Sonore ultraRendu v1.3

[thyname]

9 minutes ago, Cyrus said:

@thyname  Sure. I'll make a note to post.

 

What are your thoughts on the XLO Ultra Plus?  

 

Here's what I am comparing in this first go-around:

 

Wireworld 7 Platinnm Starlight

Purist Audio Design Ultimate

Audience Au24 SE

and

Cardas High Speed Clear

 

I've wrapped up listening to the first two (over two days with each). Both perform well. There are some differences in sound within my system.

 

The Audience will go in within the hour.

 

I love it! Granted I have not tried any of those you list, just some cryo treated USB cable from CryoParts, the cheapest WireWorld Starlight, and the hard adapter that comes with ISO Regen, and XLO UP is on another league. Very detailed, sparkly (in a good meaning - not harsh), and great resolution.

[sbilotta]

3 hours ago, thyname said:

Does having an ultraRendu eliminates the need for having an ISO Regen?

 

Hi @thyname, in my setup I simply cannot find a true sonic benefit in having an isoregen after my uR and Lush cable, and I have tried several times swapping it in and out, and wanting it to make a true difference... but I don't perceive it.

Both my uR and ISOregen are powered by seperate LPS1s.

Hope it helps.

[Guidof]

12 minutes ago, sbilotta said:

 

Hi @thyname, in my setup I simply cannot find a true sonic benefit in having an isoregen after my uR and Lush cable, and I have tried several times swapping it in and out, and wanting it to make a true difference... but I don't perceive it.

Both my uR and ISOregen are powered by seperate LPS1s.

Hope it helps.

 

+1

[mikicasellas]

13 minutes ago, sbilotta said:

 

Hi @thyname, in my setup I simply cannot find a true sonic benefit in having an isoregen after my uR and Lush cable, and I have tried several times swapping it in and out, and wanting it to make a true difference... but I don't perceive it.

Both my uR and ISOregen are powered by seperate LPS1s.

Hope it helps.

 

Hi sbilotta,

 

But is the uR much better than the benefits of the ISO REGEN, head to head?

 

Thanks!

 

 

[sbilotta]

35 minutes ago, mikicasellas said:

 

Hi sbilotta,

 

But is the uR much better than the benefits of the ISO REGEN, head to head?

 

Thanks!

 

 

Hi @mikicasellas,

difficult for me to answer as I have not perceived such benefits of the Isoregen. I'm sure the Isoregen is very beneficial with lesser streamers or PCs but when I put it in the chain after the uR, I hear no substantial (or any) difference.

Because of this I have arrived to the conclusion to sell it and my Curious cables as they are just wasted as is.

As always, however, YMMV.

[jamesg11]

3 hours ago, mikicasellas said:

 

Hi sbilotta,

 

But is the uR much better than the benefits of the ISO REGEN, head to head?

 

Thanks!

 

 

In other words - people are confident that the ultraRendu is clearly superior sonics-wise to the isoRegen, just using them on their ownsomes?

At this point in time, I'm not certain - but it's tricky & laborious going from one to the other for comparisons.

[lmitche]

4 hours ago, sbilotta said:

 

Hi @thyname, in my setup I simply cannot find a true sonic benefit in having an isoregen after my uR and Lush cable, and I have tried several times swapping it in and out, and wanting it to make a true difference... but I don't perceive it.

Both my uR and ISOregen are powered by seperate LPS1s.

Hope it helps.

Try the ISO Regen after the ultra rendu and before the lush cable. You maybe surprised.

[Cyrus]

With all this talk about To ISO or To NOT....I did a very quick insert of the ISOREGEN.

 

The Cardas Sonore adaptor was difficult to fit in-between the LPS-1 power input and the LAN cable of the ultraRendu. However, I did get it to work. A right angled adaptor might be a preferable option. I do not have one.

 

1. ultraRendu > Cardas USB AtoB Adaptor > Isoregen > USB Cable > DAC

 

I then swapped in an additional 1M USB cable because of the fit / angle being a concern in the No. 1 scenario.

 

2. In this scenario ultraRendu > USB cable > Isoregen > USB cable > DAC

 

3. In the third iteration: ultraRendu > USB cable > Isoregen > USPCB AtoB Adaptor > DAC

 

Both the ultraRendu and the Isoregen are being powered by separate UltraCap LPS-1s with the upgraded DC cables.

 

Was there a difference: YES.

 

Was the difference significant: To my ears it was marginal. Perhaps a .25 to .5 upside (on a 10 point scale).

 

This of course is based on my system and ears. Others may, well you know.....May be worth it for some, perhaps not for others. Mainly a whisper of more blackness and body/weight.

