[Topspin70]

I face a similar scenario. This is just what I was hoping to hear. I don't plan to stream so no need for internet access. But what about initial set up of the mR? Do I need Internet?

You don't need internet access for initial setup but you would need it to upgrade firmware.  Roon would not be an option unless you at least had occasional internet access but JRiver or MPaD would be.

Thank you. I'm not planning to use Roon yet. For now I am thinking of using a lumin app on my iPhone to direct the mR to 'play' music stored in my minimserver-enabled iMac. All connected to a airport express. That's called the DLNA method, am I correct, and it should work I hope? (Sorry I'm still learning)

Can I upgrade the mR firmware on other networks with internet, say at work, and plug it back into the the chain when I'm home? Do I need to change any configuration?

 

[romaz]

Thank you. I'm not planning to use Roon yet. For now I am thinking of using a lumin app on my iPhone to direct the mR to 'play' music stored in my minimserver-enabled iMac. All connected to a airport express. That's called the DLNA method, am I correct, and it should work I hope? (Sorry I'm still learning)

Can I upgrade the mR firmware on other networks with internet, say at work, and plug it back into the the chain when I'm home? Do I need to change any configuration?

What you're wanting to do should work just fine as there are plenty reporting on this on the CA forum although I haven't personally used DLNA/minimserver with the mR.
 
As long as you have the option for occasional internet access, you should be able to get your firmware updates.

 

[smial1966]

Just a quick heads up for UK microRendu owners. MCRU/Longdog Audio have released a fully regulated linear power supply specifically for the Sonore microRendu and Sonicorbiter SE. There are options available to upgrade the umbilical cable, fuse and add a mains lead. The basic price is £235, which seems reasonable given the great reviews that these PS have received from the UK audio press.
 
Details here - http://www.mains-cables-r-us.co.uk/power-supplies/1313-regulated-linear-power-supply-for-sonore-microrendu.html 
 
I will order one when my microRendu arrives and report back.  
 
Quote:

  I couldn't resist any longer and have put an order for the mR - from a UK dealer, as the price seemed to be in the same ballpark as direct from SGC (once shipping and import duties are taken into accoun).t.
 
This with the iFi power supply. I'll be interested to hear impressions of how the Paul Hynes power supply can take the mR further. Particularly in the light of Sonore recently announcing their own special power supply.

 

[Articnoise]

  I couldn't resist any longer and have put an order for the mR - from a UK dealer, as the price seemed to be in the same ballpark as direct from SGC (once shipping and import duties are taken into accoun).t.
 
This with the iFi power supply. I'll be interested to hear impressions of how the Paul Hynes power supply can take the mR further. Particularly in the light of Sonore recently announcing their own special power supply.

 

I have had good experience with PSU from Teddy Pardo, to power my Offramp 5. They are well built, rather inexpensive, fast distributing and no extra VAT for delivering to countries in EU. I don’t know if SQ is precisely as good as in the more expansive options. I will probably get one if I like the mR with the iFi power supply.

 

[romaz]

 

This looks like a really great option.  That they are specifically targeting the Sonicorbiter SE and microRendu is quite interesting.  These 2 devices have certainly made a global impact in a short period of time.
 
In my conversation with John Swensen, he suggested that one of the most important aspects of a superior power supply for the microRendu is low output impedance and is even more important than low ripple noise.  When I provided the measurements that Paul Hynes supplied me (<3 milliohms from DC to 100kHz), he said this was superb.  You might use this value as a reference as you make your comparisons.
 
The other thing I would suggest is to go for the upgraded silver DC leads.  It's not much more money and most I have spoken with, including Paul Hynes, believes the difference is worthwhile, especially for digital, and I have purchased this upgrade for myself.  It also looks like they're using the Oyaide gold-plated 2.1mm barrel tips which are the best you can buy.

 

[TheAttorney]

  .....you do need to connect it to a router because the mR needs to be assigned an IP address.  There are ways around this but you would need command line access from Sonore which Jesus or Andrew will not readily allow.

I hadn't realised that, and it's a real shame IMO that you can't simply connect the mR directly between PC/server and DAC. No doubt something inevitable with networking that I don't understand.
 
My wifi router is at the other end of the room. Yes I could faff around with getting a long cable under the carpet and yes I can get a second router and yes in the long term I may well need it for other purposes, but it seems like the doubling of cables, another box and another power supply are absolutely mandatory even if all I want to do is quickly try out the mR between my Windows10 laptop/HQP and DAVE DAC.
 
