[bmichels]

Has someone Heard or investigated the " EVO 432 " manufactured In Belgium. It proposes to recalibrate the music at 432 Hz to offer " better musicality " !??

 

[romaz]

I'm close to ordering an MCRU for my mR.

Whilst I can experiment with power cords and fuses at a later stage, I'm guessing that the DC cable is captive, so harder to change in the future.

Which leads me to ask: Why did you choose the pure silver DC option (about £50 extra] over the other DC cable options? Was it based on peronal experience or recommendations? Or just tick all the option boxes and be done with it?

As the DC cable is so short in the first place, I'm just wondering what differences it can make?

I can offer my own response. It has to do with speed and the idea that digital components especially love speed. One of the prized characteristics of a power supply is rapid transient current delivery and John Swensen has indicated that with the mR, this matters. This is why low output impedance is so important is because it allows greater agility. Silver is a faster conductor than copper and so it is prized for this reason and the higher the purity of the silver used, the better. For AC, this speed is less necessary, for DC, it can make a difference. Also, the shorter the umbilical, the better.

Paul Hynes also offers the option of both copper and silver leads and he will tell you that he prefers silver each time but he offers both for cost reasons. There is a review of one of his power supplies where silver DC leads were compared against copper for a digital player and the reviewer preferred silver also. If you're looking to squeeze every last ounce of performance from your mR, this would be one way to do it.

As far as fuse upgrades, I am part of the camp that believes they can make a very noticeable improvement. The best fuse is to have no fuse as they are impediments but it isn't worth the fire risk. The Synergistic Research Blacks (more than the Reds) I have found to work very well. The new Audio Magic SHD Beeswax fuses are also excellent.

 

[TheAttorney]

Thank you romaz - very helpful.
I think I'll include the silver DC option.
 
Regarding fuses, as a satisffied SR Red owner, and based on SR Red owners comments upgrading to SR Black, it's the Black that will be my next fuse to try. Unfortunately, the MCRU order page does not specifiy which SR fuse is included in the option, but judging by the cost of "only" around £40, I'm guessing it's the entry level Quantum SR20. .
 
I won't be trying the beeswax ones any time soon, even if they sound great. Apart from the higher cost, I have a (possibly irrational) image in my head of wax leaking (or exploding!) out of a failed fuse...

 

[Articnoise]

  I'm close to ordering an MCRU for my mR.
 
Whilst I can experiment with power cords and fuses at a later stage, I'm guessing that the DC cable is captive, so harder to change in the future.
 
Which leads me to ask: Why did you choose the pure silver DC option (about £50 extra] over the other DC cable options? Was it based on peronal experience or recommendations? Or just tick all the option boxes and be done with it?
 
As the DC cable is so short in the first place, I'm just wondering what differences it can make?

 

I didn’t ask MCRU or got it recommended to me. I picked a silver cable because IMO, everything else equal, silver is usually a superior cable material. Especially then it comes to transient speed, transparency, precision and clear sparkling heights. Things that I always seek to improve in my audio system.

 

I don’t know if it makes any SQ differences, good or bad, with the use with a silver cable together with the MCRU. If you imply that 50 £ is costly, I would say that 50 £ don’t give you much “pure silver”

. My experience with cables is that it’s not enough to only look for good conductor materials. The design, soldering and isolation is equally important and I would say that a very thin silver wire often can sound inferior to a normal size copper cable when it comes to tonality, fullness, naturel richness, bass weight etc.

 

I have not (together with the MCRU) noted any of the negative sides some thin silver cables can have; like harsh treble, lack of natural warmth and a thin, anemic overall sound. I don’t know how it would sound with a good copper cable (probably more or less the same), but as a whole package my MCRU with the DC and fuse upgrade I selected is at least a big improvement over the Ifi PSU I have. How much of it that can be credited to the upgrades, I will maybe never know.

