Sonore microRendu

[ted_b]

My guess (and it is purely a guess) is that it is some form of latency issue. Something along the lines of "HQP sends out a packet and waits for a response from the NAA", if it doesn't come back soon enough HQP times out and does something else causing a problem in the stream.

 

It doesn't seem like a "bandwidth" issue per say but more like something causing the protocol to not go smoothly.

 

The microRendu has two lights in the RJ45, an amber which is the flickering activity light and a green one that indicates gigabit mode. So if you see a green light it has connected in gigabit mode. I have successfully run it in both modes.

 

John S.

 

John, thanks for your insights. The same FMC-and-6 inch copper dongle (and setting) that connects from the Diablo fiber switch, and allows my Windows Server 2012 NAA to run glitch-free at DSD512 is simply unplugged and swapped over to the uRendu. The uRendu NAA mode seems to choke (whether rebooted, etc) I thought maybe the uRendu cannot negotiate a non-gigabit connection, but your note reiterates what Eric has found...it should run fine (and does for him). ? My strictly copper-only connection from my Neatgear gigabit switch does indeed indicate gigabit (green RJ45 light), and plays fine.....but I'd rather go fiber. It has reaped great sonic rewards for the rest of my system.

[juanitox]

is the ethernet input of the microrendu is galvanically isolated ? or is it worth to put an ethernet isolator before it or not?

[Elescher]

I likely am missing some pertinent info here, but isn't Linux/Amanero limited to DSD128, and can't do native?

[ted_b]

I likely am missing some pertinent info here, but isn't Linux/Amanero limited to DSD128, and can't do native?

 

No, you aren't missing anything. You are correct. The Linux folks are troubleshooting a firmware update (1099rc2) to get us there, but it's still buggy (and then requires dac mfg support).

[JohnSwenson]

You might want to try some Squeezelite settings in the microRendu web page. There is a "Rate switching delay" which is designed specifically for this issue. Unfortunately I do not know what "auto" setting uses so you will just have to arbitrarily start trying some different values and see if they make things better or worse.

 

In addition there is the Buffer Size setting which might also help, but I think the Rate switching delay is the one you should focus on.

 

BTW I use mine in Squeezelite mode all the time and have never had this issue.

 

Thanks John. I played with buffer size up to 5 seconds and it didn't change anything. Thanks for explaining rate switching delay. Any thoughts on a starting point other than auto?

 

Some DACs take some time to do the changeover to a different rate, if they get sent audio data while the change is happening they get confused. The rate switching delay sends the commands to switch the rate, then waits some time before starting to send the audio data.

 

I would start with 100 then if that doesn't work try larger numbers (150, 200 etc).

 

John S.

[esmit]

Of course we have been shipping overseas. People forget that shipping in the US takes 1 or 2 or 3 days max so everyone here is getting their unit's first.

 

Great! Did any customer from Europe who ordered the 30th of April get some confirmation or maybe even tracking information? I woke up very early that day but maybe my order slipped trough somehow. I might be as eager now as I was sleepy at 5.45 am so I am just hoping my order is not delayed until June.

 

Did anyone already listen to the microRendu together with a Chord Hugo? And how does Ifi+microrendu compare to Squeezebox + Regen?

[ismarketing]

Great! Did any customer from Europe who ordered the 30th of April get some confirmation or maybe even tracking information? I woke up very early that day but maybe my order slipped trough somehow. I might be as eager now as I was sleepy at 5.45 am so I am just hoping my order is not delayed until June.

 

Did anyone already listen to the microRendu together with a Chord Hugo? And how does Ifi+microrendu compare to Squeezebox + Regen?

 

Can't speak to a comparison to a touch/regen, but it just wipes the floor compared to a touch/jitterbug. Who other league of tone color, resolution, and naturalness.

[Lionelh2]

I am using the microRendu with the Hugo and I have not heard the Hugo sound so good.

[chetthejet]

 

Some DACs take some time to do the changeover to a different rate, if they get sent audio data while the change is happening they get confused. The rate switching delay sends the commands to switch the rate, then waits some time before starting to send the audio data.

 

I would start with 100 then if that doesn't work try larger numbers (150, 200 etc).

 

John S.

 

With my Benchmark Dac2D, in order to deal with sample rate change truncations I had to go all the way up to 750ms before I got any result. It's better there, but still not perfect. It's a tradeoff---longer gets to be quite noticeable, shorter didn't really have an effect.

