I hope to try USB coming out of my ultraRendu. Right now it is churning and burning on i2S until I get back Thursday. . The quick listen this morning soundstage depth is still a pancake compared to the modded DS.
Reverted to FW 2.3.0 and have sound. Looks like this unit definitely needs to go back in for the hardware fix.
If you have the upgraded unit, the initial sound is, well, not great. When I got my unit back, I was surprised it sounded worse than when I shipped it out. Now the soundstage is deep and much better focused.
But mine had a good break-in in the lab so it only took two days for a huge sonic jump. You (and others) may need more time.
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Then it should be much better after running 7 days. I did not do update FW yet fearing it might freeze up and be stuck reverting back I didnāt want to risk not getting it going again before my flight. And missing burn in time while away.
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Itās very unlikely that any Rendu will play DSD Native (Direct) via a direct USB connection to the MKII. It does work with DoP. Iāve tried this with both a Signature Rendu SE and an ultraRendu. I have been working with Jesus Rodriguez on this problem for almost two weeks now. I reported this issue in this topic around a week or so ago.
Using either Roon or Audirivana through either the Signature or ultraRendu, DSD Native is converted to 352.8khz.
Based on my understanding of DoP vs Native (Direct) DSD, SQ isnāt going to be effected by DoP. Jesus is interested in having both working, so Iāve been helping with testing.
Using Audirivana requires changing the Rendu from RoonReady to MPD/DLNA.
To test Native (Direct) DSD with Audirivana you also need to change the MPD / DLNA Renderer Settings so that you:
Enable Direct DSD Support - This will enable Direct DSD to your DAC instead of DoP. Your DAC must support Direct DSD to use this feature.
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Again, thanks for this effort. As long as dsd256 over usb works, using DoP is fine for me. Iām all in on usb.
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I havenāt loaded the new UI today so I canāt tell you that USB DSD256 is working from the Rendu just yet. Iāll poke at it either tonight or tomorrow.
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Hereās Roon when DoP is selected on the Rendu:
Hereās Roon when Native is selected on the Rendu:
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Can you actually hear a difference between DSD and DSD converted to PCM?
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I cannot. The only reason I am even looking at it was to help Jesus. Otherwise, I am fine without Native.
Iām just happy that USB from the Rendu to the MKII via DoP is indistinguishable from the Rendu going through the KTE SU-2 for conversion to I2S and then on to the MKII.
One less box, one less power cord, one less I2S cable. Less is more!
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AFAIK. Yes.
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That seems to suggest that all units that didnāt get any sound after the 2.3.3 upgrade need to go back for the hardware fixes
No, my unit doesnāt need the hardware fixes and the new software mutes on it. I donāt know the mechanism, but the new software is sensitive to the hardware change, not to the āspontaneous muteā problem that led to the hardware change. After we know more (e.g. PS Audio engineering figures out whatās really going on) then weāll know whether some more units need to come home.
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I was one of the early beta testers to experience the muting phenomenon. I returned my unit to the mothership, and they returned it to me last Friday.
On my first alblum I experienced a couple seconds pause in the middle of the first song. I then had another very short second pause in the third song. No pauses thereafter. I use Roon and there was a recent update and a lot of reboots and connections stuff going on, so Iām not sure if it was Roon, my fumbling fingers or the DS MK II?
All operations since the initial album are solid and the SQ is outstanding. Itās too early to give a full review of the SQ, but my vinyl rig should be very nervous. Tone, texture, musicality, detailā¦ is completely spot on. It just sounds ārightā.
I have the DS MK II connected to my music server (intel based computer with a NAS attached) by way of Coax and my TV is attached via Toslink - optical.
During a listening session, I paused the music, to unmute my TV, to hear the TV and the DS MK II was streaming sound from my TV. It just automatically switched. My DS MK I never did that. When I hit Coax on the remote, the TV sound stoped on the DS MK II and reverted to my sound base. I think I gleaned from a post from Ted, that this auto switch is a new feature? Please let me know if I understand this correctly.
Temperature of the DS MKII:
Back 111 degrees
Bottom 110 degrees
Left side 99 degrees
Right side 97 degrees
Top 97 degrees
Front 96 degrees
Ambient room temperature is 78 degrees.
I updated my software to version 2.3.3, yesterday, without a hitch. No issues at all since the update. Sounds great.
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Auto input select is indeed a feature. If you donāt want it, simply ignore it and use the input select as you always have. The I2S1 button is overloaded. If you arenāt on I2S1 and you press I2S1 youāll be selecting I2S1. But if I2S1 is selected and you press the I2S1 button again it turns on the auto input select. Simply press any input selection button to turn it off again.
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For the inputs, is there option to have each of them remember their last volume setting? this way it would be good for comparisons. One can always disable this feature if not desire, but for me it would be highly desirable.
Unlike analog sources all digital sources have the same input volume. A 0x3423 sample means the same things no matter which input it comes from. In general, you want any digital volume controls on any digital sources set to unity, turned off, whatever and then youād control the output level with the DS or a preamp.
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Received my MK2 Nov22 but just now got a chance to unpack and upgrade to the latest updates that were sent via email. Also unpacked my PST that I received at the end of 2021, and upgraded it to the latest updates. Mine seems to be an earlier build but Iāve had no issues so far.
The MK2 has been running for the last 8 hours, sounds phenomenal. Will comment on sound details once I have more hours on it. PST does generate very minor ticks when changing tracks and switching from CD to SACD.
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Good morning music 
lovers. About 30 hours of blissful music since receiving MK2 back from the ER. We all know by now the MK2 is a substantial upgrade over JR And SR. It was getting late last night and was so enjoying listening to one recording after another and did not want to disturb anyone in the house so I decided to throw on my Audeze LCD-X headphones (Moon audio Black Dragon cable) for a spin, yup I said it headphones. So I plugged into the BHK Preās headphone Jack that Bascom also designed (May he rest in peace) and is not an after thought headphone amp. Bascom has designed a few outstanding stand alone headphone amps, one named the King. Donāt want to get off track so let me just say MK2 over JR through the headphone amp I am getting the same results, so smooth, better dynamics, more detail, voices more realistic, also the Bass, we all love some good Bass. I donāt listen to headphones much but with the MK2 in the mix now I may be doing more late night listening!
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I still donāt know 
I worry about the phrase āsmooth.ā
What do you actually mean by smooth?
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