Sonore opticalRendu

[Albrecht]

3 hours ago, Music Enthusiast said:

I can't see how it's possible that a fancy switch could make a difference with the OpticalRendu. People need to be very careful when they think they can hear a difference. And not report publicly that they hear a difference from placebo effects. 

 

One time a friend of mine bought a new DAC to use with his SACD player. After a few days with it, he called me up raving about how many veils were lifted, how the macrodynamics and bass was so much better etc. When I finally made it over to check it out, I had a look at the setup and noticed his preamp was still set on the analog input which still had the analog RCA's coming from his SACD player connected. He did connect the digital coaxial cable between the DAC and SACD player, but he forgot to switch the input to the input the new DAC was connected to. I asked him if this is how it's been setup the whole time. He said I haven't touched it since initial setup. 

 

I learn't a valuable lesson that day. 

Hello,

I have been running fiber for a couple of years now with FMCs that have two wall-wart LPSs. I definitely heard a difference between Fiber vs 4 different CAT8, & CAT7 RJ45 ethernet cables. I also heard a difference between a $50 iFI SMPS power supply to my RACK FMC and the $11 LPS that I'm currently using. I haven't tried a 35ft AudioQuest, Synergistic, or Cardas, ethernet cable. But I can say that a 1.5m AudioQuest cinnamon from the FMC to the ultraRendu has made a significantly audible improvement over a standard Vandersil CAT8, a Belkin based blue jeans, & a Supra CAT7.

 

We all have different systems with different capabilities and different levels of resolution. (Not to mention different quality AC). How a Fiber system may or may not isolate out electrical noise over layer 3 networks and have an affect on what is heard out of the speakers can and will vary.

Before you offer up speculation based outside direct experience, - I recommend doing some more listening......

 

My total fiber system cost me less than $100. Finally, (as John explained), there are more differences to the opticalRendu than just a Fiber NIC/SFP module.

Cheers,

 

[Albrecht]

23 minutes ago, Music Enthusiast said:

I think there’s a bit of misunderstanding about how the setup you had is different than how a setup with the OpticalRendu will be. There will be no copper cable between the FMC, switch with fibre port, or special Sonore FMC. Only an optical cable. This cable provides total isolation between the OpticalRendu and the FMC, switch with optical port, or special Sonore FMC. Therefor nothing before this final run of optical cable will have any influence on the sound. 

 

In your use case you had a copper cable between the FMC and streamer. This opens up the possibility of noise conducting through the copper cable to the streamer. Also opens up the possibility of different Ethernet cables affecting the sound Signature. 

Yes, - you are correct about the possibility of noise between the final FMC and the streamer. You are correct about that for sure. I do understand quite well that there will be no FMC and therefore no possibility of noise....

[Albrecht]

24 minutes ago, barrows said:

My understanding is that the above is patently false: optical cable cannot pass ANY noise, neither can it radiate noise, and neither can it pick up noise.  Now the downstream FMC can be a noise source, of course, hence the advantage to eliminating it via the optical Rendu.

Hi, - correct. Sorry if I didn't make that clear. Also, - it might be possible for a SMPS on the FMC to introduce AC noise, which may or may not make it's way into the house AC and possibly into the system.  Thanks for clarifying

[Albrecht]

1 minute ago, Music Enthusiast said:

Okay then you understand that your experience with your setup is something that will no longer apply with this setup. You can eliminate far more money worth of cables, power supplies, and low noise servers to buy a couple OpticalRendu’s, and still get better performance. 

Hi,

Of course. In my case, - it was less than $120 with both FMCs, Fiber cable, and their linear power supplies.... Right off the bat one can eliminate 1 RJ45 ethernet, and 1 FMC and it's power supply. In my case, - I'll need another fiber cable that is SC to LC as I understand it.

Considering also that there's a bit more to the opticalRendu than just the Fiber NIC, - this is something that I'm really looking forward to.

Cheers,

 

[Albrecht]

1 minute ago, barrows said:

Agreed, but; if all the gear powered by the cheap SMPS is placed far from the audio system (and preferably on the other phase of the homes AC wiring) one does achieve a great degree of isolation of that noise from the audio system, just by the length of wire.  Wire runs of 30'+ add enough resistance and capacitance to filter out a lot of high frequency noise on their own.

I would be much more concerned about my high power general appliances like washing machines, dishwashers, and refrigerators adding noise to the AC supply than a few low power SMPS with 30' or more of wiring between them and the audio system.  Although I would still ground those supplies for good measure since it is so easy to do.

