Sonore opticalModule v0.95 - discontinued

[vortecjr]

1 hour ago, thyname said:

I got my opticalModule bundle today (dual oM with dual SGC 5V LPSs). Thanks Jesus!

 

My Server / Streamer is Innuos ZENith MK3.

 

I had a pair of TPLinks powered by SOtM sPS-1000 before.

 

For you folks standing on sidelines, these work! Significant improvement compared to TPLinks! Not exaggerating! It’s like I bought a new streamer. Right off the bat, I am experiencing a much darker background, and a very nice timbre. 

 

 

Good job. This week I plan to post some other compatible devices as people are now discovering other combination that are not with a opticalRendu.

[R1200CL]

23 hours ago, Axiom05 said:

I'm just not comfortable with things running this hot, doesn't seem right.

 

Actually hotter is better 😀

 

Some electronics perform better under what you may consider as hot.

 

People shouldn’t worry about John’s design isn’t well within almost any operating condition. 

 

Just think about how hot actually your processor inside a computer can get.

[vortecjr]

34 minutes ago, R1200CL said:

 

Actually hotter is better 😀

 

Some electronics perform better under what you may consider as hot.

 

People shouldn’t worry about John’s design isn’t well within almost any operating condition. 

 

Just think about how hot actually your processor inside a computer can get.

That is a terrible suggestion. If he is not comfortable with it then lowering the voltage is what he should. 

[charlesphoto]

Yes, Virginia, cable changes are real....

 

New Ghent Neotech 18g solid JSSG 12" cable arrived for the HDPLEX100>opticalModule (nearest microRendu). First plug-in was a bit of the eww, buyers remorse moment, with bloaty bass etc. 24 hours in it's all good, nay, pretty great.It didn't add any more detail or clarity per se, just took what was already there and made it bigger and more musical. Previously using one of those generic Chinese braided silver teflon cables that come with the cheap LPS. Well made but not on the same level. If you haven't gone solid (and short) you should.  Makes for a big sound with lots of depth. Amazing just how much difference the oM makes, and how power and cabling affect it. 

[barrows]

@charlesphoto:  What was the length of your previous cable for comparison?  I am considering making a short star quad, OCC DC cable with solid core wire just for some fun comparison (this would be from my custom 5 VDC ultra low noise/impedance linear supply to my single optical module).  I found some very, very special star quad wire (also quite costly) which uses foamed FEP insulation and OCC solid core copper.

[JoseL]

Hi,

Will an original microRendu (SW v2.7) work with the opticalModule?

I thinking on feeding them from the optical output of an Ubiquiti Edgerouter X SFP  ( https://www.amazon.com/dp/B012X45WH6/?coliid=IDJ95YDYMAHZ7&colid=1KFPM8CB51YQV&psc=0&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it )

I will be using the proper matching SFP modules and optical cable.

Thanks in advance

[charlesphoto]

54 minutes ago, barrows said:

@charlesphoto:  What was the length of your previous cable for comparison?  I am considering making a short star quad, OCC DC cable with solid core wire just for some fun comparison (this would be from my custom 5 VDC ultra low noise/impedance linear supply to my single optical module).  I found some very, very special star quad wire (also quite costly) which uses foamed FEP insulation and OCC solid core copper.

 

1.2 meters. I think it's this one. I actually have a couple and going to cut at least one down for the NUC and/or salvage the connectors and build a better cable. 

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1-2M-GX16-2P-TO-5-5-2-1mm-Teflon-silver-plate-DC-Power-supply-cable/253446152964?hash=item3b02916304:g:im8AAOSwk6ZZsTwk

 

For my LPS-1 to microRendu I actually go with an Oyaide 2.1 connector> 4" pieces of 12g Neotech solid hook up (each separated by just air)> LT3045> Neotech 12g again (2")>Oyaide 2.1 connector. Looks super DIY but sounds great. Of course when working with solid cable it's important to measure the distance between gear - it really is almost like being hardwired. 

[Superdad]

2 hours ago, barrows said:

I found some very, very special star quad wire (also quite costly) which uses foamed FEP insulation and OCC solid core copper.

 

I suppose you are referring to one of VH Audio’s star-quad AirLoK cables. Foamed FEP is good stuff!

 

Star-quad, premium dielectric, and sizable wire gauge—and short length—are the most important factors to making a great DC cable. 

 

[vortecjr]

3 hours ago, JoseL said:

Hi,

Will an original microRendu (SW v2.7) work with the opticalModule?

I thinking on feeding them from the optical output of an Ubiquiti Edgerouter X SFP  ( https://www.amazon.com/dp/B012X45WH6/?coliid=IDJ95YDYMAHZ7&colid=1KFPM8CB51YQV&psc=0&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it )

I will be using the proper matching SFP modules and optical cable.

Thanks in advance

It should work. 

[Puma Cat]

On 6/23/2019 at 7:56 AM, barrows said:

@charlesphoto:  What was the length of your previous cable for comparison?  I am considering making a short star quad, OCC DC cable with solid core wire just for some fun comparison (this would be from my custom 5 VDC ultra low noise/impedance linear supply to my single optical module).  I found some very, very special star quad wire (also quite costly) which uses foamed FEP insulation and OCC solid core copper.

