Sonore ultraRendu v1.3

[Superdad]

2 minutes ago, kennyb123 said:

 

What about going taller instead of wider?  This would be easier to place on the same shelf as many DACs.

 

a) The case series is not available taller or with two sets of PCB slide-in grooves;

b) Due to both heat (and potential EMI radiation, you would not want the boards to be one above the other.

 

Jesus' concept is that the faceplate would join two separate extruded enclosures (both same as LPS-1's current case); There is no super-wide extruded case that matches the faceplate he pictured (hence the two screw holes in the middle as you see).

I have told him I am okay with it if he feels there is demand or an advantage (maybe we can work a deal of some sort), but I do think we would either need to have a similar custom back plate made or that a small brace/bridge piece be made to join the two cases at the back.  Otherwise I worry that wagging/bending could occur if joined only at the face.

 

--Alex C.

 

P.S.  I am sure glad to see this finally brought in the open.  I got tired of nosey e-mails attempting to pry info out of me about Sonore's microRendu follow-on plans. 

[Superdad]

6 hours ago, vortecjr said:

It's not going to wagg or bend unless you get all bionic man on it. You might get even more emails now:)

 

Having had REGENs and LPS-1 units come back where people had literally torn the USB or DC jacks off the circuit boards, I don't take user gentleness for granted. 

 

As for the e-mails:  I'll just redirect my entire e-mail account to you.  

[Superdad]

1 hour ago, andifor said:

 

Perhaps I missed it, but what exactly is the difference between the ultra and the micro?

 

See this post:

 

[Superdad]

1 hour ago, mikey8811 said:

My apologies.

 

I have a 9V 1.5A iPower.

 

I trawled through the threads again and it was the Uptone LPS 1 which may or may not work with the iPower although iFi claims all their iPower's are the same and they subsequently re-rated the 1.5A at 2A.

 

So I am guessing I can use this 9V 1.5A iPower with the ultraRendu but NOT if I purchase an LPS 1 at the same time.

 

It is correct that you can not use a 9V/1.5A unit as the "energizing"/charging supply for an UpTone UltraCap LPS-1.  At 9 volts, the energizing supply needs to be capable of a full 2 amps.  I happen to have one of the early iPower 9V units--when they were labeled 1.5A and on the test bench confirmed that it can not produce 2 amps (whereas the 2A labeled units can).

[Superdad]

4 hours ago, Guidof said:

Is the ultraRendu, like the microRendu, a John Svenson's design?

 

Though it is Swenson not Svenson.  

[Superdad]

7 minutes ago, rlow said:

I know technical details are not being disclosed at this point, but for the microRendu, it was described (by John S. I believe) that there was effectively an "improved regen" incorporated...

 

- does the ultraRendu effectively include an "Iso Regen" incorporated?

 

No.

 

The original microRendu has the same USB2.0 hub chip as the original USB REGEN, but utilized ultra-ultra-low noise LT3042 regulators (not available at the time of introduction of the USB REGEN).  That was the "improved Regen" incorporation of the microRendu.

 

The ISO REGEN is a combination of an expensive high-speed USB galvanic isolator chip (Silanna ICE08USB) at input, 5(!) LT3042 regulators and enhanced power network elements, and a USB 3.1 hub chip chosen for particularly good signal integrity.

 

The galvanic isolator chip would have no place in the already galvanically isolated micro/ultraRendu, as such would have to be placed at the output (and like all isolators, the thing adds jitter that must be rechecked out)--there would be no point.  

 

Hope that helps.

 

 

[Superdad]

42 minutes ago, vortecjr said:

We really believe in keeping things simple. 

 

A man after my own heart. 

 

But try telling that to some of the obsessed that haunt this joint! 

[Superdad]

4 hours ago, Confused said:

Thanks, that's good to know, and if anyone could test this I for one would appreciate it!  As for this being voltage dependant, I would be interested specifically in 7V per the LPS-1, which is likely to be one of the more common combinations, so of interest to a few others as well I suspect.

 

The ultraRendu loves being powered by the UpTone UltraCap LPS-1!  They are made to go together.  John already told me that the increased current draw of the ultraRendu over the microRendu is likely in the tens of milliamps.

 

So I am confident that an ultraRendu--even when being asked to provide full 5VBUS to a downstream DAC/headphone amp (e.g. an iFi iDSD that draws 460mA--nearly the max. 500mA allowed by USB spec.)--will be happily powered by the 1.1A LPS-1.  

[Superdad]

New review of the ultraRendu/UltraCap LPS-1 combo just posted to Positive Feedback:

https://positive-feedback.com/reviews/hardware-reviews/sonores-ultrarendu-streamer-with-the-uptone-audio-ultracap-lps-1-linear-power-supply/

 

Congrats Sonore, et al...

[Superdad]

42 minutes ago, soares said:

The ultrarendu will transfigure the sound of your 2Qute.  I could not believe how good was the 2Qute sound after the upgrade. Chose carefully a better power supply for the uR. I bought an LPS-1 and an Sbooster. In my system the Sbooster sounded better. 

 

Per user reports, the results seem to be opposite with the new generation UltraCap LPS-1.2.  