 

Which chain did I prefer: It was so close that it isn't worth parsing for me.

 

If I had to force rank or face a proverbial audiophile firing squad: 2 > 1 >3  This will  be dependent on the USB cabling used for No 2 and No 1.

 

Since I really want to get a feel for which USB cable I prefer in my system with the ultraRendu in it, I pulled the Isoregen out again. It adds too many variables and complicates my shootout. I will revisit once I have the final USB cable or cables selected.

 

To reiterate, this was a very quick comparison. Please take this into account. Your results may vary : )

[thyname]

7 minutes ago, Cyrus said:

With all this talk about To ISO or To NOT....I did a very quick insert of the ISOREGEN.

 

The Cardas Sonore adaptor was difficult to fit in-between the LPS-1 power input and the LAN cable of the ultraRendu. However, I did get it to work. A right angled adaptor might be a preferable option. I do not have one.

 

1. ultraRendu > Cardas USB AtoB Adaptor > Isoregen > USB Cable > DAC

 

I then swapped in an additional 1M USB cable because of the fit / angle being a concern in the No. 1 scenario.

 

2. In this scenario ultraRendu > USB cable > Isoregen > USB cable > DAC

 

3. In the third iteration: ultraRendu > USB cable > Isoregen > USPCB AtoB Adaptor > DAC

 

Both the ultraRendu and the Isoregen are being powered by separate UltraCap LPS-1s with the upgraded DC cables.

 

Was there a difference: YES.

 

Was the difference significant: To my ears it was marginal. Perhaps a .25 to .5 upside (on a 10 point scale).

 

This of course is based on my system and ears. Others may, well you know.....May be worth it for some, perhaps not for others. Mainly a whisper of more blackness and body/weight.

 

Which chain did I prefer: It was so close that it isn't worth parsing for me.

 

If I had to force rank or face a proverbial audiophile firing squad: 2 > 1 >3  This will  be dependent on the USB cabling used for No 2 and No 1.

 

Since I really want to get a feel for which USB cable I prefer in my system with the ultraRendu in it, I pulled the Isoregen out again. It adds too many variables and complicates my shootout. I will revisit once I have the final USB cable or cables selected.

 

To reiterate, this was a very quick comparison. Please take this into account. Your results may vary : )

 

Thank you for taking one for the team.

 

I am sure you would not heard ANY difference if you did this at your speakers setup.

[lmitche]

1 hour ago, Cyrus said:

With all this talk about To ISO or To NOT....I did a very quick insert of the ISOREGEN.

 

The Cardas Sonore adaptor was difficult to fit in-between the LPS-1 power input and the LAN cable of the ultraRendu. However, I did get it to work. A right angled adaptor might be a preferable option. I do not have one.

 

1. ultraRendu > Cardas USB AtoB Adaptor > Isoregen > USB Cable > DAC

 

I then swapped in an additional 1M USB cable because of the fit / angle being a concern in the No. 1 scenario.

 

2. In this scenario ultraRendu > USB cable > Isoregen > USB cable > DAC

 

3. In the third iteration: ultraRendu > USB cable > Isoregen > USPCB AtoB Adaptor > DAC

 

Both the ultraRendu and the Isoregen are being powered by separate UltraCap LPS-1s with the upgraded DC cables.

 

Was there a difference: YES.

 

Was the difference significant: To my ears it was marginal. Perhaps a .25 to .5 upside (on a 10 point scale).

 

This of course is based on my system and ears. Others may, well you know.....May be worth it for some, perhaps not for others. Mainly a whisper of more blackness and body/weight.

 

Which chain did I prefer: It was so close that it isn't worth parsing for me.

 

If I had to force rank or face a proverbial audiophile firing squad: 2 > 1 >3  This will  be dependent on the USB cabling used for No 2 and No 1.

 

Since I really want to get a feel for which USB cable I prefer in my system with the ultraRendu in it, I pulled the Isoregen out again. It adds too many variables and complicates my shootout. I will revisit once I have the final USB cable or cables selected.

 

To reiterate, this was a very quick comparison. Please take this into account. Your results may vary : )

Thanks for the quick response.  I am curious, why didn't you try the USPCB with the Regen on the ultra rendu side?

[Cyrus]

Much easier to do so with the microRendu. Not so much with the ultraRendu, as the ports are all on one side. I would need a levitation device behind the rack and some serious trickery to handle the three cords going backwards from the ultraRendu towards the DAC and those (outside of the uR) going into and coming out of the DAC.

