Article: Sonore microRendu Review, Part 1

[agentsmith]

Jesus,

 

I have the Teddy Pardo Squeezebox Touch Power Supply which is 5V 3A, would it have enough power to power the Sonore microRendu?

 

TTouch - PSU for Logitech Touch | PSUs for Logitech | Power Supplies | TeddyPardo

 

Thanks

J

[agentsmith]

Hi skikirkwood - Good post / questions. I think your comments are indicative of both sides of the wonderful hobby of ours. Some people have the skills, knowledge, time, desire to build a Pi based player. These people are also satisfied with forum only support for their self-built product. That's totally cool. The other side of the coin is most people who want to purchase a well built, well designed product from a reputable company who will call them up or remote connect if there is a problem, and these people believe in doing everything possible to squeeze every ounce of sound quality out of their systems.

 

Actually this brings up another question: Is the microRendu product more for (a) a hassle free playback device with multiple platforms support OR (b) An audiophile tuned device for best sound?

 

I understand of course that it is both, but in my case, I have a Mac Mini with an SSD boot drive and a few Squeezebox Touches, I do not find significant differences between the mini or the Touch, and both sound good playing through the Devialet D400. I tried Regen and I cannot say I heard significant differences.

 

To me the Squeezebox Touch is just about the most versatile network player ever built, and with ROON support now it makes seem like the longest standing player platform there is.

 

Being the itchy audiofool, I thought about getting the uRendu for better sound. I guess my question is would it represent a significant step up in sound compared to my current 2 platforms? Would it bring me up near the level of the "supposedly" much better sounding Aurender or the Weiss MAN301?

 

Or is it mostly just a handy box for people who cannot be bothered with messing with a computer or an "obsolete" box like the Squeezebox?

[agentsmith]

I have a standard and a modified Touch (Empirical Audio, with mods and battery PS, it is about a $2000 product). The modded Touch sounds better than the standard one.

 

My SMS-100 (off the shelf board, runs software similar to the mR) with an upscale PS sounds better than the modded Touch.

I have reasonable hopes that a bespoke product like the mR will sound even better.

 

For those with the constant DIY refrain that "I can do the same thing for $35 or $100" is simply silly. You can't. You can do something similar that won't sound as good and takes lots more user intervention. If you are happy with that, great.

 

Skikirkwood, don't try to tell those of us that are willing to spend another $500 to get the ultimate device of it's type that we are wasting our money. You aren't on that side of the cost/returns arc, some of the rest of us are. Yes, there are articles telling me Power Supplies make no difference, but IME, they can. I've heard it.

 

And, I know from experience that the support from Sonore is way better than anything on any forum, and takes less time.

 

When my mR gets here in a few days I'll be able to hear if there is any improvement. I will post.

 

Thanks.

 

I wonder how it will compare with the more "mainstream" products like the Aurenders? Or even a Weiss MAN301? Are those products overkill compared to the uRendu?

[agentsmith]

In terms of pure sound, Chris' review he prefers it to Aurender - he said it's the best he's heard in his system.

 

I was wondering about that statement as well. That sounds like an off-the-cuff comment though. Audio memory tends to be short.