@Leonard
I found that with Ultradigital and Iconoclast XLR i find it much easier to pick out polarity song by song.
Are you having Audirvana automatically invert tracks for you, or do you prefer to do it manually?
Wow I’m thinking about ditching my Signature Rendu for an UltraDigital for native DSD and full Roon compatibility. Does anyone have thoughts on the trade offs?
Yes i try to use Audirvana most of the time.
Obviously Tidal is more difficult as you can’t tag the Tidal songs in A+.
For most of my music, as I change equipment, my polarity preferences stayed the same. There are some that have flip flopped but in most cases they were songs that were hard to make a decision which way to begin with. With just the Ultrarendu there is a lot more congestion and mud so picking polarity can be tricky.
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Signature Rendu is I2s & SPDIF out, and Ethernet in, but it is UPnP only.
Finally got the Sbooster Ultra add on (7.5V) for my Ultradigital and it makes a large improvement in SQ with the gen 2 Sbooster.
Instrument separation skyrocketed and dynamics are amazing. Night and day.
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So you guys are not going off of the chart on their website? I am getting the UltraRendu/UltraDigital combo next week…and want to make sure I have the dip switch settings correct.
A couple of years ago I looked without success for one of these to replace the Bridge II. I ended up buying a dCS Network Bridge - similar price, I/O, and wider compatibility than the Signature Rendu - and superb sound quality. I suggest you have a listen before going the USB route.
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For my SGCD, I have only 7 on. PCM won’t matter, just DSD or if you convert PCM to DSD by external software.
just a quick poke on this thread:
y’all are making quite a few comparisons between USB and other inputs vs the Bridge II. This is super useful as I’m spending some time trying to maximize performance from my DS.
— What is upstream of the DS Bridge II in your comparisons? My bias is toward fewer boxes, so I have to ask. Have y’all played with high-end ethernet cables? low-noise switches? reclocker things like the etherRegen? OR running ethernet into DS Bridge II from a server like an Innuos (which have an ethernet ‘in’ and a presumably low-noise / reclocked ethernet ‘out’ for this purpose)?
— If you find another input preferable to the Bridge II, does the SQ from that input increase further if you remove the BridgeII card entirely?
— for those who prefer other inputs / devices over the Bridge II, how would you rate the impact of these changes relative to the SQ impact of power cables (say, a stock power cable vs an AC12) and fuses (say stock fuse vs the ~$150 models people discuss on here)?
Hi @davidl, What cable are you using between the dcs and the dsd?
For purely sq purposes I am thinking of getting one of these, (or an AURALIC aries1 ‘ cause it’s a lot cheaper) to go between my fan-less nuc and the dsd. Is the sq improvement worth it? Plus I would have buy new cables as I have invested in usb
Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated
This pretty much says it all. Even Ted Smith posts in there.
Transparent Reference AES/EBU.
As regards sound quality, in my system the dCS Network Bridge gave a significant improvement in SQ over that from the Bridge 2 in the PSA DAC, and a further smaller improvement when I physically removed the Bridge from the DAC. I’m not sure how relevant my experience will be to your system as you have been using a USB setup. I suspect that an important contribution to SQ in my system is down to isolation I’ve setup. My NAS running MinimServer to serve music is remote from the hifi system (on another floor) being connected via a wireless bridge to a wireless access point positioned about 9ft from the dCS bridge and PS DAC. Never had any problems with this wireless bridge: it can stream video without dropouts etc so audio is a relative doddle. The dCS bridge is connected by wired ethernet except for an optical fibre run (with TP-Link converters). I’ve disabled all other wireless connectivity local to the bridge and DAC to minimise any potential RF interference.
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Thanks Dave, I did In fact read that you had that cable on the dcs forum, but I had forgotten, sorry 
yes your path is different to mine. I too have a lot TA cabling but for digital I find them a bit lifeless. If you ever fancy a change in tonal characteristic I would suggest trying AudioQuest or WireWorld instead
Thanks again
Just received the new Sonore Ultradigital today. It is only powered off the USB buss. For now, I’m going to use an optical Rendu with a Farad Super 3 power supply for the optical Rendu/Ultradigital. I have a signature Rendu on the way in a couple weeks. The ultradigital will be replacing a Matrix with a dedicated power supply.
Question: why are there two different switch settings for the DSD? The link below shows the two:
The device comes pre-configured for the first PS Audio Column (not alt). I assume it has something to do with DSD channels. How could L & R be swapped on different DSD DACs?
Thanks!
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Just want to set the record straight, in case someone else uses the UltraDigital with the DSD MKI. I initially installed using the default settings (first PS Audio column). The Optical Rendu saw the UltraDigital right away and music played. All good so far.
Tried Ted’s test files and the bit perfect check would not appear with any of the test files: 24/96, 24/192, mono, stereo…nope. Would not show the bitperfect check. That has never been a problem on my system going back across multiple configurations. So, I tried the PS Audio (alt) settings: bit perfect success with all the test files. Looks like I’m in business.
This must have been a problem for a long time with the UltraDigital. Think the PS Audio (alt) suggestion is only a recent addition.
Does anyone know where I can find a good set of DSF test files that verifies L&R channels? Thanks!
Just picked up this. I’ll rip and convert to DSF to test both PCM and DSD. I like the idea of definitive tests. This should come in handy in general.
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I use an OpticalRendu but not an UltraDigital. Can you @amsco15 clarify if the non-bitperfect signal was being passed by the UltraDigital or the OpticalRendu? I was thinking it was the settings on the UltraDigital you were working with, but not sure. If on the OR, then I probably do some testing.
Also, on the OpticalRendu, I am needing to use DSD to DOP to hear DSD files (on a DS Jr.). I was thinking that I would be able to access Native DSD files but no luck, unless I have some OpticalRendu settings wrong.