The new Sonore opticalModule Deluxe

[R1200CL]

New upgraded (and expensive) FMC

 

http://sonore.us/opticalModule-Deluxe.html

https://forums.sonicorbiter.com/forum/support-for-sonore-products/announcements/559-introducing-the-sonore-opticalmodule-deluxe

 

Somehow it’s at this time not clear exactly what speeds supported. I expect Sonore will update their website. But quite sure it’s the support of 100Mbps is the news. 
 

• Supports both 100 speed and 1000 speed network devices
• For 1000 speed capable networks only

 

I would like to see SFP+ supported. Maybe next year 😀

 

[Matias]

Other than the 100 mbps speed compatibility, the +45 usd only brings "Improved circuit layout" to performance?

[The Computer Audiophile]

Hmm. I better ask Jesus what this means.

 

DELUXE FEATURES

• Supports both 100 speed and 1000 speed network devices

FEATURES

• For 1000 speed capable networks only

[ericuco]

Supporting 100 speed seems to indicate that you could now place this new oM between the etherREGEN (b-side out at 100 speed) and an opticalRendu.

 

Currently, you have to switch the eR around so the a-side connects to the oR via the SFP connection which means you "lose" the use of the a-side Ethernet ports.

[Matias]

51 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Hmm. I better ask Jesus what this means.

 

DELUXE FEATURES

• Supports both 100 speed and 1000 speed network devices

FEATURES

• For 1000 speed capable networks only

Probalby means a copy-paste from the opticalModule Original and forgot to edit the text in the bottom. :D

[charlesphoto]

A lot of high end streamers use only 10/100 inputs for ethernet (i.e. Naim) so this has been an issue with the oM. It should have been 10/100 to begin with imo. 

[charlesphoto]

It's in the larger opticalRendu/LPS 1.2/etherRegen case as well, so one can use the double face plate. 

[jiminlogansquare]

It also puts all connectors on the same face of the unit (Ethernet, fiber and power). That possibly explains, or is explained by, the reference to "improved circuit layout."

[Foggie]

Flow control, I don't think the orig handled that spec eloquently or maybe not at all

[Puma Cat]

On 10/9/2020 at 4:42 AM, Foggie said:

Flow control, I don't think the orig handled that spec eloquently or maybe not at all

I agree. Its not handled eloquently, nor is it informative. Its not at all clear to me why one would purchase this as opposed to the original OM, other than it has the RJ45 port and SFP cage on the same side of the device. What I would to know is if the new ultlralow noise voltage regulators, or crystal oscillator are higher specification that in the original OpticalModule, or not. And if so, which ones are used? 

 

Also, what does "supports flow control" mean, exactly?

 

So, my question is, why would I decide to buy this as opposed to the original OM? 

 

It's not clear from the web page or specifications. 

 

 

[jiminlogansquare]

1 hour ago, Puma Cat said:

So, my question is, why would I decide to buy this as opposed to the original OM? 

One reason might be compatibility with an EtherREGEN - i.e., using the EtherREGEN with an external OM rather than the internal optical cage of the EtherREGEN. The "B" side of the EtherREGEN operates at only 100mbps, and the new OM can accommodate that rate, whereas the original OM will not because it only operates at the gigabit rate.

 

EDITED to note that @ericuco already saw this use case and explained it better, too!

[Puma Cat]

2 hours ago, jiminlogansquare said:

One reason might be compatibility with an EtherREGEN - i.e., using the EtherREGEN with an external OM rather than the internal optical cage of the EtherREGEN. The "B" side of the EtherREGEN operates at only 100mbps, and the new OM can accommodate that rate, whereas the original OM will not because it only operates at the gigabit rate.

 

EDITED to note that @ericuco already saw this use case and explained it better, too!

Hi JIm, thanks for your reply. It actually it works fine for an optical setup because the the optical connection on A-side of ERe operates at the gigabit rate. So, you can have the ER upstream (in through B-side, out through A-side SFP, and on down to the OM SFP Gigabit downstream, connected via fiber, and everything works fine (I've done this).

