AUDIO over IP - REDNET 3 & 16 Review. AES67 Sets A New Standard for Computer Audio

[PCWar]

That would have been great Jay. I currently use a Dell XPS 13 and a Furutech usb cable that also powers the Singxer F1. Nothing fancy since wanted to go the AOIP route as soon I got the F1 and not upgrade in full the DDC route. Also have a Chord Hugo.

 

[rb2013]

  I'm geeting into the AOIP train as well. Pretty much followed all recommendations from rb2013 starting from the Gustard U12. Then changed for the Breeze Audio U8 and finally got the Sinxger F1-U.
 
I personally don't find too much value on scoring audio quality but I should give him credit on identifying that really each of these DDCs have been at least technically an upgrade to each other. Followed this thread from it's genesis and am really curious to see if AOIP is real or hype.
 
During my long and expensive journey with audio I'm learned to limit a lot expectation bias. Just to render the idea I changed so many IEMs through the years and now I have only 1 pair of them which I sold 2 times and purchased 3 times. The Sony EX1000 which I recently got for ~300USD. I found nothing even north of 1K beats them for me.
 
That's why I decided to go for the ultimate investment and purchased the Atterotech unDaes-o interface and a Canare 110/75 impedance transformer to finally input to the SPDIF of my Theta Generation V dac. Down the chain I have an Auralic Taurus amp driving my SD modded HD800. 
 
Atterotech unDaes-o is limited to 24/96 but that's perfectly fine with me since 99% of my library consists of redbook files. 
 
Expect to have the unit by end of next week and will compare it to the Singxer F1.

Thanks for the kind words this has been an interesting year so far for computer audio.  Least anyone think I'm an AOIP snob - I still run a Uber chained F-1 USB DDC in my office.

And it sounds excellent!
 
Just know (as has been posted here many times) - the Atterotech is not the totl DANTE Brooklyn implementation.  It uses a the DANTE Ultimo chipset - so no dedicated XO clock, or full FPGA processor - like on the Brooklyn 1 & 2 cards.
 
This is the reason the Atterotech is so much cheaper and limited to 96k.  It will be interesting to get your take on it.
 
BTW the lower cost Rednet 2 AM uses the same chip and has analog outs and a HP out.  But unfortunately no digital output.
 
https://www.audinate.com/products/manufacturer-products/dante-ultimo

 
https://www.audinate.com/products/manufacturer-products/dante-brooklyn-ii

 

[PCWar]

So it's "best" DDC versus "just" AOIP solution comparison. If the advantage really comes more from skipping the USB it looks like a fair comparison to me.

 

[Golfnutz]

That would have been great Jay. I currently use a Dell XPS 13 and a Furutech usb cable that also powers the Singxer F1. Nothing fancy since wanted to go the AOIP route as soon I got the F1 and not upgrade in full the DDC route. Also have a Chord Hugo.

This may or may not affect you. Here are the results from latencymon on my Dell XPS 13. I haven't bothered trying to change/fix anything because I use a different PC for music. This is just some information for you, nothing else.
 

 

 

[PCWar]

Thanks for that. Fortunately I have 2 other desktops and a MBP 2013 too. I find the dell the best still with my F1.

 

[rb2013]

So it's "best" DDC versus "just" AOIP solution comparison. If the advantage really comes more from skipping the USB it looks like a fair comparison to me.

Yes it 'just' AOIP - but who knows - no one tried that Ultimo chip yet.  Not at least having commented here.
 
So you'll be the first.

 

[joelha]

Ever since I updated the Rednet control software (now with automatic sample rate changing) I can't get it to play 176.4 or 192 sample rates.

My dac reads 192, but I'm getting no sound.

At lower sample rates everything's fine.

I even manually set both the Dante and Rednet software to the right sample rates and still nothing.

One other strange issue is that I can't get the Rednet software to show 176.4 as a sample rate option.

I'm bracing myself for a simple answer or an embarrassing omission.

Between my pride and good sound, I'll sacrifice my pride.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions offered.

Best regards.

Joel

 

[johnjen]

So I dove into the guts of my RN3 and looked for any evidence of the 51 volt being used in the circuit and found nothing.
So I assume it isn't being used and will proceed accordingly.
 
So does anyone want to join me in using one of these triple voltage PSU's?
 
There is a 4-6 week lead time for them to make them, since there are none in stock.
The price is ≈$105 for the properly configured unit (it includes a fuse and fuse holder as the only added option) plus shipping etc.
 
I am about ready to place my order and so if anyone else wants to join me in this now would be a good time.
 
And when I was poking around inside the RN3 I saw feed thru holes already in the circuit board for the +5 and ±15 volt connections, which will facilitate adapting a LPS to these units.
 
If anyone is interested I can provide additional details and a better idea of what is involved in this experiment, but I'm going to forge ahead and find out what happens when a LPS with 2mv (rms) of ripple noise is used instead of the stock SMPS.
 
JJ

 

[johnjen]

Ever since I updated the Rednet control software (now with automatic sample rate changing) I can't get it to play 176.4 or 192 sample rates.

My dac reads 192, but I'm getting no sound.

At lower sample rates everything's fine.

I even manually set both the Dante and Rednet software to the right sample rates and still nothing.

One other strange issue is that I can't get the Rednet software to show 176.4 as a sample rate option.

I'm bracing myself for a simple answer or an embarrassing omission.

Between my pride and good sound, I'll sacrifice my pride.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions offered.

Best regards.

Joel

What pops up as the first possibility is that your latency settings are either getting in the way, or are not getting out of the way for these higher sample rates.
 
It could be either the DVS settings or the latency settings for the RedNet box itself.
Or it could be that they aren't properly synch'd to each other.
 