And it also seems strange that, with a key purpose of the mR being to reduce noise, the first thing you have to do is introduce a potentially noisy router and more cabling and connections directly in the digital signal path.

 

[paul79]

You could use a bridge.

 

[romaz]

  I hadn't realised that, and it's a real shame IMO that you can't simply connect the mR directly between PC/server and DAC. No doubt something inevitable with networking that I don't understand.
 
My wifi router is at the other end of the room. Yes I could faff around with getting a long cable under the carpet and yes I can get a second router and yes in the long term I may well need it for other purposes, but it seems like the doubling of cables, another box and another power supply are absolutely mandatory even if all I want to do is quickly try out the mR between my Windows10 laptop/HQP and DAVE DAC.
 
And it also seems strange that, with a key purpose of the mR being to reduce noise, the first thing you have to do is introduce a potentially noisy router and more cabling and connections directly in the digital signal path.

I understand what you're saying.  Networks can be a source of many headaches but we live in a networked world these days with all of its finicky protocols but for all of its negatives, there are positives, too.  During a conversation with Eric Shinn, head of software development at Aurender, back in January, he shared with me that he finds the SQ from streaming a 16/44 lossless track from Tidal to be at least as good and sometimes better compared to the identical 16/44 track that he ripped from a CD that resides locally on a drive within his personal Aurender unit.  When I asked him why this might be, he told me that all the record labels now routinely submit original master files to Tidal as a streaming source whereas the CD you buy from a store and rip onto your server often is a copy of a copy of a copy where the potential for the introduction of errors exist (this is my paraphrase but Eric's words).  Obviously, Aurender has a financial relationship with Tidal and as Eric is the head of software development at Aurender, I would presume he is speaking from a position of knowledge and not just conjecture.  As I have done my own testing over the past few months with tracks that I personally own on CD against tracks that stream from Tidal, I have indeed found streaming from Tidal to be at least the equivalent to anything that I personally own.  This has given me the confidence that once I discover music on Tidal that I really enjoy, I no longer have to feel compelled to purchase the CD and so my library is no longer comprised of thousands of lossless files but millions and growing monthly.  Once Tidal starts streaming hi-res, it should only get better..  While I am not fond of anything with recurring costs, a monthly subscription to Tidal will be the equivalent of about 2 CDs and if you can discover at least 2 new great CDs per month from Tidal, it can be worthwhile.
 
To be able to utilize Tidal with the microRendu, you will need to use Roon.  Unfortunately, Roon comes with more recurring costs and will cost as much as Tidal does per month which is an unsavory proposition and has been difficult for many to justify, especially if they are happy with iTunes or JRiver.  For those like myself who have found the virtues of Roon to be indispensable, even as you factor in the $500 lifetime subscription to Roon (so that you can avoid recurring monthly costs) into the $640 price of the microRendu, I still think you're better off compared to what many purpose-built music servers will cost you today.  Of course, you could stay with your Windows laptop setup and avoid all of these hassles and combined with something as good as your DAVE, you are indeed in very fine shape but if you are curious to see just how much better your DAC can sing, give the mR a try because I have found the difference to be worthwhile in my system.
 
As for the negatives of introducing another router into your listening room, with the mR, you won't have to worry about the typical audiophile details that you would normally have to employ.  There will be no need to place this router on expensive isolation footers, powering it with a linear power supply, plugging in AQ Jitterbugs into it or adorning it with expensive audiophile CAT6/7/8 network cables or optical isolation.  You'll have to trust me because I've tried it and it makes no difference.  The mR is that well isolated.  Beyond a noisy router, you also won't need to worry about the noise from your file storage source, whether it be a noisy NAS or PC/Mac because in my testing, it hasn't mattered. 

 

[romaz]

  I hadn't realised that, and it's a real shame IMO that you can't simply connect the mR directly between PC/server and DAC. No doubt something inevitable with networking that I don't understand.
 
My wifi router is at the other end of the room. Yes I could faff around with getting a long cable under the carpet and yes I can get a second router and yes in the long term I may well need it for other purposes, but it seems like the doubling of cables, another box and another power supply are absolutely mandatory even if all I want to do is quickly try out the mR between my Windows10 laptop/HQP and DAVE DAC.
 
And it also seems strange that, with a key purpose of the mR being to reduce noise, the first thing you have to do is introduce a potentially noisy router and more cabling and connections directly in the digital signal path.

While you can purchase any inexpensive router for your listening room to dedicate to your mR and laptop, unless there is some way to bridge that router to your other router, your mR will not have internet access.  Again, if you don't plan to stream from Tidal, it's not a big deal.
 