[Superdad]

20 minutes ago, firedog said:

It doesn't have the right connector for the ultra (although you could probably patch something together), and I'd guess the ultra isn't designed to be powering something like the DF from it's low noise USB out.  That's something you'd need to verify one way or the other. 

 

Hi Danny.

Not sure why you would say that since:

a) The Dragonfly has a male USB ‘A’ plug sticking out—so it will plug right into the USB ‘A’ output of the ultraRendu;

b) The ultraRendu has a 1-amp regulator dedicated to supplying 5VBUS to DACs/headphone amps that need it (and that’s much more than the 0.5A the USB2.0 spec limits devices to).  So no problem there.

 

I can’t speak to the Linux compatibility of the Dragonfly, though I bet it works with standard drivers.

[Superdad]

21 hours ago, savingslowly said:

So I got my cambridge working after a call from one of the guys at uptone which was much appreciated! Ive run into a issue now though. Ive read that you can safely power an iso regen and ultrarendu from 1 ultracap 1.2 but when I received the starquad y cable last night and plugged it in the ultra would begin to boot then after about 5 or 10 secs it would switch off at which point the ultracap light would go red and I'd be backto square 1again. I didn't have much time to play last night and not sure if i powered down the ultracap first. Any ideas why this might be happening? Thanks

 

Hi:

Just saw this--and your private message and I'll be happy to assist you offline. (Given your report, I am almost wondering if you bought the wrong Ghent 'Y' cable, the "series-connection" version instead of the regular 'Y'.)

 

A general request for folks seeking support for their UpTone products.  Please do not use the forums (and certainly not forums other than the UpTone-sponsered one) or the CA messaging system if you wish to receive timely support.

 

Please use the contact page of our web site (https://uptoneaudio.com/pages/contact-us), which goes directly to my e-mail box, or if you have it, use my private e-mail address directly--no difference.  We receive a wide variety of sales and support questions each day and I spend at least half of every day staying on top of those.  

 

I keep notes about discussions but if all I have is a CA user name I really can not recall what might have come before.  And for some support questions it is far more efficient to speak on the telephone to step through some easy tests.  I am happy to make the call.

 

Thanks and regards,

--Alex C.

 

 

[Superdad]

1 hour ago, pl_svn said:

Klipsch Cornwall here.

 

My wife got me sucked into watching a romantic time-travel/historical-adventure TV show called Outlander, based on a way-too-long set of books.  It is set in Scotland and England and I'd swear there is a character in it named Klipsch Cornwall.  If not there ought to be.  It's a great name! 

[Superdad]

9 hours ago, jamesg11 said:

My suspicion is that the ifi micro idsd dac is problematic - numerous times the urendu shutdown soon after turning on the idsd dac. The well known current draw issue I suppose.

 

I have an iFi micro iDSD DAC (on my desk, used for testing) and have measured it at times (during battery charge) drawing 650mA from the 5VBUS--in violation of the USB2.0 specification rules (limit is supposed to be 500mA).

[Superdad]

On 5/5/2019 at 5:43 PM, jamesg11 said:

Surmised that idsd dac was drawing too much power, shutting down the rendu &, as per suggestion in #1124, I tried js-2 to power rendu instead of lps-1. It worked - no issue since, so left it that way.

 

I own an iFi micro iDSD DAC (used on my desk and for testing) and have personally measured its 5VBUS draw to be as high as 685mA (well above allowed USB2.0 spec) when charging.

So I am not surprised that booting an ultraRendu (which is when the uR draws the most) attached to an iDSD (depending upon its battery’s state of charge) could exceed the 1.1A rating of our UltraCap units.

 

Every UltraCap unit ever built (both LPS-1 and LPS-1.2 generations) was personally certified on my bench to be able to output at least 1.1A (at all output voltages). Most make it to 1.14A, some get as high as 1.19A, but we software limit them to switch off at 1.2A (those are continuous ratings; they readily handle instantaneous peaks well above that).

[Superdad]

17 hours ago, JUN tyann said:

is ultraRendu able to LAN direct connect to PC without using switching hub.

 

Both the PC and the Rendu need to have IP addresses assigned to them from a router. There are ways of "bridging" your PC--such that it has two Ethernet connections (one to network, one straight to Rendu), but this takes a bit of work.  I think It is not something that Sonore endorses (not always stable), plus a really good Ethernet switch will sound better than this anyway and avoid the troubles.

[Superdad]

7 hours ago, VladST said:

Hi! I have a new kind of problem with Sonore Ultrarendu: it have solid orange LED and isn’t detect in Roon anymore. But SonicOrbiter shows urendu’s IP address which is non-applicable through internet browser. Power supply is Uptone LPS-1.2 on 7V (has been worked for the last 3 months).

 

Try powering your ultraRendu directly with the UpTone-branded 36W/7.5V AC>DC charger.  If that solves the problem then there may be an issue with your UltraCap LPS-1.2 unit and you should contact us directly for replacement.

--Alex @ UpTone.

[Superdad]

25 minutes ago, warrior_on_mars said:

Anyone has any suggestions where should look?

What machine are you running HQ Player on? Perhaps it does not have the horsepower for DSD512. And what filters do you have set?

The issue is not with the ultraRendu as NAA endpoint.  More to do with the server/player end.