[lmitche]

Hi Ted,

 

Recently, after managing to almost completely obliterate my boot, iscsi boot and music storage drives here with an upgrade to Windows 10 1511, during the rebuild process I made a discovery that may be relevant for your situation.

 

I realized that by simply adding a route to my player PC directly to my NAS, I could avoid having all the NAS (SMB) traffic move through the router and instead have it move directly from one machine to another. Taking the router out of the loop greatly increased throughput. And while previously performance was adequate, the increase in SQ from simply adding the new route made a huge difference in SQ.

 

In my case, I am now saturating the 1gb connection between the two machines, NAS and PlayerPC, which is an order of magnitude improvement.

 

So, it may be that your router is your weak point, especially if it on the other side of the house, implying that traffic needs to travel on that wire twice to move data between two physically adjacent machines.

 

You can test this by replacing the microRendu with your old machine, getting to the command line and running traceroute(Linux), or tracert (on Windows). If the response shows the AT&T gateway is in the route, you can do better.

 

I doubt that the microRendu has an end user facility for adding a route, but you can still fix this by adding a good quality dual core router, most likely in a new subnet, physically closer to your audio PCs.

 

There may be other more elegant ways to do this with the microRendu, like with DHCP, so maybe others will chime in.

 

Anyway, just a hypothesis, but this could explain the behavior you are observing.

[ted_b]

Larry, thanks for taking the time. The only good news here is that the gateway, Diablo fiber switch, NAS, HQP machine and Netgear switch all live in my home office, on a wall shared with my back wall of my music room. The gateway is all of 6 ft away from the Diablo switch, which then runs to the NAS (1m fiber), HQP machine (1M fiber), Windows NAA (10m fiber). The uRendu would be either 10m of fiber (borrowing the Windows NAA connection) or 10m of copper (RJ45 port on Diablo). As of now it is 11m of copper (plugged into Netgear switch). Here's a stupid question: does the switch not isolate or route anything? So even though the fiber is all through the Diablo, everything first goes to the gateway anyway? Would the gateway need to be configured for a seocod router in its LAN (i.e bridged mode)?

 

My bigger question is why didn't this routing (or lack thereof) affect my Windows NAA (or the exaSoiund Playpoint as NAA)? Both of them accept anything the HQP beast can send them.

How do I setup bridge mode in the Motorola NVG589? AT&T U-Verse FAQ | DSLReports, ISP Information

 

If this gets any more hijacked Jesus will yell at me. Sorry.

[Evo1668]

Great! Did any customer from Europe who ordered the 30th of April get some confirmation or maybe even tracking information? I woke up very early that day but maybe my order slipped trough somehow. I might be as eager now as I was sleepy at 5.45 am so I am just hoping my order is not delayed until June.

 

Did anyone already listen to the microRendu together with a Chord Hugo? And how does Ifi+microrendu compare to Squeezebox + Regen?

 

I am in the UK, and Yes I received tracking information last night....here goes the waiting...!

[Distinctive]

I am using the microRendu with the Hugo and I have not heard the Hugo sound so good.

My plan is to team it up with my Mojo if it doesn't knock the socks off my other streamers/media players.

[lmitche]

Ted, in my case there was no issue prior to the use of Windows 10 1511. For some unknown reason the problem started with the upgrade.

 

If you run the tracert from the Windows NAA at least you will know if the router is involved in your successful use of that config. If not, then the hard part is to somehow duplicate that with the microRendu.

 

This could be a dead end, but at least you can eliminate this as a potential path of inquiry.

[jhwalker]

I'm very much enjoying mine (day 2 now). The sound is silky and solid, and possesses less of something ("digital grunge"?) I didn't even know was there.

 

Couple of observations:

 

 

• I have to reboot the microRendu just about any time I switch from NAA > RoonReady - Roon usually won't "see" the endpoint until I reboot, even after restarting Roon, as well
  
• At least a couple of times, the NIC has negotiated to 100Mb instead of 1000Mb, once after a crash (i.e., until became unresponsive and spontaneously rebooted itself and, when it came back, it connected at fast Ethernet instead of gigabit Ethernet speed)
  
• DSD256 is possible, but seems to be *just* at the limit of my network throughput. To be fair, this is over a 30' length of CAT5 Ethernet and through a very inexpensive switch, so not sure if I mighn't just be taxing the limits of my network
  

 

Other than those nits (and they're truly nits compared with the overall performance of the unit), I'm really very pleased with the purchase.

