Sonore Signature Rendu SE Deluxe

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To be clear, the SRse is actually more than a Signature Power Supply/UltraRendu combo.  The power supply included in the SRse has been improved over that in even the Signature Power Supply.  The SRse supply gets a custom wound Mercury Magnetics transformer (which was available as an option on the Sig. Power Supply) and additional power supply capacitance (and newly chosen capacitors as well).  The transformer is fully custom built specifically for this product, made in the USA.

While comparisons to the dCS product are inevitable, these are clearly two different devices: The SRse is USB output, designed to be the best USB audio source possible, and the dCS unit is SPDIF output.  Depending on ones DAC, and needs, one or the other will be preferable.

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1 hour ago, vladimirk said:

@vortecjr I'm noticed that Roon shows "Uncertified" warning for Sonore Signature Rendu - is it normal behaviour? Am I correctly understand that certification is in progress?

Certification requires that we actually send a unit to ROON for their testing.  Right now we are building as fast as we can to satisfy customer orders first.  Rest assured that the Signature Rendu SE works perfectly with ROON, and will become certified at some point, but here are no worries using it with ROON.

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The Signature Rendu SE will perform better if left powered on all the time.  Of course if you go away on vacation, or will not be using the system for a few days, perhaps power it down, but expect it to take a few hours (minimum) warm up and settling to sound its best.

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18 minutes ago, Cyrus said:

Jesus:  What is the run-in / break-in time for the new Signature Rendu? By when would you expect it to settle in fully?

Not Jesus, but I can help:  Within the first 24 hours will be the largest changes (initial clock stabilization).  It will likely continue to improve incrementally for two weeks or so after that (capacitor and dielectric break in).  It is advised, just like a DAC, to keep it powered up 24/7, and unplug it if you go away for a few days or longer.

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Nope...

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5 minutes ago, firedog said:

https://www.audiostream.com/content/sonore-simple-design-signature-rendu-se

 

Very favorable review.

Only criticism: he liked his dCS network player better over AES to the AES input on his TotalDAC (but says the AES is the best input on the TotalDAC, and the Sig Rendu doesn't do AES).

It is very important to  understand Michael's comments in perspective.  We cannot even really begin to compare these two products by AES vs USB, as these results will differ depending on the DAC in question: some DACs will have poor USB implementations, and some DACs will have better SPDIF (AES) implementations.  Michael has mentioned that even the TotalDAC designer suggest that AES is the best input on the TotalDAC.

Another DAC may have an entirely different result: like USB via the Rendu SE is better than AES via the dCS, in that case I still would not be willing to say: therefore the Rendu SE is "better".

Of course an interesting comparison might be: TotalDAC via dCS AES, vs. TotalDAC via Rendu SE and a really good USB-SPDIF device, such as the Berkeley with AES connection.

And, for many of us, AES is limited in sample rates on many DACs compared to USB...

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@rickca, Huh?  What Michael found was that the SRse was better than the microRendu is every area, exactly what we would expect here at Sonore.  Let's see, the Signature Rendu SE is better in every way than the micro, and it gets a "Greatest Bits" award.  To me this review screams "Mission Accomplished" for the Signature Rendu SE.

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13 minutes ago, R1200CL said:

Will we see a Signature Rendu SE with the UltraDigital board as well sometime in the future ?

The only way to make that work properly would be to add both the ultraDigital and another completely separate power supply for it.  That would not fit in the current chassis, so we would have to have a new chassis.

 

It is a roundabout way to do things as well, and does not really make sense.

 

Ethernet-USB-SPDIF/I2S has more conversions and is not the best way.

 

The best way would be to make a dedicated Ethernet-SPDIF/I2S converter.

 

The Signature Rendu SE is a dedicated USB source, designed to be the best it can be.  We will not compromise it.

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3 minutes ago, R1200CL said:

 

Again:

Is it exactly the same board in side the SE as in the UltraRendu ?

Almost 

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15 minutes ago, look&listen said:

From the review, what is power supply "film capacitor damping" about ?

The Signature Rendu SE uses high quality film capacitors (in addition to a large amount of electrolytics) in the power supply to damp any resonances, and to provide filtering to the incoming AC.

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No, this is not for bypass of main electroyltics.  We use film capacitor(s) to damp the transformer and eliminate any ringing/resonance there.  (Although there is a very small film cap as final decoupling element before the main, discrete, pre-regulator stage).  

AC filtering is a separate element, but I am not going to talk specifically about any more details in this much depth.  We also reserve the right to change the design at any time (but rest assured, any changes made would only be for the betterment of the product).