 

But I think what you're saying is that if you went out of B-side of ER to the RJ45 copper Ethernet port on the original OM (so that you could go out via optical fiber, to say, an OpticalRendu, it wouldn't work because of the RJ45 port mismatch between B-side ER (100 megabytes) vs  the RJ45 port on OM (Gigabit). I think I've got that right....😜 😀 Please correct me if I'm wrong. Cheers. 

[Superdad]

2 hours ago, jiminlogansquare said:

One reason might be compatibility with an EtherREGEN - i.e., using the EtherREGEN with an external OM rather than the internal optical cage of the EtherREGEN. The "B" side of the EtherREGEN operates at only 100mbps, and the new OM can accommodate that rate, whereas the original OM will not because it only operates at the gigabit rate.

 

While indeed, copper connection of the opticalModule Deluxe to the EtherREGEN's 100Mbps port now becomes possible, that is not at all the reason for the creation of the opticalModule Deluxe.

UpTone generally advises against putting anything between the EtherREGEN and whatever is the DAC-attached computer/streamer/render endpoint (or Ethernet-Input equipped DAC). Remember, the 'B' side of the EtherREGEN is a completely isolated power/clock/data domain. Introducing an opticalModule downstream also introduces another power supply, and the clock in Sonore opticalModules is the same Crystek CCHD-575 as used in the EtherREGEN, so no advantage there.

 

No, the reasons for the creation of the opticalModule Deluxe where:

a) Having the copper port able to negotiate down to 100Mps (the smaller original was Gigabit-only) allows people to us the oM Deluxe as an FMC facing to those streamer/renderer endpoints which are only 100Mbps. There are many of that sort.

The original opticalModule was created as a means to turn copper network feed to fiber to input to their opticalRendu.  But given that the oM is likely the best ("sounding") small fiber media converter on the planet, some people desire to use it to convert a fiber feed into copper for their streamers. This new version allows for that.

 

b) Having added a small Ethernet switch chip in the oM Deluxe provides support for flow-control pause packets, bringing better compatibility with HQ Player NAA.

 

Beyond that there are no technical performance advantages that I am aware of. (And obviously I have an inside line on such, given that John Swenson and I are on the phone at least 6 hours every week. )

 

I am not sure why Sonore has not been more clear about their new piece.. Guess they just have a different style of communicating about their products. 

 

Hope the above is helpful.

--Alex C.

[Puma Cat]

1 hour ago, Superdad said:

 

While indeed, copper connection of the opticalModule Deluxe to the EtherREGEN's 100Mbps port now becomes possible, that is not at all the reason for the creation of the opticalModule Deluxe.

UpTone generally advises against putting anything between the EtherREGEN and whatever is the DAC-attached computer/streamer/render endpoint (or Ethernet-Input equipped DAC). Remember, the 'B' side of the EtherREGEN is a completely isolated power/clock/data domain. Introducing an opticalModule downstream also introduces another power supply, and the clock in Sonore opticalModules is the same Crystek CCHD-575 as used in the EtherREGEN, so no advantage there.

--Alex C.

Alex, thanks very much for providing this important clarification.

 

Jim, just so that I am perfectly clear, when I stated above that "everything works fine", I meant that from a strictly functional perspective, i.e., this set-up would function. Alex is 100% correct that the optimal configuration for best possible audio quality is to have OM upstream at the "network end" and ER downstream, at the network bridge or optical "endpoint" and on to the DAC. in particular, to take full advantage the  completely isolated power/clock/data domain on ER 'B' side. And, this how I have my OM/ER system set up (see my system description below in the footer). Cheers. 

[jaaptina]

I'm using the OM on the streamer side and TP-Link on the network side as a budget friendly solution. No problems between OM and streamer. 

[vortecjr]

Here is an example of optical isolation of a 100 speed or 1000 speed network device.

 

Fiber optical cable (orange) in this example is coming from a switch with SFP port or a second opticalModule.

Copper cable (white) is going from opticalModule to endPoint.  

[vortecjr]

Here is an example of optical isolation of a opticalrendu.

 

Copper cable (white) in this example is coming from a switch or router. 

