Article: Audiophile Style Products of the Decade

[The Computer Audiophile]

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[The Computer Audiophile]

2 minutes ago, sdolezalek said:

Chris: I believe you are missing one final piece of the package that makes the other three even better -- HQ Player. Using the Sonore products as network appliances, Roon as the user interface, Qobuz to feed content, and HQ Player to fine tune it is I believe the best available combination today (it does require some computing power 😉 )

I don't disagree that this is a very compelling solution for many.

[The Computer Audiophile]

20 minutes ago, crenca said:

Roon as software choice makes sense to me.  For the music choice I might have gone with Tidal for bringing 16/44 in a large multi-genre catalog to us here in America first, even if the decision to champion MQA later was a bad one.  I don't get the hardware choice, but perhaps that's because I have a computer background and don't need or get "audiophile" computers/networks and dislike the no small amount of voodoo associated with them.

How else are you going to get Ethernet audio to a USB DAC? How else are you going to get all the features of a Rendu?

[The Computer Audiophile]

2 minutes ago, crenca said:

 

I personally do it with computers and networks.  My solutions are not 'audiophile' in any way...

Many people would rather use an appliance type device that isn't a pain like a traditional computer. Plus, the features of the Rendu aren't all available on another platform. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

1 hour ago, audiobomber said:

I suspect the future belongs to integrated streaming and/or ethernet DAC's, not separate streaming solutions.  

Many manufacturers are attempting to create DACs with all the interfaces. However, none of them can move at the speed of Sonore when it comes to new features, bug fixes, etc... "All" the hardware manufacturers use off the shelf solutions which are really limiting. Plus, the sound I'm getting from the Signature Rendu SE Optical connected via USB is better than Ethernet to the same DACs. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

3 hours ago, Raimund Heubel said:

Why not consequently have ethernet or optical input and optical output as you can see below and here in order to best possible isolate the digital data stream before it enters the DAC?

Very few DACs have optical input that isn't Toslink. I have the EMM Labs DV2 and NS1. I can connect the NS1 to the DAC via optical. It's pretty cool. But, if people don't like the few DACs with optical, it doesn't make sense to use a DAC they don't like just because it has optical. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

51 minutes ago, hopkins said:

Several other manufacturers are doing this

Which ones?

[The Computer Audiophile]

14 minutes ago, Matias said:

MSB has been isolating their DAC inputs with their proprietary ProISL fiber as well.

 

http://www.msbtechnology.com/accessories/prousb/

 

Or Bel Canto Black system went further and its "preamp" converts everything to 2 fibers and sends to the dac+amplifier monos.

 

http://www.belcantodesign.com/home/black/the-system/

 

 

Ayre has used optical isolation inside DACs. If I remember right, they said it has a small negative effect. I could be wrong though. 

 

 

 

6 minutes ago, hopkins said:

ECDesigns will be affordable as well. Their adapters will be compatible with toslink inputs of most DACs. 

 

Can you tell us more about your project ? 

 

Toslink is so limited. I don't think I'd go back to it. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

Just now, hopkins said:

 

Well, that is another interesting debate

For the coming decade I believe we will see "source immunity" and "format immunity" meaning DACs capable of offering similar quality for Redbook and high res. Let's see in 10 years (if we are still around) what will be in your "products of the decade".

Source immunity would be really cool. The Lumin X1 I just reviewed has fiber Ethernet input.

 

I don't believe it has happened in analog yet. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

Just now, Matias said:

Yes, QB-9 DSD started with optical isolation of the USB port inside the unit. I always wondered why other manufacturers did not also implement this.

Sometimes the cure also has issues not present in the original issue. Perhaps the opto isolator has issues or other manufacturers didn't think it was necessary or the cost was higher. Who knows. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

25 minutes ago, mwhitak said:

I'm testing Dante (AOIP) to a Burl DAC (with Dante card installed) as a possible alternative interconnection method to all this USB/SPDIF madness. PC serves files through Dante virtual sound card or dedicated PCIe card, delivered direct over Ethernet (optical isolators used), with everything reclocked at the DAC. There is also an input for an external clock if you want to up the anti.