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Hey folks, be sure to catch the Sonore Signature Rendu SE at Axpona!  the SE will be serving up files in the Western Electric room., and the Bending Waves room (594).  In the Bending Waves room the Signature Rendu SE will be serving files to the very high end Swiss CH Precision electronics to the innovative Gobels High End speakers from Germany.  Here is a quick pic of the Bending Waves room:

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Generally speaking, reports are the Blue fuse beats Black in every way, but I have never, personally A/B tested this in the SRse (when you deal with choosing circuit designs, and circuit parts, it is hard to find time to evaluate fuses).  That said, I run the Blue fuse in my SRse, and prefer the Blue fuse in my DAC, (where I did A/B it).

Generally, I find most Synergistic products provide similar benefits (to a greater or lesser degree): lower noise floor, more holographic presentation, better very low level detail retrieval (more clearly hearing reverb tails trail off into blackness, etc).  Do not ask me how!  But i have enough experience now with their stuff to hear consistently similar benefits- I would expect to hear more of this with Blue than with Black.

As Synergistic has a no questions asked return policy, the risk to try their stuff is low (your own time and shipping expenses).

BTW, how is the SRse/Denafrips pairing working for you?  

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Hi Steve,

 

Thanks for sharing your experiences.  A lot of us audiophiles like to experiment with tweaks, and I am no different.  But every once in awhile I take the tweaks out of the system, and listen without them, then re try them one at a time.  I find that often taking things out of the system to be more revealing (after listening with them in place for a longer period of time) of what they are actually doing.  The thing with tweaks is that often they do change the sound, but sometimes it is very hard to decide if they are changing for the better, for the worse, or just making it different.  For me, if I cannot decide for certain that a given tweak is actually improving the sound (and doing so with various recordings) I'll leave it out, as when in any doubt, I follow the simple is better thinking.

BTW, do you use the Oreas under say, your DAC?  I am kind of interested in experimenting a bit with them and might pick some up.

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Hi Steve.  I have not used the Sonic Transporter myself, and/or with a direct connection, and I do not wish to engage in wild speculation.  I would doubt that the I7 vs I5 would make much difference, as the ultimate processing power will lily not matter, what may matter is the processing power used, but even that is questionable.

You could run this question past Andrew at SGC as well and see what he feels. You may want the I7 at some point in the future, so my tendency would be to go I7.

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I have not used the direct style connection myself.  There have been reports that such a connection has benefits, I just do not know myself.

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There is a fuse drawer on the rear panel of the SRse.  It is an easy task to open the drawer and change out the fuse without the need to go inside the chassis.

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Fuse:  Steve, contact Adrian if you want to get a fuse from Sonore.  We have the Blue available.

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@R1200CL,  Not sure of why you are suggesting a more complex signal path here...  Also please remember that this is the Sonore forum ?.  And SGC is a partner company of Sonore.  Running direct mode from an I7 Sonic Transporter is an excellent option, additionally I am not sure why you recommend running HQPlayer with an I5, not a lot of power for oversampling own that case.

The Signature Rendu SE loves to get its Ethernet input direct from the Sonic Transporter I5!

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I have noticed no difference in testing with CAT 6A Ethernet cables from 1m to 50m with the SRse.  It should present no compromise to have the Sonic Transporter "far away" using the direct connection.  I am interested in hearing about people doing careful testing regarding Ethernet cable length though...

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36 minutes ago, Kendrick said:

Barrows  said  "The Signature Rendu SE loves to get its Ethernet input direct from the Sonic Transporter I5!".  Not sure I understand how a direct connection would work with an ST I5 > SRSE.  The ST I5 only has one ethernet port and needs a switch to connect router and renderer.   Of course the ST I7 would work with its two ethernet ports.   

 

My bad, just checked the post above, I said I7 first, but then wrote I5 by mistake in the part you quoted.  By all means I meant I7 in both cases!

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5x20 mm, Slow Blow, 315 mA

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20% off end of summer sale on the Signature Rendu SE!  Contact:

 

[email protected] to order!

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Mike, glad you have it running!  after 24 hours or so, please let us know how you like the sound!

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9 hours ago, sockpit said:

“I have a hard time understanding why I paid $100 for this “treatment.”

 

Same reason you paid $120 for the special fuse, I suppose. (I love my mR and the guys at Sonore, but just couldn’t resist 😈)

Actually, if Sonore had charged a typical 5x the BOM cost of the EMI absorbing material we use, the additional charge to the customer would have to be way more than what we do charge for it.  This material is relatively expensive to purchase.  The material we use is nothing obscure or anything, just a proven industrial material from a reliable electronic parts supplier which can absorb some of the noise inside the chassis.

 

if one is still curious about EMI absorbing materials, a quick Google Search for "EMI absorbing materials" or EMI absorbing sheets" will reveal a number of results.