Foamed FEP insulation? Hmmm....very interesting, I'd never heard of foamed FEP before. Foamed PE, yes, but not foamed FEP. Pretty cool. 

[Puma Cat]

On 6/23/2019 at 8:31 AM, JoseL said:

Hi,

Will an original microRendu (SW v2.7) work with the opticalModule?

I thinking on feeding them from the optical output of an Ubiquiti Edgerouter X SFP  ( https://www.amazon.com/dp/B012X45WH6/?coliid=IDJ95YDYMAHZ7&colid=1KFPM8CB51YQV&psc=0&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it )

I will be using the proper matching SFP modules and optical cable.

Thanks in advance

Yes, it works very well and sounds excellent. No worries. 

[Puma Cat]

On 6/22/2019 at 2:15 PM, R1200CL said:

 

Actually hotter is better 😀

 

Some electronics perform better under what you may consider as hot.

 

People shouldn’t worry about John’s design isn’t well within almost any operating condition. 

 

Just think about how hot actually your processor inside a computer can get.

Two other friends and I have run our OMs at 9V, and they get really very hot. Both of them communicated their experiences regarding how hot their OMs were running at 9V with a high degree of concern, to the point where they simply not going to operate them at 9V.  Subsequently, neither of them, nor I, am running this device any longer at 9V due to how hot they get. The OM runs considerably cooler at 5V.

 

Also, excessive heat is not good for any electronic device. 

[vortecjr]

6 minutes ago, Puma Cat said:

Foamed FEP insulation? Hmmm....very interesting, I'd never heard of foamed FEP before. Foamed PE, yes, but not foamed FEP. Pretty cool. 

I had to look it up:) I found this on a quick search. BTW I’m not making any claims.

 

“AGC Chemicals Fluorocompounds Group, Exton, Penn., has introduced fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP) foam concentrates to its portfolio of FEP melt processable compounds for LAN and coaxial cable insulation. When coated with foamed insulation produced from Fluon FEP concentrates, cables reportedly demonstrate minimal distortion and signal loss, and improved high-speed data transmission.” 

[Puma Cat]

1 minute ago, vortecjr said:

I had to look it up:) I found this on a quick search. BTW I’m not making any claims.

 

“AGC Chemicals Fluorocompounds Group, Exton, Penn., has introduced fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP) foam concentrates to its portfolio of FEP melt processable compounds for LAN and coaxial cable insulation. When coated with foamed insulation produced from Fluon FEP concentrates, cables reportedly demonstrate minimal distortion and signal loss, and improved high-speed data transmission.” 

Very cool! Thank you for the link. Learn something new everyday! 

[charlesphoto]

Cleaned up the top shelf of my office closet, i.e. the music server/switch shelf. Installed an inexpensive ($69) Supra power strip, with an inexpensive ($18) 10ft hospital grade cable from Amazon with great audio reviews. All of this is plugged into the office circuit, so shared with computer, hard drive banks, printers etc. Tidied wires so no power or ethernet near each other, and everything is ground shunted into a hydra extension cord pigtail. There's an MC220L at the rear with an SFP/RJ45 transceiver on the line into the Cisco from the router/modem in another part of the house (for the time being powered by the oem SMPS).

 

The Supra really cleaned up the sound vs the old 14g Stanley Tool strip I had before! So some filtering must being going on as claimed. Despite opticalModules, better cabling, etc something wasn't right at the core and the Supra pretty much nailed it. I'm sure a proper conditioning etc would be better but for under a $100 a great tweak.

 

Posting pic here of the first opticalModule in the chain in action on its nifty iPad stand I had in a drawer. Its sister is directly above it, in the living room. Old house. 

[vortecjr]

42 minutes ago, charlesphoto said:

Cleaned up the top shelf of my office closet, i.e. the music server/switch shelf. Installed an inexpensive ($69) Supra power strip, with an inexpensive ($18) 10ft hospital grade cable from Amazon with great audio reviews. All of this is plugged into the office circuit, so shared with computer, hard drive banks, printers etc. Tidied wires so no power or ethernet near each other, and everything is ground shunted into a hydra extension cord pigtail. There's an MC220L at the rear with an SFP/RJ45 transceiver on the line into the Cisco from the router/modem in another part of the house (for the time being powered by the oem SMPS).

 

The Supra really cleaned up the sound vs the old 14g Stanley Tool strip I had before! So some filtering must being going on as claimed. Despite opticalModules, better cabling, etc something wasn't right at the core and the Supra pretty much nailed it. I'm sure a proper conditioning etc would be better but for under a $100 a great tweak.

 

Posting pic here of the first opticalModule in the chain in action on its nifty iPad stand I had in a drawer. Its sister is directly above it, in the living room. Old house. 

Check you out:) Am I going to have to post a pick of my network to?

