Sonore opticalRendu

[vortecjr]

 

According to Chris C. in his Audiophile 5: Sonore opticalRendu In 5 Minutes review he states,

"It's the best Rendu they have ever made."

 

The Sonore opticalRendu utilizes an SFP fiber optic transceiver at its input to provide 100% galvanic isolation from the network and USB-audio output. The opticalRendu has linear power regulation, CPU circuit design with femto clocking, USB circuit design with femto clocking, and a network circuit design with femto clocking. This unit utilizes SonicOrbiter for its operating system so you already know how to use it.

 

The opticalRendu is systemOptique certified 

 

SELECTABLE OUTPUT MODES

Mode #1 - SqueezeLite Output - This output works with any Logitech Media Server and compatible controllers. This output supports true gapless playback of PCM, DSD/DoP, and native DSD.

 

Mode #2 - ShairPort Output - This is an AirPlay emulator that utilizes streams sent to it from a compatible source. This output supports true gapless playback of PCM.

 

Mode #3 - MPD/DLNA Output:

Mode #3a - DLNA Output - This output utilizes streams from UPnP/DLNA servers and controllers. This output can be configured as an OpenHome renderer. This output supports true gapless playback of PCM, DSD/DoP, and native DSD.

Mode #3b - MPD Output - This output is intended to work with an SMB mount. This output supports true gapless playback of PCM, DSD/DoP, and native DSD. This option requires an SMB share to mount your content in combination with the built-in Drive Mounter application.

 

Mode #4 - HQ Player NAA Output - This output utilizes streams from Signalyst's HQ Player running on your computer. Digital signal processing is performed by HQ Player and then asynchronously streamed to the Network Audio Adapter (NAA) output. This output supports true gapless playback of PCM, DSD/DoP, and native DSD.

 

Mode #5 - RoonReady Output - This output utilizes streams from Roon. This output supports true gapless playback of PCM, DSD/DoP, and native DSD.

 

Mode #6 - Spotify Connect Output - This output can be controlled by your computer or tablet running the Spotify (premium) application. This application is based on librespot - an open source client library for Spotify. The application is in Beta form.

 

 

Link to product page: https://www.sonore.us/opticalRendu.html

[jamesg11]

Que? Details ...

[vortecjr]

1 hour ago, jamesg11 said:

Que? Details ...

The entire team is sworn to secrecy for the time being:) We have some units on route to reviewers and friends of Sonore so keep an eye out their feedback and comments.  

[rickca]

16 hours ago, vortecjr said:

CPU circuit design with femto clocking, USB circuit design with femto clocking, and a network circuit design with femto clocking

Which of these 3 elements did not use the femto clock in the ultraRendu?

[asdf1000]

17 hours ago, vortecjr said:

Announcing our newest Rendu - opticalRendu

 

The opticalRendu utilizes an SFP fiber optic transceiver at it's input to provide 100% galvanic isolation from the network and USB-audio output. The opticalRendu has linear power regulation, CPU circuit design with femto clocking, USB circuit design with femto clocking, and a network circuit design with femto clocking. This unit utilizes SonicOrbiter for it's operating system so you already know how to use it.

 

If you are interested in this product please send an email to [email protected] with subject "opticalRendu"  

 

 

 

Was @JohnSwenson involved? If so, can John share what his involvement was?

 

In John we trust ?

 

 

[vortecjr]

46 minutes ago, Em2016 said:

 

 

Was @JohnSwenson involved? If so, can John share what his involvement was?

 

In John we trust ?

 

 

No. Intel was involved...LOL

[asdf1000]

7 hours ago, vortecjr said:

No. Intel was involved...LOL

 

LOL.

 

Is the actual module that converts fiber to copper ethernet an “off the shelf “ one or something Sonore developed ?

[vortecjr]

3 minutes ago, Em2016 said:

 

LOL.

 

Is the actual module that converts fiber to copper ethernet an “off the shelf “ one or something Sonore developed ?

Sorry...I couldn't help myself:) To answer your original question...John designed the board. The opticalModule is not off the shelf hardware. 

[asdf1000]

3 minutes ago, vortecjr said:

Sorry...I couldn't help myself:) To answer your original question...John designed the board. The opticalModule is not off the shelf hardware. 