Hi,

Yes. But a typical FMC has a 9v or 12v SMPS that comes with it and the FMC "receiver" power supply is usually plugged into the same AC 10 or 15 (or if you're lucky 20a circuit) from the mains box, (not a circuit from another part of the house that also isn't isolated). This cheap FMC SMPS "may" cause some noise to go back into that circuit, especially since one might have others for their TVs, cableTV boxes, etc.  I have 8 PSUs right now, - 5 of which are LPSs, - and 2 I can't do anything about. Of course you're right about big appliances like refrigerators and Laundry machines, sending noise back...

But, - everyone unplugs their refrigerator during music listening...    ?

[Albrecht]

59 minutes ago, jabbr said:

Yes, the commercial product which uses the Finisar SFP(+) module in question is Intel NIC eg x520 ... I don’t know if other commercial / professional implementations which specify this but there might be. 

 

I would defer to Sonore about which modules have been tested with their hardware. The SFP(+) spec and associated standards 802.11ae for example, have considerably more requirements (including end-to-end jitter) than the older 1000base-X / SFP / 1G fiberoptic Ethernet specifications/standards and it is entirely possible that 1G modules may not meet expectations the 10G requirements. 

 

The 

thread was specifically created so that folks can post setups and configurations that they have found to work — and avoid potential incompatibilities.

 

That is to say it is safest to use what Sonore specifies but there may be products outside their specs that work in practice.

hey....

Your optical network configurations thread was a fun thread and I learned a lot... Thanks....

[Albrecht]

5 hours ago, analogmusic said:

Understand but then I’ll be staying happy with my allo digi one streamer with BNC spdif ouput

(allo-digital-one) So not good enough for me.....

[Albrecht]

On 5/21/2019 at 1:58 PM, vortecjr said:

Update

 

I'm very happy to announce that today we starting shipping the opticalRendu. By tomorrow all back order units will have been shipped. We also have inventory ready for new sales so order with confidence. Enjoy!

 

opticalModule is now on sale pre-order only. It's to soon to set a firm ship date, but we expect to ship the opticalModules in about 2 weeks or sooner if possible.

Hi,

Congratulations on what is certain to be a great player. I am so excited to hear the improvements that I know it will make over my ultraRendu,  (as amazing as the ultraRendu is). I am very much looking forward to buying the opticalRendu this summer!

Congratulations again, and I wish you, Barrows, & Adrian the best!!

 

Cheers,

 

[Albrecht]

2 hours ago, daverich4 said:

I Will Wait For You starting at 0:39. 

uh oh, - that sounds like someone left a water bottle and Starbucks mug clearly visible in the studio......

 

 

[Albrecht]

10 minutes ago, lumos said:

Dear John,

 

I am in awe of your patience. I used to believe that everything in the digital domain was the same until I saw that data in an oscilloscope and realised that, in fact, nothing in the digital domain is really digital at all. States do not change instantly from a 0 to a 1, there is a leading edge slope and a trailing edge slope. You now have the problem of deciding at what voltage will you say the state has actually changed. Is everything in the chain doing it the same, or even consistently. As Rob Watts at Chord demonstrates, the human brain is incredibly sensitive to timing errors and its impact on the sense of realism. 

 

But none of this really matters. I don't really have a good sense of hearing and I always go to the bother of double blind testing new equipment. I start off being cynical and sometimes I am proved wrong (my microrendus were better than my Sonicorbiters and my Ultrarendus are better than my microrendus. The Uptone Audio power supplies made a positive impact. When the DAC test revealed that I had preferred the Chord Mojo to my Naim DAC in nine out of 10 tracks I sold my Naim DAC. I have never been able to discern a difference with interconnects, power cables, speaker cables. 

 

So for me John has earned some trust in an industry where very few do. This is not homeopathy, here John explains a real mechanism of action and the price of the equipment feels very much like cost plus as opposed to the usual "how much can we charge whilst keeping a straight face" strategy. 

 

The only data point the matters is do we like what it sounds like. If I love the sound then nothing really matters. And the optical rendu plus module will not even buy you a power lead with a wooden ring on it.

Very nicely said.....

 

"As Rob Watts at Chord demonstrates, the human brain is incredibly sensitive to timing errors and its impact on the sense of realism. "

 

Also, - from Rob Watts. FWIW,  (and to continue with an analogy), this is similar to the listener detecting something "wrong" when an instrument is out of tune.

 

Cheers,