[Puma Cat]

1 hour ago, charlesphoto said:

Cleaned up the top shelf of my office closet, i.e. the music server/switch shelf. Installed an inexpensive ($69) Supra power strip, with an inexpensive ($18) 10ft hospital grade cable from Amazon with great audio reviews. All of this is plugged into the office circuit, so shared with computer, hard drive banks, printers etc. Tidied wires so no power or ethernet near each other, and everything is ground shunted into a hydra extension cord pigtail. There's an MC220L at the rear with an SFP/RJ45 transceiver on the line into the Cisco from the router/modem in another part of the house (for the time being powered by the oem SMPS).

 

The Supra really cleaned up the sound vs the old 14g Stanley Tool strip I had before! So some filtering must being going on as claimed. Despite opticalModules, better cabling, etc something wasn't right at the core and the Supra pretty much nailed it. I'm sure a proper conditioning etc would be better but for under a $100 a great tweak.

 

Posting pic here of the first opticalModule in the chain in action on its nifty iPad stand I had in a drawer. Its sister is directly above it, in the living room. Old house. 

Very cool! Are those Isoblocks I see?

 

[Albrecht]

On 6/21/2019 at 2:47 PM, thyname said:

I got my opticalModule bundle today (dual oM with dual SGC 5V LPSs). Thanks Jesus!

 

My Server / Streamer is Innuos ZENith MK3.

 

I had a pair of TPLinks powered by SOtM sPS-1000 before.

 

For you folks standing on sidelines, these work! Significant improvement compared to TPLinks! Not exaggerating! It’s like I bought a new streamer. Right off the bat, I am experiencing a much darker background, and a very nice timbre. 

 

 

 

 

Hi,

Thank you very much for both pics and also report! From someone who's been running 2 TP-Links, - this is a very valuable post indeed....

Cheers,

 

[charlesphoto]

7 minutes ago, Puma Cat said:

Very cool! Are those Isoblocks I see?

 

 

No, just some maple blocks with a corklike substance somebody was selling inexpensively. More for airflow than anything. That Supra strip is the ticket though. I wouldn't use it on my Naim gear but perfect for this type of setup. 

[charlesphoto]

32 minutes ago, vortecjr said:

Check you out:) Am I going to have to post a pick of my network to?

 

 Mostly just wanted to set and forget. Been going all Kondo on the office and house this spring. Feels good. But I also feel like this part of the equation is now a good 50% of the great sound I'm getting (in large part due to the opticalModules).

[Albrecht]

On 6/22/2019 at 7:47 PM, charlesphoto said:

Yes, Virginia, cable changes are real....

 

New Ghent Neotech 18g solid JSSG 12" cable arrived for the HDPLEX100>opticalModule (nearest microRendu). First plug-in was a bit of the eww, buyers remorse moment, with bloaty bass etc. 24 hours in it's all good, nay, pretty great.It didn't add any more detail or clarity per se, just took what was already there and made it bigger and more musical. Previously using one of those generic Chinese braided silver teflon cables that come with the cheap LPS. Well made but not on the same level. If you haven't gone solid (and short) you should.  Makes for a big sound with lots of depth. Amazing just how much difference the oM makes, and how power and cabling affect it. 

Thank you!

Disregard the below.... So easy to just figure it out once on Ghent website.....

 

"Can you post a link to this Ghent cable?"

 

Cheers,

[ericuco]

Here is my opticalModule setup including no-name Chinese switch. Look Ma, no RJ-45 connections.

 

The three fiber optic connections are:

1. Google Wifi mesh point with a TP Link MC220L (not shown) converting copper to fiber optic - used to connect this part of network to router, NAS, Internet
2. Music server with an Intel fiber optic NIC (box on lower shelf)
3. opticalModule feeding my mRendu

The opticalModule was a huge SQ boost over the TP Link MC220L that it replaced.

 

[vortecjr]

22 minutes ago, ericuco said:

Here is my opticalModule setup including no-name Chinese switch. Look Ma, no RJ-45 connections.

 

The three fiber optic connections are:

1. Google Wifi mesh point with a TP Link MC220L (not shown) converting copper to fiber optic - used to connect this part of network to router, NAS, Internet
2. Music server with an Intel fiber optic NIC (box on lower shelf)
3. opticalModule feeding my mRendu

The opticalModule was a huge SQ boost over the TP Link MC220L that it replaced.

 

Those blue optical cables look Art Deco Nice work!

[R1200CL]

6 hours ago, Albrecht said:

Thank you!

Disregard the below.... So easy to just figure it out once on Ghent website.....

 

"Can you post a link to this Ghent cable?"

 

Cheers,

 

Maybe this one is better:

https://www.ghentaudio.com/part/dc-gac4.html

Or at least equal. 

 

You find the other here:

https://www.ghentaudio.com/part/list-dc.html

[jabbr]

14 hours ago, vortecjr said:

Those blue optical cables look Art Deco Nice work!

To keep it all straight, particularly in my attic, I use aqua exclusively for multimode cable (OM3) and yellow exclusively for single-mode.