, or whatever, the mRendu (or the whole system, to be fair) sounded like an awful mess compared to our lowly friend the compact disc. I went home and put the mRendu back on my system just to recalibrate myself! And thus began the poking around with LMS vs. MinimServer...

 

So, reporting this as someone had asked here (or in another thread) and I'm wondering if others have had similar or other experiences?

[firedog]

No it did not work. Tried different power sequences too.

 

I also suspected my USB cable but changed to the hard adapter still no 88.2 show up.

 

But other USB DAC works fine after that software update done in microRendu. The update says "complete".

 

What else can I check to make this Mytek 192 DSD DAC recognized (this device seems more complication in power up steps than other DAC USB plug in. I followed the "Known issues" with microRendu)?

 

Anything recommended me to do in the Custom DAC settings?

 

Thanks in advance for your kind feedback.

 

I use exactly the sequence Jesus recommends with my 192 DSD and it works.

I unplug USB cable from DAC. Power Down DAC and mRendu. Power up DAC. After Dac is fully powered up, I reconnect USB cable to DAC.

 

Then power up mR.

Works every time.

 

The 192 needs to "see" the mR boot up in order to connect properly. And you can't hot switch anything on the 192 USB input.

 

Works every time.

[André Gosselin]

I see we're hot in bug-fix mode; sorry if this is a distraction. Someone was asking a while back about the sound quality of Squeezelite mode vs. others so I thought I'd report my findings. For reasons I won't bore you with, I've had the time to test this idea with the same songs over and over, over the past couple weeks since receiving my mRendu.

 

The executive summary is on my system, the Logitech Media Server (LMS) and Squeezelite mode are notably superior to the MPD/DLNA with MinimServer. So much so I just deleted MinimServer and hope to god I never have to go thru that hassle of installing and setting it up again. Because others here had voiced their positive opinion of how LMS/Squeezelite sounded, I just did that first although I thought I was going MinimServer because it sounded "easier" to set up. And because of the usability, I wanted to like MinimServer. But even from the first plays, I didn't get the feeling the music was "right." I sat with it, waited a day, tried again. Then switched back and the difference was immediate to my ears/system.

 

I've got (had) both servers running on an older Synology DS112 NAS. I used Squeezebox for my control point with LMS, and Linn Kazoo with MinimServer. I tried Linn with the LMS but it was flaky so I bailed.

 

What did I hear: There was a sense of being a bit compressed or rolled off with MinimServer, especially the highs. Bass was there but looser and more blob-like. It blurred the midrange and made songs feel a little indistinct. Also, it felt recessed (or "back" in the soundstage) and thus didn't drive the music (rock) as I've been accustomed to with the LMS version. I switched everything back to LMS and there it was: tweeters came to life, the extension of the frequencies up top opened up, bass leaned and tightened, and the pulse moved up front in the soundstage, driving the music like the engine it is.

 

I might've been satisfied with MinimServer/Kazoo but as it happens I just spent a night at a friend's house eagerly wanting to show off the mRendu. No dice. Whether it was his network, or his running a Sonos at the same time, or his mainstream home theater receiver doing the amplification, or his Martin Logans, or whatever, the mRendu (or the whole system, to be fair) sounded like an awful mess compared to our lowly friend the compact disc. I went home and put the mRendu back on my system just to recalibrate myself! And thus began the poking around with LMS vs. MinimServer...

 

So, reporting this as someone had asked here (or in another thread) and I'm wondering if others have had similar or other experiences?

I respect what you say. However, I am highly (to say the least) surprised to hear that Minimserver alters the sound quality of your files the way you say it does. Minimserver is simply a music server which streams tracks to a renderer, and does not apply any DSP effects. It can do some transcoding if configured to do so, but so as to deal with DACs unable to handle certain formats or audio frequencies. I suspect something was plainly wrong with your setup of minimserver, your NAS, your network, or with the microrendu dlna mode. Or was your LMS configured to apply DSP effects to correct poor sounding tracks which minimserver streams intact ? Could you provide more details (but you said you ditched it and never want to go thru the "hassle" of reinstalling it again ...)

