Hi, I am new to computer audio, just bought a used DS Sr, now I need to figure out what streamer to get, here are options:
Micro Rendu/Ultra Rendu ->USB-> DS, adding linear Uptone PSU and Curious USB cable.
Lumin U1 Mini ->AES->DS
Option 2 costs more but allows for various connections to the DS. I plan to plug my SACD/CD player into the DS to play SACD/DVD Audio.
Have you owned and compared these options and which one would you prefer and why? I try to balance between SQ and simplicity for my choice.
My setup:
Preamp- CJ ACT2
Amp: Wolcott momos + CJ Premier 350
Source: Roon/Dell PC/Ethernet
Ayre C5XMP
Cables: Purist Audio/Transparent
Speakers: Wilson MAXX2, SoundLab A1
I don’t know about the Lumin U1 Mini. But the DS SR will allow you to connect your SACD/CD player using XLR. I don’t think you will need the Lumin U1 Mini for this purpose.
If you go for a Rendu, than I would suggest you to use the new opticalRendu in combination with the Sbooster Power Supply (the Uptone is not recommended by Sonore for the opticalRendu). Why? You will get galvanic isolation and a near perfect network streaming solution. The guys at Sonore just focus to do this, nothing else.
I hope I am wrong for your sake, but I highly doubt that your Ayre C-5xeMP will pass a DSD bit stream via its AES/EBU digital output when you are playing an SACD. As for spinning DVD-Audio discs, I would be very pleasantly surprised if the Ayre passes anything beyond 16-bit / 48 kHz via its digital output.
Altough i have not personally listened to a Lumin u1 i have read many great things about them!
I also have Direct Stream Sr. and musing about swapping out my Bryston BDP1 digital player for either a BDP3 or jumping ship to a Lumin. Decisons decisions…
One thing for sure, getting the Dell out of your system will be a good thing!
Hi, if you are asking me what I replaced the Rendus with I can answer. Nothing. I bought the MicroRendu at a low price as I have read a few people speaking kindly of it. I enjoyed the sound when it was not adding noise to the signal. But it did so often that I put it on the shelf.
I later found an UltraRendu at a good price and sadly it also added the same kind ofpopping noise at random intervals.
Neither device can compete with either my computer running Fidelizer or my Bridge 2 card. I did contact tech support at Sonore and they could not help as they stated it has never happened before. Hmmmm. I tried different cables, different power supplies, different switches and different settings. Nothing helped.
So they were bought to see if they could live up to their reputation, and sadly they do not for me.
Thanks @aangen - I heard the uR was perhaps better SQ than the Bridge 2 card so it’s always good to hear other opinions. Sorry they didn’t work for you.
It apparently works great for many. I am sad it does not work for me. I question whether anyone here with an UltraRendu has ever tried the bitperfect test using the test files provided by PS Audio and had it pass with their DSD Sr… I would not be surprised if no one had successfully done so.
If you want to try to get “better sound quality” than the Bridge II you can do that with the U1 Mini or the G1 and not need to worry about multiple bits and pieces. Probably true too of the Zen MkIIi but I haven’t heard one yet.
Yes less bits and pieces, fully with you. At the end of the day everybody should be happy if it works and you get good sound quality. But I believe that extra electronics and interfaces have a potential to introduce more noise into the system than that they take them out. I remember the review of DARKO of an ifi USB galvanic isolator. His comment was on a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being a raspberry pi server USB output, 10 being dCS network bridge) the ifi unit in the signal path took the sound quality from 2 to 2.2. So is it worth investing hundreds if not thousands of dollars in such a unit, that requires an extra audiophile power supply and cables?
With the new OS update both my UltraRendu and my MicroRendu work extremely well. The pops and clicks seem to be a thing of the past. I am pleased. They sound great.