Has anybody tried this with a PS Audio DAC’s I2S input?
I am a happy user of their microRendu into Jr. USB input and am curious about this upgrade.
https://www.smallgreencomputer.com/products/ultradigital-usb-to-spdif-and-lvds-i2s-converter
With Bridge II on DSS or ethernet port on DSJ using a Rendu seems redundant, no?
No.
I much prefer the mRendu sound through USB to Bridge ethernet. Love my Jr., but Bridge leaves me cold.
YMMV.
The people at Sonore definitely understand PS Audio’s version of I2S. I’m reasonably sure they’ve tested all of their recent projects with PS Audio gear. I do know that they loaned me an earlier version of the Rendu to test with the DS.
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Hi Ted - been using my DS with toslink for a while now and I love it but I’m limited to 96/24. I only have a USB out so I’m using a converter. I’d really like to try the i2s option with the DS. I know every system is different and in mine toslink sounds better than USB. Any idea if using this or another ($300?) I2s converter would equal or beat toslink. I’d love to be able to listen to >96k without reconnecting USB. Like I said in my case, even with quality USB cable, Toslink is much better - not close really.
Have you tried 176.4 or 192 with your TOSLink cable? You might want to test it with the Bit Perfect test just to make sure, but many sources do 192k fine with better TOSLink cables (e.g. not the ones that came with a Blu-Ray player.) I suspect any TOSLink cable that costs more than, say, $20 will do 192k reliably.
Unlike Paul, I think that TOSLink works well for many systems. I2S can be better when there are no grounding issues. And unlike most people report the only objective data I know of re jitter rejection is that AES3 has a very slightly lower noise floor than I2S. So I guess I don’t have a solid recommendation except to try TOSLink at a higher rate.
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Ted,
Thanks for these comments.
Sonore folks actually offer a Black Friday PS Audio special.
Trying ultraDigital would have been a no-brainer except that I need to figure out all these cables … And the power supply.
M
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I put the Ultradigital on my Xmas list.
I have a spare Sbooster just in case.
Thanks any recomendations on a glass toslink. I’m currently using this one and can’t get past 96k. -thx
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Bummer, I should have said “I suspect any TOSLink cable that costs more than, say, $30 will do 192k reliably.”
There’s a remote chance that one of your ends isn’t snapped in tight.
That description sounds just like my favorite lower cost cable, tho even a decade ago it cost 4 or 5 times that much. (Some not quite bottom of the line cable from AudioQuest.)
In this case jitter isn’t a big problem and the amount of loss in a meter or two isn’t a problem so glass vs. plastic isn’t the most important thing. A good polish on the ends is the thing that matters more.
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you mean a “factory” polish or is this something i can do?
No, not sanely. It’s purely a function of quality of cable. And usually not something specified. (So I guess it wasn’t too helpful to mention it…)
last question - what toslink cable are you using?
Among others I have a lot of AudioQuest OptiLink G, OptiLink 1 and OptiLink 3 from roughly 15 years ago. One thing I never liked about AudioQuest was their never ending renaming of lines of cables from year to year. I suspect that all of their optical cables would work fine (except, maybe, the bottom of the line.)
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thanks for the info
I have the Sonore Ultradigital.
Sonore microrendu>Sonore Ultradigital> i2s to Direct Stream Jr
Works good…
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What power supplies ?
Both are powered via Channel Islands Audio 9v LPS.
Also tried W4S PS-1 LPS, but liked the CIA supply better.
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I’m curious, how does it sound compared to the Bridge in your DSJ?
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IMO, too close to call with respect to one being better than the other. Others have weighed in that the i2s gives better performance than the bridge.