[jtrelin]

I'm using a microRendu to access DLNA output from a Minimserver running on a Synology NAS. I'm using an iPad with Linn Kazoo as the control point. Occasionally when playing a playlist, or more usually when requesting a new track, I get a drop out or re-start at the beginning of the track. Does this happen to anyone else? Any ideas? The only custom config Ive done to the Minimserver is convert FLAC to Wav on the fly before sending to the renderer. The microRendu sounds fantastic, by the way.

 

Here's the chain:

Aris Router/Modem/Switch->Supra Cat 8 ->Synology NAS running Minimserver-> Supra Cat 8->microRendu with iPower (waiting for the Signature PSU)-> Curious cable-> Bricasti M1SE->Wireworld Silver Eclipse ICs -> ATC CA PreAmp -> nordost heimdall-> ATC Studio 20 Pro Mk II powered speakers.

[adamaley]

Any idea where one can find out when the next run is, and when the cut off for ordering for that is/was?

[jtrelin]

Any idea where one can find out when the next run is, and when the cut off for ordering for that is/was?

 

If you're referring to the microRendu, go here. They're accepting pre-orders for July. If you're referring to the Signature PSU, I have my name on a list but there is no date. I've been told they're waiting a shipment of cases.

[vortecjr]

Okay...now I'm curious. I'll look into this tomorrow when I can set up my Mytek 192 DSD DAC and test it here.

 

We found the issue:

 

Please follow this upgrade procedure:

1. Go to Apps and select Software Manager

2. Now select Update

3. Wait for "Back to main menu" to appear at the bottom of the screen and ignore any Complete notices

4. Power cycle the DAC and microRendu and wait for the 88.2 to show on the display

[feelingears]

I respect what you say. However, I am highly (to say the least) surprised to hear that Minimserver alters the sound quality of your files the way you say it does. Minimserver is simply a music server which streams tracks to a renderer, and does not apply any DSP effects. It can do some transcoding if configured to do so, but so as to deal with DACs unable to handle certain formats or audio frequencies. I suspect something was plainly wrong with your setup of minimserver, your NAS, your network, or with the microrendu dlna mode. Or was your LMS configured to apply DSP effects to correct poor sounding tracks which minimserver streams intact ? Could you provide more details (but you said you ditched it and never want to go thru the "hassle" of reinstalling it again ...)

 

Andre, thanks for your courtesy. All else being equal (and I fully admit perhaps something might've not been optimized in my system--easily the case with computer audio), the answer to your post is here in Jesus' post #2103, page 85:

 

With these two protocols [Roon & HQ Player] the player is streaming directly to the connected hardware device via the microRendu. In contrast, when the microRendu is used in MPD/DLNA output mode it is actually rendering the content and then streaming directly to the connected hardware device.

 

 

So I misstated the source of what I'm hearing as MinimServer. It's apparently the MPD/DLNA mode, according to Jesus. (Correct me if I'm wrong!). No effects configured, none of that stuff. Straight installation.

 

And as I said, I'm behind on reading this thread because I missed this, and now I know there was talk of gaming routers affecting the sound quality, not to mention Ethernet cables. And you have to burn in each dang change. [sigh.] The mRendu renders it and my ears hear it.

 

Next step: Re-rip my lossy files because the mRendu renders them for the crap they are. Then: HQ Player here I come. I'm sure there are yet more hours of thread reading fun with that step!

 

There needs to be that sign over this site: "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here." Dante--patron "saint" of computer audiophiles.

 

But thanks for your comments. It's great that knowledgeable and polite people respond here.

Cheers!

[feelingears]

Just to clarify: the Dante quote was a joke. Audio (even the computer type) is fun even when it's a little exasperating, ha ha ha.

[cat6man]

Andre, thanks for your courtesy. All else being equal (and I fully admit perhaps something might've not been optimized in my system--easily the case with computer audio), the answer to your post is here in Jesus' post #2103, page 85:

 

 

 

So I misstated the source of what I'm hearing as MinimServer. It's apparently the MPD/DLNA mode, according to Jesus. (Correct me if I'm wrong!). No effects configured, none of that stuff. Straight installation.

 

And as I said, I'm behind on reading this thread because I missed this, and now I know there was talk of gaming routers affecting the sound quality, not to mention Ethernet cables. And you have to burn in each dang change. [sigh.] The mRendu renders it and my ears hear it.