Is there a sample rate limit using Dante in your setup?

[The Computer Audiophile]

53 minutes ago, mwhitak said:

Since Dante is a pro audio setup....I believe the maximum is 32 bits/ 192khz.

Yeah, I’m pretty familiar with the similar technologies. I thought there was a 96k limit, but that could’ve been a while ago. 
 

Here is an interesting interview I did with Domonique from Merging about ARS67 and Ravenna etc...

 

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

9 minutes ago, mwhitak said:

 

Interesting...thanks Chris ! Perhaps it's time for AudiophileStyle to do a write up on the latest developments in AES67/AOIP ? 

Yeah, that would be good to do. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

1 hour ago, Arg said:

I will not endorse as Product of the Decade any product that is not available to large swathes of audio consumers. Please check the global distribution extent of products before making awards.

I certainly hear what you’re saying but I believe this is a pretty large group of people. Certainly not as many people as some other services, but that’s ok in my book. 
 

Austria

Belgium

Ireland

Italy

France

Germany

Luxembourg

Netherlands

Spain

Switzerland

United Kingdom

USA

[The Computer Audiophile]

1 minute ago, vortecjr said:

Chris, can you clarify this for me...does our award extend to the Rendu products with Ethernet input with SPDIF and SPDIF/i2s output?

The Rendu I reviewed back in the day with Ethernet in and S/pDIF out, wasn't anything like the current custom designed hardware and software solutions in the Rendu series I'd say the award only applies to the newer devices like this. If, you have an Ethernet to S/PDIF in a similar class to the other current Rendu product it may extend to that.

[The Computer Audiophile]

4 minutes ago, Osterberg said:

You guys make everything over complicated, much like life. With your Asynchronous USB – DSD – Jitter - Adaptive USB - Fixed frequency clocks -Dithered digital volume control - Firmware -Bit Perfect testing – Jitter Simulator - S/PDIF, blah,blah,blah

You should just sit back, turn everything else off & listen to a record.

 

Getting turn table to sound good is extremely expensive and like rocket science to me. Most of us don’t think about 90% of the items you mentioned. 
 

Happy new year :~)

[The Computer Audiophile]

6 hours ago, Norton said:

Chris,  that simply isn’t true ( and kind of ironic on a site that seems to champion increasingly expensive digital solutions these days).

 

 

Hi Norton, Many of my friends have turntables and I’ve lived vicariously through them with all their issues and upgrades. One has the Air Force One table. When I saw its suction of the album down on the platter, it seemed to me that this is a requirement for turntables. It makes a lot of sense. 
 

With respect to AS, I suggest you peruse through our front page articles. The cost of them items written about is pretty low. Even in this Products of the Decade article the cost of the products is pretty low. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

4 minutes ago, Ademeion said:

Out of interest I went to the Sonore web site to see what those Rendus actually are for. Funnily I came a way from there without being much wiser. Normally manufacturers give a general description of their products on their web site in addition to technical details. I assume Rendus stream music from the Internet (which I'm currently not a user of), but I'm pretty much in the dark about everything else, and what makes them "the audiophile hardware product of the decade".

 

I'm probably not going to buy one, though, although I'll probably buy a DAC in the not-so-distant future. It just felt funny to at the same time understand the basics of hi-fi and digital audio, and not understand what an audio component that people rave about actually does. I might of course have googled (duckduckgoed) around for an explanation, but in the worst case scenario I might then end up buying a Rendu, and Sonore wouldn't get punished for it's information-poor web site :-).

I definitely hear you. I’ve always told the Sonore team its website was circa 1998 and only offered the bare minimum. Those guys have their own style and way of doing things 😳