Anyway that would be the place I'd start fussing 1st, just to see what happens.
 
And of course the Focusrite help desk is always an option as well.
 
Let us know what you find out.
 
JJ

 

[somestranger26]

  So I dove into the guts of my RN3 and looked for any evidence of the 51 volt being used in the circuit and found nothing.
So I assume it isn't being used and will proceed accordingly.
 
So does anyone want to join me in using one of these triple voltage PSU's?

I am interested. Where are you getting the PSUs from?

 

[johnjen]

The source is PowerVolt, a US company.
http://www.powervolt.com/index.html
 
And here is the page with the triple output supplies.
http://www.powervolt.com/bva.html
Scroll down to get to the triple output units.
 
I have used these PSU's in several process control boxes I built in previous jobs.
They are robust and very durable, but are ugly and need a box to house them (if aesthetics and not having exposed wiring are important).
 
The unit I'm looking at is the BVA-53B12T1-F, which would be used externally to the RN3 and a 4 wire cable (+5, +15, -15, grnd) run from the PSU to the RN3.
Although it might be possible to mount it internally, depending upon how much room is available if the stock SMPS is removed.
 
JJ

 

[mourip]

Ever since I updated the Rednet control software (now with automatic sample rate changing) I can't get it to play 176.4 or 192 sample rates.

My dac reads 192, but I'm getting no sound.

At lower sample rates everything's fine.

I even manually set both the Dante and Rednet software to the right sample rates and still nothing.

One other strange issue is that I can't get the Rednet software to show 176.4 as a sample rate option.

I'm bracing myself for a simple answer or an embarrassing omission.

Between my pride and good sound, I'll sacrifice my pride.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions offered.

Best regards.

Joel

 
I have a couple of thoughts.
 
First. I found on my PC that for rate following to work you need to keep Rednet Control open. If you close it you will still hear music from your last song but it will no longer "follow".
 
Second. 176.2 will not show up in the Rednet Control drop-down box but it is available and you can see it by right clicking on your Rednet device(RN3/D16), choosing Dante Controller, and the looking at the Device View. There is a sample rate box where it can be seen. When sample rate following is working correctly you should not need to make any choices however. It should change automatically as different music rates are sent to the Rednet box. Also in this box choose the lowest latency you can without getting dropouts.
 

 
 
Third. If you have not done so consider rebooting all of your devices from PC to DAC and then choose sample rate follow again.
 
To be honest I found sample rate follow to be a bit balky and went back to just playing everything at 192k which for me gives wonderful results.

 

[astrostar59]

  So I dove into the guts of my RN3 and looked for any evidence of the 51 volt being used in the circuit and found nothing.
So I assume it isn't being used and will proceed accordingly.
 
So does anyone want to join me in using one of these triple voltage PSU's?
 
There is a 4-6 week lead time for them to make them, since there are none in stock.
The price is ≈$105 for the properly configured unit (it includes a fuse and fuse holder as the only added option) plus shipping etc.
 
I am about ready to place my order and so if anyone else wants to join me in this now would be a good time.
 
And when I was poking around inside the RN3 I saw feed thru holes already in the circuit board for the +5 and ±15 volt connections, which will facilitate adapting a LPS to these units.
 
If anyone is interested I can provide additional details and a better idea of what is involved in this experiment, but I'm going to forge ahead and find out what happens when a LPS with 2mv (rms) of ripple noise is used instead of the stock SMPS.
 
JJ

Hi Johnjen
I am very interested in this subject. But I already have a HDPlex which has a 12VDC, 15VDC and 5V. I use the 12V for my Mac Mini but have the 15 and 5 spare.
 

 
Please post back once you get yours up and running. Are you to drill and fit 2 x rear plugs for the power connections on the RedNet? Guess this will void the warranty but I will take that risk if the SQ gains are there.

 

[rb2013]

  So I dove into the guts of my RN3 and looked for any evidence of the 51 volt being used in the circuit and found nothing.
So I assume it isn't being used and will proceed accordingly.
 
So does anyone want to join me in using one of these triple voltage PSU's?
 
There is a 4-6 week lead time for them to make them, since there are none in stock.
The price is ≈$105 for the properly configured unit (it includes a fuse and fuse holder as the only added option) plus shipping etc.
 
I am about ready to place my order and so if anyone else wants to join me in this now would be a good time.
 
And when I was poking around inside the RN3 I saw feed thru holes already in the circuit board for the +5 and ±15 volt connections, which will facilitate adapting a LPS to these units.
 
If anyone is interested I can provide additional details and a better idea of what is involved in this experiment, but I'm going to forge ahead and find out what happens when a LPS with 2mv (rms) of ripple noise is used instead of the stock SMPS.
 
JJ

Nice!  I would but sold my RN.  Any photos would be appreciated I'm sure by those who do.
 
Cheers!

 

[rb2013]

Ever since I updated the Rednet control software (now with automatic sample rate changing) I can't get it to play 176.4 or 192 sample rates.

My dac reads 192, but I'm getting no sound.

At lower sample rates everything's fine.

I even manually set both the Dante and Rednet software to the right sample rates and still nothing.

One other strange issue is that I can't get the Rednet software to show 176.4 as a sample rate option.

I'm bracing myself for a simple answer or an embarrassing omission.

Between my pride and good sound, I'll sacrifice my pride.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions offered.

Best regards.

Joel

Try closing DVS, Dante and RN control - then shutting down the PC and turning off the RN box.  Turn on the RN first then restart the PC. Reopen DVS and Dante control. 
Check to see that both DVS and Dante Control are set to 24 bits.
 
Good Luck