The b2 is truly a great product , it’s sound is on par with my custom server . It’s only minor drawback is dsd 64 max .
wglenn said Well I now have the Sonore uRendu in my greedy little hands for a bit. My friend also had trouble with his SonicOrbiter and it had to go back for repair, leaving his uRendu with nothing to do. Quick back and forth between the Bridge II and uRendu shows these two renderers to be extremely close. I'm not going to say much else until after some extended listening but as for a USB input this thing is way way way beyond anything else that I have heard. Wowza.Glenn, what are you powering the uR with ? I started with iFi and then moved to a 9v battery power which lifted the sq significantly. Combined with Torreys release and Roon/HQP upsampling to DSD128, the system is giving me a great deal of enjoyment. what I am reading from the CA threads is that the uR needs some good psu to bring the best out of it. The more I am learning about the uR internals, the more I am fascinated and this is coming from the guy who has designed the popular regen. The upcoming Uptone LPS-1 which is an ultracap based psu is going to be an excellent match for the uR. However, if BII is closer to SQ with the uR, then its obviously a bargain at the price point.
I am using a battery set to 9VDC with my uRendu.
The battery doesn’t run hot and the capacity drops with about 4% per hour, so one can use it continously for a whole day.
One can also charge the battery while powering the uRendu.
The below picture shows the portable setup:
I’m powering mine with a P.I. Audio BatteryBuss, great sq but I’m shut down now, had to return my SonicTransporter, the power jack came loose lost connection.
Have you got it custom made?
It says 12-24VDC and the uRendu can take 9V max.
I am using the iFi power supply. I am using a server very similar to yours, Dev, but with a switching PS. I am running Minimserver and Fidelizer Pro on the server and Torreys on the DS DAC.
Yes Dave put a new regulator in for 7.5v, his BBuss was originally designed for 12 v Minis which was how I was using it.
rogerdn said Yes Dave put a new regulator in for 7.5v, his BBuss was originally designed for 12 v Minis which was how I was using it.
Interesting. So this is a battery power supply ? Can you charge while you listen, like the SoTm battery power or the Bakoon ?
Dev saidYou can, I have a 12v 28Ah AGM battery I charge with a CTEK 3300 charger, I don't hear a sq diff whether it's connected or not so leave it. I have the charger plugged into his DigiBUSS however. This is not a compact set up but I've used it for 4-5 yrs never replaced the battery, it's sealed so clean. When I had my Mini converted it made a significant improvement but have not run my uRendu with anything else so no comparisons.rogerdn said Yes Dave put a new regulator in for 7.5v, his BBuss was originally designed for 12 v Minis which was how I was using it.Interesting. So this is a battery power supply ? Can you charge while you listen, like the SoTm battery power or the Bakoon ?
I prioritized a setup of a uRendu portable solution today and in this setting I did some SQ comparison between my Aries and the uRendu.
The uRendu was battery powered. The Aries was hooked up to a Regen which was powered by the same battery. TorreysB was loaded in the DS.
The competition was close however personally I preferred the slightly warmer, analog and fuller sound from the Aries. Also the reverb was more pronounced with the Aries. At loud volumes the uRendu sounded a little harder but also tighter and somewhat less smeared than the Aries (but never anemic and harsh). I can imagine that in the longer run the Aries trump the uRendu on PRaT and foot tapping factor. One might say that the listening session with the Aries was more joyful and relaxing. It might be that the uRendu is more correct from a high fidelity standpoint.
My source was NAS, serving Roon with both streamers using RAAT.
Frode said I prioritized a setup of a uRendu portable solution today and in this setting I did some SQ comparison between my Aries and the uRendu.The uRendu was battery powered. The Aries was hooked up to a Regen which was powered by the same battery. TorreysB was loaded in the DS.
The competition was close however personally I preferred the slightly warmer, analog and fuller sound from the Aries. Also the reverb was more pronounced with the Aries. At loud volumes the uRendu sounded a little harder but also tighter than the Aries (but not anemic and harsh). I can imagine that in the longer run the Aries trump the uRendu on PRaT and foot tapping factor.
Interesting, the Aries costs quite a bit more than the uRendu right ?
Quick update. So far I have yet to be able to distinguish a meaningful difference between the Bridge II and the Sonore uRendu. This alone is quite an achievement for Sonore, given the sonic qualities of the B II. I’ll have it for a while yet and will continue to put the uRendu through it’s paces. I have listened extensively to 44/16 tracks because my server has no problems playing two streams at once so I can switch back and forth. I’ll try more with some high res material, although I have found that delivering dual DSD streams is asking too much of my server and network.
EDIT: uRendu is powered by the iFi adapter.
And a few hundred cheaper.
I don't have BII, so I can't compare. Two things that I see is very necessary for uR's performance with DSwglenn said Quick update. So far I have yet to be able to distinguish a meaningful difference between the Bridge II and the Sonore uRendu. This alone is quite an achievement for Sonore, given the sonic qualities of the B II. I'll have it for a while yet and will continue to the uRendu through it's paces. I have listened extensively to 44/16 tracks because my server has no problems playing two streams at once so I can switch back and forth. I'll try more with some high res material, although I have found that delivering dual DSD streams is asking too much of my server and network.
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power supply - I tried iFI, battery pack and a custom lps. There is a lot of difference between the iFI and battery - while the battery was a clear improvement and cut a lot of digital glare over the iFI, it also lost some dynamics which was brought back after using the lps. The upcoming Uptone LPS-1 ultracap powered could possibly raise the SQ even further.
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uR mode - I have tried all other uR mode, except the LMS, with the DS and NAA sounds the best. The MPS/DLNA mode sounds the worst. Roon/HQP combo with uR configured in NAA mode and HQP up-sampling to DSD128. Without up-sampling the uR doesn’t seem to sound as good. Strange that with my other DAC Schiit Yggy, its exactly the opposite - the up-sampling to 192K make the sound too much digital. The Yggy mega-burito filter works leap-n-bounds better - more space around instruments and vocals, bigger soundstage and 3d imaging.
So if the BII and uR with iFI sounds equivalent than with the above two taken care of, it might be better than BII but at the same time it comes at a higher cost.
I have a cheap lps that I’ll try tomorrow, just out of curiosity. I wonder if a little 9v battery could make a difference, too. It might at least be worth a try. Unfortunately I don’t have either a good lps or decent battery source to use. Not sure that I will have time to get HQP up and running on this visit, but I can probably get the uRendu back at some point.
Has anyone used the microRendu with a PS Audio Sprout?
In my setup Bridge 2 sounds better compared to microrendu, but optical Ethernet isolation is used with bridge 2.
After adding optical Ethernet isolation also with microrendu and on usb side I added Intona usb isolator, the SQ is at same level with bridge 2.
With microrendu I am using Roon server-HqPlayer(upsampling to DSD128)-microrendu(NAA) combination.
It would be nice to get NAA support also in Bridge 2. Plus DSD128 support… 
Any updates to the Bridge 2 v microRendu comparison? What about Bridge 2 v microRendu in HQP/NAA mode? Thanks in advance for any comments on additional experience.