[lmitche]

33 minutes ago, Cyrus said:

Much easier to do so with the microRendu. Not so much with the ultraRendu, as the ports are all on one side. I would need a levitation device behind the rack and some serious trickery to handle the three cords going backwards from the ultraRendu towards the DAC and those (outside of the uR) going into and coming out of the DAC.

Oh yeh, I saw pictures, it's tough.

[t_ram]

Could somebody pm me Jesus' email addy. I just got my Lampizator Atlantic back from Poland for a clock upgrade and my ultra no longer recognizes it. Just wondering if there's a trick somewhere to unravel or if there's some issues with Lampi's usb input.

[Kilauea50]

13 hours ago, ted_b said:

Can you explain what you mean?  If your dac doesn’t do DSD how can you even define a difference?  Thx

I have one that does native DSD.  I have done several comparisons and the Iso-Dac converting to PCM is equal to the native DSD in my Oppo 

[unbalanced output]

6 hours ago, t_ram said:

Could somebody pm me Jesus' email addy. I just got my Lampizator Atlantic back from Poland for a clock upgrade and my ultra no longer recognizes it. Just wondering if there's a trick somewhere to unravel or if there's some issues with Lampi's usb input.

 

I have the Atlantic with one upgraded clock and ultrarendu, works just fine for me. I'll be happy to help you debug it, if I remember well I had to change some of the default settings on the uR. What configs are you using?

[t_ram]

2 hours ago, unbalanced output said:

 

I have the Atlantic with one upgraded clock and ultrarendu, works just fine for me. I'll be happy to help you debug it, if I remember well I had to change some of the default settings on the uR. What configs are you using?

 

I use Roon Ready. The diagnostic page shows its not even connected to a usb dac. Have tried several adapters/cables and still not being recognized.

[sbilotta]

13 hours ago, lmitche said:

Try the ISO Regen after the ultra rendu and before the lush cable. You maybe surprised.

you may be right... :-)

I'll keep it in like this for a few days and then take it out and see if I feel the difference.

[unbalanced output]

7 hours ago, t_ram said:

 

I use Roon Ready. The diagnostic page shows its not even connected to a usb dac. Have tried several adapters/cables and still not being recognized.

 

Do you get the steady green light? What happens if you connect it directly to a PC? Also check in Roon Ready volume control to none and DSD support to Native DSD. 

[t_ram]

38 minutes ago, unbalanced output said:

 

Do you get the steady green light? What happens if you connect it directly to a PC? Also check in Roon Ready volume control to none and DSD support to Native DSD. 

 

Well, I just figured out what was wrong. I trouble shooted to no avail and noticed the recti tube wasn't a red as it should be and had the thought to look around the back and realized the voltage setting was on 220. Flipped it to 115 and everything works fine now. I messaged Lampizator about it and it seems to be ok but I'll keep an eye out for it. I've never had to flip the voltage switch on the back when receiving anything from Lampi and I was a little excited and anxious to hear it as I'm about to move here shortly so I didn't even think to look back there. Everything is up and running and sounds amazing.

[unbalanced output]

Better safe than sorry... glad to know it was as simple as that. So you had no green lights? 

 

Curious to hear what you think of the difference. I have the 44.1kHz clock since new. 

[t_ram]

1 hour ago, unbalanced output said:

Better safe than sorry... glad to know it was as simple as that. So you had no green lights? 

 

Curious to hear what you think of the difference. I have the 44.1kHz clock since new. 

 

Yeah the crazy part was all the lights were lit up and appeared to be normal but the tube recti is what made me think something wasn't quite right. I had the stock version of the Atlantic before so not only are the clocks an upgrade but the tube rectification is as well. It sounds pretty awesome right out the gate so I'm glad I made the decision to do it.

 

Anyway, back to the thread. Just wanted to say Jesus messaged me at 3am local time this morning to help resolve the issue. Even though it ended up being on the dac end he was ready to tackle the problem. Can't ask for more than that, thanks Jesus!

[Solstice380]

3 hours ago, unbalanced output said:

Curious to hear what you think of the difference. I have the 44.1kHz clock since new. 

 

Glad you guys are enjoying your Lampi!  Let's take this discussion to the Atlantic thread.  I'd love to compare DAC config and impressions.  I've had my Golden for 10 months now.  Love it!

[unbalanced output]

On 11/10/2017 at 12:55 AM, Solstice380 said:

 

Glad you guys are enjoying your Lampi!  Let's take this discussion to the Atlantic thread.  I'd love to compare DAC config and impressions.  I've had my Golden for 10 months now.  Love it!

 

Which one?

[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...

[Frojo]

Great review- how about an ultraRendu/UltraCap LPS-1 'package' in celebration?!

That would be helpful, particularly for overseas buyers (U.K.) in terms of carriage etc.....