 

LOL no worries. So the previous issue discussed with FMC’s that the optical to copper ethernet conversion process is “noisy” no longer applies here? Because now this conversation process is designed to be ultra low noise with best SI by @JohnSwenson ?

 

Also, in the case of the opticalRendu, does optical get converted  to copper ethernet to USB? Or directly optical to USB?

[vortecjr]

13 minutes ago, Em2016 said:

 

LOL no worries. So the previous issue discussed with FMC’s that the optical to copper ethernet conversion process is “noisy” no longer applies here? Because now this conversation process is designed to be ultra low noise with best SI by @JohnSwenson ?

 

Also, in the case of the opticalRendu, does optical get converted  to copper ethernet to USB? Or directly optical to USB?

John's design of the opticalModule has the same kind of considerations to the circuit you would expect.

 

Internally the processor handles data coming in via the network and data going out via USB. 

[asdf1000]

2 minutes ago, vortecjr said:

Internally the processor handles data coming in via the network and data going out via USB. 

 

Thanks. So my question is about the handling of the data. So it’s a direct optical ethernet to USB conversion process?

 

There is no intermediate copper ethernet stage, correct?

[vortecjr]

4 hours ago, Em2016 said:

 

Thanks. So my question is about the handling of the data. So it’s a direct optical ethernet to USB conversion process?

 

There is no intermediate copper ethernet stage, correct?

As far as I know there is no such thing as direct optical to USB conversion. The SFP modules convert the optical signal to an interface format.

 

FYI There are SFP modules which accept cable Ethernet incase people prefer cable Ethernet. 

[asdf1000]

4 hours ago, vortecjr said:

As far as I know there is no such thing as direct optical to USB conversion. The SFP modules convert the optical signal to an interface format.

 

FYI There are SFP modules which accept cable Ethernet incase people prefer cable Ethernet. 

 

Thanks.

 

So the SFP module itself is off the shelf (hot swappable)? 

 

 

[vortecjr]

I'm not sure if it's hot swappable, but I don't see why not. 

[vortecjr]

10 hours ago, rickca said:

Which of these 3 elements did not use the femto clock in the ultraRendu?

The network circuit. 

[JohnSwenson]

Let me try and address some of these questions without giving away too much. In the ultraRendu the Ethernet port from the iMX6 is connected to an Ethernet PHY, which talks to a very high quality Ethernet jack with built in magnetics. The PHY is directly connected to the "outside world" which leaves it somewhat susceptible to the signal integrity of whatever is connected to it.

 

In the opticalRendu I re-designed the Ethernet circuit. I'm not at liberty to discuss the details of this circuit. What I can say is that this circuit uses a ton of very high quality voltage regulation and very low phase noise clocking. The result is that the processor is fed a signal that is cleaner than any external Ethernet connection you can buy today.

 

This circuit is the primary new addition to the opticalRendu and is where the additional oscillator is used. Using an optical network connection provides a remarkable synergy with this circuit allowing it to produce such a clean output to the CPU.

 

As has been mentioned other parts of the opticalRendu have been significantly improved as well.

 

That's as much as I can say right now.

 

John S.

[vortecjr]

57 minutes ago, JohnSwenson said:

Let me try and address some of these questions without giving away too much. In the ultraRendu the Ethernet port from the iMX6 is connected to an Ethernet PHY, which talks to a very high quality Ethernet jack with built in magnetics. The PHY is directly connected to the "outside world" which leaves it somewhat susceptible to the signal integrity of whatever is connected to it.

 

In the opticalRendu the output of the PHY is connected to the SFP module through the Ethernet circuit I designed. I'm not at liberty to discuss the details of this circuit. What I can say is that this circuit uses a ton of very high quality voltage regulation and very low phase noise clocking. The result is that the PHY connected to the processor is fed a signal that is cleaner than any external Ethernet connection you can buy today.

 

This circuit is the primary new addition to the opticalRendu and is where the additional oscillator is used. Using an optical network connection provides a remarkable synergy with this circuit allowing it to produce such a clean output to the CPU.

 

As has been mentioned other parts of the opticalRendu have been significantly improved as well.