 

Next step: Re-rip my lossy files because the mRendu renders them for the crap they are. Then: HQ Player here I come. I'm sure there are yet more hours of thread reading fun with that step!

 

There needs to be that sign over this site: "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here." Dante--patron "saint" of computer audiophiles.

 

But thanks for your comments. It's great that knowledgeable and polite people respond here.

Cheers!

 

 

regarding Jesus' comment:

With these two protocols [Roon & HQ Player] the player is streaming directly to the connected hardware device via the microRendu. In contrast, when the microRendu is used in MPD/DLNA output mode it is actually rendering the content and then streaming directly to the connected hardware device.

 

which camp does lms/squeezelite fall into?

[mrvco]

Andre, thanks for your courtesy. All else being equal (and I fully admit perhaps something might've not been optimized in my system--easily the case with computer audio), the answer to your post is here in Jesus' post #2103, page 85:

 

 

 

So I misstated the source of what I'm hearing as MinimServer. It's apparently the MPD/DLNA mode, according to Jesus. (Correct me if I'm wrong!). No effects configured, none of that stuff. Straight installation.

 

And as I said, I'm behind on reading this thread because I missed this, and now I know there was talk of gaming routers affecting the sound quality, not to mention Ethernet cables. And you have to burn in each dang change. [sigh.] The mRendu renders it and my ears hear it.

 

Next step: Re-rip my lossy files because the mRendu renders them for the crap they are. Then: HQ Player here I come. I'm sure there are yet more hours of thread reading fun with that step!

 

There needs to be that sign over this site: "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here." Dante--patron "saint" of computer audiophiles.

 

But thanks for your comments. It's great that knowledgeable and polite people respond here.

Cheers!

 

There is hope, I went through the process of re-ripping my entire CD library to FLAC with dbPowerAmp (+AccuRip) a couple of years ago. Up to that point I had a mish-mash of rips in FLAC, ALAC, MP3 and AAC, so I started from scratch. Now the CDs are stored in archival sleeves and boxes. Everything is stored and backed up as error-free FLAC and discs w/ HDCD encoding were ripped accordingly.

 

I spent last night chasing some electrical gremlins that had become more apparent since getting my µR. A PC power supply, the power supply on my sub and my mini fridge were each intermittently throwing noise into my system. Upgrade here... expose weakness there

[TimU]

I have the rendu hooked up in my office system, and I think it sounds great. I would like to use it in my home system, but the house has only a wifi network, no ethernet whatsoever. My idea is to use an Airport Express or other wireless bridge to connect the Micro Rendu to the network. Is there any reason not to do this? Is there any reason to believe that wireless transmission of digital audio is any worse sounding than ethernet transmission of same (ignoring for the moment the issue of dropouts)? Intuitively one could imagine an argument that wifi transmisison was better for digital audio, since it allows one to bypass the imperfections of a physical medium like cable. But really, ethernet just is not an option for me. I sense that Sonore is hostile to such an implementation, but I don't really understand why.

 

My apologies if this topic was discussed somehwere in the 100-page long thread ;-)

[Nikko1960]

I have some words of encouragement for potential customers. I got home with my uRendu this afternoon and it took precisely 10 minutes to configure it to work with Roon & HQPlayer up sampling to DSD128 running on a Mac Mini. Complete plug & play, no mysteries, no struggles.

 

Now I've only been listening for a couple of hours which means there's another 48 hours of burn in (or so) to go. But there's a huge grin on my face and its only getting wider. This little device is transformational.

 

My next stop will be to upgrade the power supply (I purchased the $50 el cheapo from Sonore).

 

Executive summary is "come on in, the water is lovely". And my hats off to Jesus and his team for producing such an excellent product.

[Distinctive]

You may look into relevant parts in this post:

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f26-sonore-sponsored/%B5rendu-outside-home-network-setup-28511/#post553836

Based on your requirements you may simplify this procedure.

[TimU]

Thanks. I do know I can set this up. It is as simple as plugging in an Airport Express, configuring it in client mode, and running an ethernet cable from the AE to the rendu. My question is more "how will it sound?" or "Is there any reason this would sound different or worse than an all-ethernet setup?"