Alternatively, here's another solution that's fairly new but you must have at least a decent wi-fi signal to your listening room from your present w-fi router.  It is a wireless extender that will grab the wi-fi signal from your current wi-fi router and extend that signal to poorly served areas of your home.  The advantage of this particular device is that it has a built-in Gigabit port that you can plug your mR directly into via a CAT 5/6 cable.  If this solution works for you, then you would have full internet access.
 
https://www.broadbandbuyer.co.uk/products/25048-linksys-re7000-uk/

 

[Narayan23]

Thanks for your informative posts and help Romaz 

 always glad when I can learn new things and find solutions in the process.

 

[TheAttorney]

Yes, thank you romaz. Very helpful as always.
 
I have the mR on order, so I'll be trying it no matter what )
I still think it's a shame though that the mR simply must have a router in order to function at all. Maybe something for the designers to consider a simple default option that allows for a fixed IP address or whatever?
 
I tried Tidal last year and didn't extend the free trial because:
 
1. It was severely lacking in the the particular (non-mainstream) artists or Special Edition albums I was interested in at the time
2. My villlage has very poor internet speeds and bandwidth. E.g. at certain times of day, if I (or seemingly anyone else in the village) downloads anything, my internet radio stutters
3. I was annoyed that the UK subscription price was considerably higher than that in the US.
 
Now, eventually at least the first 2 points will get better in time, so I can visualise me being a Roon+Tidal user sometime, but right now I just want to connect my laptop to my DAC )

 

[jelt2359]

  Yes, thank you romaz. Very helpful as always.
 
I have the mR on order, so I'll be trying it no matter what )
I still think it's a shame though that the mR simply must have a router in order to function at all. Maybe something for the designers to consider a simple default option that allows for a fixed IP address or whatever?
 
I tried Tidal last year and didn't extend the free trial because:
 
1. It was severely lacking in the the particular (non-mainstream) artists or Special Edition albums I was interested in at the time
2. My villlage has very poor internet speeds and bandwidth. E.g. at certain times of day, if I (or seemingly anyone else in the village) downloads anything, my internet radio stutters
3. I was annoyed that the UK subscription price was considerably higher than that in the US.
 
Now, eventually at least the first 2 points will get better in time, so I can visualise me being a Roon+Tidal user sometime, but right now I just want to connect my laptop to my DAC )

 
I assume it's simply because this was designed to be an ethernet endpoint with usb out, and nothing else. Now as Roy has mentioned, there are ways to run this on a local network, but if I were building a product like this I too would make the assumption that 100% of users will be connected to the Internet, and maximise my support for that use-case. Given that they are a very small shop, that leaves little for anything else.

 

[TheAttorney]

It's a fair point and I can understand the reasons why.
I'm just unfortunate to be one of those 0%

 
Anyway, I'll stop complaining now and get on with it....

 

[Topspin70]

 I hadn't realised that, and it's a real shame IMO that you can't simply connect the mR directly between PC/server and DAC. No doubt something inevitable with networking that I don't understand.
 
My wifi router is at the other end of the room. Yes I could faff around with getting a long cable under the carpet and yes I can get a second router and yes in the long term I may well need it for other purposes, but it seems like the doubling of cables, another box and another power supply are absolutely mandatory even if all I want to do is quickly try out the mR between my Windows10 laptop/HQP and DAVE DAC.
 
And it also seems strange that, with a key purpose of the mR being to reduce noise, the first thing you have to do is introduce a potentially noisy router and more cabling and connections directly in the digital signal path.

While you can purchase any inexpensive router for your listening room to dedicate to your mR and laptop, unless there is some way to bridge that router to your other router, your mR will not have internet access.  Again, if you don't plan to stream from Tidal, it's not a big deal.
 
Alternatively, here's another solution that's fairly new but you must have at least a decent wi-fi signal to your listening room from your present w-fi router.  It is a wireless extender that will grab the wi-fi signal from your current wi-fi router and extend that signal to poorly served areas of your home.  The advantage of this particular device is that it has a built-in Gigabit port that you can plug your mR directly into via a CAT 5/6 cable.  If this solution works for you, then you would have full internet access.
 
https://www.broadbandbuyer.co.uk/products/25048-linksys-re7000-uk/

I took your advice and got an extender. Amazing. I'm connected! You're a life safer.

 

[jelt2359]

I took your advice and got an extender. Amazing. I'm connected! You're a life safer.

You can also just use most modern routers as a wireless or wired bridge. I had a free one that did this while the one I bought, I kept for main router duties.

In the end I just ran cables though.