 

That's as much as I can say right now.

 

John S.

 

John, I have not tried the RJ45 SFP. What are your thoughts on using it?

[JohnSwenson]

A RJ45 SFP module WILL work, as long as it is NOT a 10/100/1000 one, it HAS to be JUST a gigabit module. These modules do not block leakage currents from the network. The optical does. How much this is going to effect the sound is of course dependent on the network setup.

 

Another issue is the difference between an optical and Ethernet SFP module. The optical module is very simple, the incoming light from the fiber goes to a high speed photo diode, then to a simple amplifier. The output from the amplifier goes to my circuit. All the signal conditioning and clocking, protocol conversion etc is done in my circuit which uses very low phase noise clocks, extremely clean power etc. With a RJ45 SFP the clocking and conversion circuits are all done with whatever is in the SFP module, I can guarantee it is not as good as what is in my circuit! The signal from the RJ45 SFP still goes through my circuit which can clean it up some, but it's not as good as what I can do with the optical signal.

 

So an opticalRendu with an RJ45 SFP WILL be better than an ultraRendu fed by the same Ethernet cable, the opticalRendu fed by an optical signal is significantly better.

 

John S.

 

 

[asdf1000]

6 minutes ago, JohnSwenson said:

A RJ45 SFP module WILL work, as long as it is NOT a 10/100/1000 one, it HAS to be JUST a gigabit module. These modules do not block leakage currents from the network. The optical does. How much this is going to effect the sound is of course dependent on the network setup.

 

Another issue is the difference between an optical and Ethernet SFP module. The optical module is very simple, the incoming light from the fiber goes to a high speed photo diode, then to a simple amplifier. The output from the amplifier goes to my circuit. All the signal conditioning and clocking, protocol conversion etc is done in my circuit which uses very low phase noise clocks, extremely clean power etc. With a RJ45 SFP the clocking and conversion circuits are all done with whatever is in the SFP module, I can guarantee it is not as good as what is in my circuit! The signal from the RJ45 SFP still goes through my circuit which can clean it up some, but it's not as good as what I can do with the optical signal.

 

So an opticalRendu with an RJ45 SFP WILL be better than an ultraRendu fed by the same Ethernet cable, the opticalRendu fed by an optical signal is significantly better.

 

John S.

 

 

 

Thanks John. So the SFP module itself is 'off the shelf' kind? Or you've designed this too?

 

[JohnSwenson]

The SFP module is off the shelf.

 

John S.

[vortecjr]

17 minutes ago, JohnSwenson said:

A RJ45 SFP module WILL work, as long as it is NOT a 10/100/1000 one, it HAS to be JUST a gigabit module. These modules do not block leakage currents from the network. The optical does. How much this is going to effect the sound is of course dependent on the network setup.

 

Another issue is the difference between an optical and Ethernet SFP module. The optical module is very simple, the incoming light from the fiber goes to a high speed photo diode, then to a simple amplifier. The output from the amplifier goes to my circuit. All the signal conditioning and clocking, protocol conversion etc is done in my circuit which uses very low phase noise clocks, extremely clean power etc. With a RJ45 SFP the clocking and conversion circuits are all done with whatever is in the SFP module, I can guarantee it is not as good as what is in my circuit! The signal from the RJ45 SFP still goes through my circuit which can clean it up some, but it's not as good as what I can do with the optical signal.

 

So an opticalRendu with an RJ45 SFP WILL be better than an ultraRendu fed by the same Ethernet cable, the opticalRendu fed by an optical signal is significantly better.

 

John S.

 

 

Thanks John.

[asdf1000]

9 minutes ago, JohnSwenson said:

The SFP module is off the shelf.

 

John S.

 

Thanks John. All clear now.

[asdf1000]

26 minutes ago, JohnSwenson said:

The SFP module is off the shelf.

 

John S.

 

Have you picked out an optical SFP module that you've found performs best?

 

Or do you expect any half decent gigabit optical SFP module to perform the same and the USB output quality to be the same?

 

[jhellow]

Will you be building an i7 SonicTransporter with an optical out to mate with the new optical Rendu? I was just about to buy both.

[jamesg11]

Yes, a purchase-decision-shelver ...