[esmit]

Did you order 30th of April?

[SleepyOne]

Very happy received tracking today! Also UK and really look forward to trying it out!

[ted_b]

Ted, in my case there was no issue prior to the use of Windows 10 1511. For some unknown reason the problem started with the upgrade.

 

If you run the tracert from the Windows NAA at least you will know if the router is involved in your successful use of that config. If not, then the hard part is to somehow duplicate that with the microRendu.

 

This could be a dead end, but at least you can eliminate this as a potential path of inquiry.

 

I'm clearly doing it wrong, cuz I did a tracert from my HQP (WIn 10 Pro) machine to the uRendu and all I got (maximum 30 hops) was the uRendu listed. But I traced an IP address I KNOW goes through the router and it just showed a direct path too, or I'm reading it wrong.

[romaz]

.....but I'd rather go fiber. It has reaped great sonic rewards for the rest of my system.

 

Ted, are you saying you have compared fiber against copper with your microRendu and you are hearing a difference between the two or are you preferring fiber out of principle? I'm curious because I have both fiber and copper also and my microRendu arrives next week and I would like to have my setup ready. Thanks!

[ted_b]

Ted, are you saying you have compared fiber against copper with your microRendu and you are hearing a difference between the two or are you preferring fiber out of principle? I'm curious because I have both fiber and copper also and my microRendu arrives next week and I would like to have my setup ready. Thanks!

 

I have documented that fiber is not working for me with the uRendu. Wish it did, though, and it does for folks like Eric.

[Jiffi32]

I will let you know when I get mine. I have dual PC (well tricked out with ppa parts and LPS) running WS 2012 R2/Jplay/AO/Fidelizer Pro/PL setup with Intona and RUR inline and it does sound excellent. I am hoping that the microRendu will beat this setup.

 

Dev, looking forward to your findings when you get your mRendu, as I have a similar set-up at present

[warpeon]

Yes. You can use it with the Roon output mode and the DLNA output mode.

 

Can anyone share what app can be used to control m.rendu with tidal integrations? Thanks

[ted_b]

Can anyone share what app can be used to control m.rendu with tidal integrations? Thanks

 

One of them is Kazoo (requires you to install Bubbleserver but that takes seconds). Jesus put a quick guide together here

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f26-sonore-sponsored/microrendu-dummies-28459/index4.html#post540078

[JohnSwenson]

Just a heads up for people receiving their microRendu:

there is no power light, there are lights on the RJ45 (Ethernet) connector that give the status of the Ethernet connection. There is an amber light which is the activity light and a green light that indicates a gigabit connection. When power is connected to the microRendu the amber light goes on for a second or two, then it goes off for 15 to 20 seconds while the OS boots, then comes back on and starts flickering indicating it is connected to your network.

 

This is normal for the unit.

 

I have received several inquiries from people that think their microRendu is broken or their power supply is bad. Don't panic, this is normal, just be patient for the light to come back on.

 

If it doesn't come back on, or doesn't flicker, then you have a network connection issue, make sure it is connected to a network and there is a DHCP server on that network (usually in the router). If you are on WiFi or power line connection you might want to temporarily test a wired connection directly to your router or switch.

 

John S.

[JMotzi]

I setup and listened to the microRendu a bit last night. I have original Rendu (not the Signature) and currently have it and the microRendu connected to the Schiit Gugnir Dac (original version not multibit). Obviously the Rendu is connected via BNC and the MircroRendu via USB. Everything plays out of the same JRiver engine controlled via JRemote on the iPAD. I am using the included iPower as the PSU for the microRendu; The original Rendu has its PSU built in.

 

Setup was very easy since I already had JRiver configured. The microRendu defaulted to the MPD/DLNA App and so there really was nothing to do to get started except select the microRendo channel on JRemote.

 

I listened for about an hour to an HD recording (Tord Gustavsen, The Well, 24/9600) played simultaneously through both units and then during tracks I switched between them on the DAC. My initial impression from this side by side listening is that the original Rendu has a "fatter" sound while the microRendu sounds a bit thinner and more airy. For example, the saxophone is much larger on the original Rendu. Having said that I am quite pleased so far with the microRendu.

 

After further listening I will decide which unit will be used with each of the two audio systems in my house.

 

JM