Fiber optical cable (orange) is going from opticalModule to opticalRendu or Lumin X1.

[vortecjr]

On 10/26/2020 at 12:59 AM, Superdad said:

I am not sure why Sonore has not been more clear about their new piece..

Is that better:)

[Jeremy Anderson]

On 10/25/2020 at 9:59 PM, Superdad said:

No, the reasons for the creation of the opticalModule Deluxe were:

a) Having the copper port able to negotiate down to 100Mps ... This new version allows for that.

 

b) Having added a small Ethernet switch chip in the oM Deluxe provides support for flow-control pause packets, bringing better compatibility with HQ Player NAA.

 

Hope the above is helpful.

--Alex C.

 

@Superdad, if we're connecting a streamer (e.g., UltraRendu) via the EtherREGEN's 'B' port, does the ER provide all the flow control support we might need (and thus obviate the need for an oM Deluxe) when utilizing HQ Player NAA?

Or does every device that touches the packets all the way to the server running HQP have to understand Flow-Control Pause packets?

[Superdad]

22 minutes ago, Jeremy Anderson said:

 

@Superdad, if we're connecting a streamer (e.g., UltraRendu) via the EtherREGEN's 'B' port, does the ER provide all the flow control support we might need (and thus obviate the need for an oM Deluxe) when utilizing HQ Player NAA?

Or does every device that touches the packets all the way to the server running HQP have to understand Flow-Control Pause packets?

 

The EtherREGEN has always supported flow-control/pause-packets.

[Jeremy Anderson]

Thanks, @Superdad!

Regarding my second question, is it enough for ER to support flow-control, or does the rest of the network hardware have to as well? (I would hope that the packets, like the spice, must flow... and thus if an endpoint says 'wait a minute!' then the flow-control request will be dutifully delivered to the source even by the least intelligent of ethernet devices...)

[sot13]

On 11/2/2020 at 10:48 PM, jaaptina said:

I'm using the OM on the streamer side and TP-Link on the network side as a budget friendly solution. No problems between OM and streamer. 

 @jaaptina Hi! I am using a setup like yours... Can you please tell me what is the length of the ethernet cable you use to connect the OM with your streamer? I got OM Deluxe a few days ago and in my case I cannot use anything shorter than 31 inches, because then music stutters and in the worst case my streamer does not even get an IP address. Previously, when I was using TP-Link for the job, I had no problem with very short cables (2.5 inches). I try to understand whether this is a design issue of the OM Deluxe, or my unit is faulty. Thank you  

[jaaptina]

9 hours ago, sot13 said:

 @jaaptina Hi! I am using a setup like yours... Can you please tell me what is the length of the ethernet cable you use to connect the OM with your streamer? I got OM Deluxe a few days ago and in my case I cannot use anything shorter than 31 inches, because then music stutters and in the worst case my streamer does not even get an IP address. Previously, when I was using TP-Link for the job, I had no problem with very short cables (2.5 inches). I try to understand whether this is a design issue of the OM Deluxe, or my unit is faulty. Thank you  

I use a 3 meters DIY ethernet cable with Telegartners. Never had any connection problems. 

[gherman]

I installed the OM Deluxe in December and added it upstream to the ER. I just ran into a problem that appears to be the OM Deluxe issue.

 

I'm running DSD512 into a Auralic Aries G2 using Roon. I'm getting errors when running at anything above DSD128. When I take the OM Deluxe out of the configuration, everything works fine. When I add the OM Deluxe, I get errors.

 

Is this the problem that people are talking about here?

[sot13]

On 2/16/2021 at 10:58 PM, jaaptina said:

I use a 3 meters DIY ethernet cable with Telegartners. Never had any connection problems. 

@jaaptinathank you for replying. If you don't mind me saying so, using such a long cable (3m) from OM to your streamer, you somehow are defeating its purpose which is to eliminate all the RFI etc. Have a look at this short video How to isolate a network device from noise on your network using the Sonore opticalModule Deluxe - YouTube.

Anyway, is there a possibility of running a small test for me... i.e. connect your OM to the streamer with the shortest ethernet cable you have and see if it works? Thank you!