 

[TheAttorney]

Only days after ordering the 7v mR version of the MCRU, I see that they now have a 7.5v 2.5A version (higher base cost at £295) for the upcoming LPS-1. As my one hasn't shipped yet, I'm in two minds as to whether to change to the new one, which I can then use for the LPS-1 should that turn out to be the killer supply that some suggest.
 
OTOH, the whole point of the LPS-1 was that it's meant to be completely immune to the quality of its feeding power supply, so the basic iFi 9v supply should be just as good as anything more elaborate. Secondly, the MCRU is already a 2 box design: the big box producing a clean-ish DC supply and then the little box further cleaning the DC (i.e. doing the same job as the LPS-1 albeit in probably a less leading edge manner). And thirdly, having a 3-box supply system to drive the mR to drive my DAVE does seem a bit "cascading-liitle-boxes-gone-mad" to what was once a neat and simple sounding solution.
 
Decisions, decisions,,,,
 
The fact that MCRU has spent around 4 days "preparing" my unit since I ordered it suggests that they have a stack of basic vanilla boxes and then tweak each one at point of order to adjust votlage output and current rating. If that's what they do, then not a bad idea and would be one reason why they can respond so quickly with new versions, like the one for the LPS-1 that isn't even released yet.

 

[ddanois]

Hoping for an informed option as I'm out of ideas...
 
I can't get my Roon to MicroRendu to Dave setup to play lossless DSD. I have the microRendu setup for native DSD but signal path shows as "High Quality".
 
Any ideas?

 

[kennyb123]

   
I can't get my Roon to MicroRendu to Dave setup to play lossless DSD. I have the microRendu setup for native DSD but signal path shows as "High Quality".
 
Any ideas?

It sounds like DSD may be getting converted to PCM.  If so, try setting DSD Playback Strategy to 'DSD over PCM v1.0 (DoP)'.   Chord DACs do not support the 'Native' setting via the microRendu.
 
(I use Roon/HQPlayer integration with my microRendu, so I don't see this setting)

 

[holeout]

I can only get the Dave/microRendu/Roon (mac server) to work in DSD using DoP setting for microRendu. Chord Dave supports native DSD input but it seems Roon is not seeing uR/Dave as native DSD capable. Hope this will get rectified soon as running native DSD should solve some of the dropout issue with Dave caused by DoP errors and should also be less taxing on the resources of the Roon server.
 
I'm using a 7V LPS built by Kenneth Lau and is quite a leap from the basic iFi psu. IMO better definition, separation, density across the board with a larger 3D soundstage (about 10-15% if you have to put some figures on). I'm running the setup on my 2-channel system with the Maggie 20.7 and is one the best CAS setup I heard so far.
 

 

[romaz]

  Only days after ordering the 7v mR version of the MCRU, I see that they now have a 7.5v 2.5A version (higher base cost at £295) for the upcoming LPS-1. As my one hasn't shipped yet, I'm in two minds as to whether to change to the new one, which I can then use for the LPS-1 should that turn out to be the killer supply that some suggest.
 
OTOH, the whole point of the LPS-1 was that it's meant to be completely immune to the quality of its feeding power supply, so the basic iFi 9v supply should be just as good as anything more elaborate. Secondly, the MCRU is already a 2 box design: the big box producing a clean-ish DC supply and then the little box further cleaning the DC (i.e. doing the same job as the LPS-1 albeit in probably a less leading edge manner). And thirdly, having a 3-box supply system to drive the mR to drive my DAVE does seem a bit "cascading-liitle-boxes-gone-mad" to what was once a neat and simple sounding solution.
 
Decisions, decisions,,,,
 
The fact that MCRU has spent around 4 days "preparing" my unit since I ordered it suggests that they have a stack of basic vanilla boxes and then tweak each one at point of order to adjust votlage output and current rating. If that's what they do, then not a bad idea and would be one reason why they can respond so quickly with new versions, like the one for the LPS-1 that isn't even released yet.

It appears Uptone Audio will begin taking orders for the first run of LPS-1s soon pending availability of the production boards.  It has been suggested that the wrinkles have been ironed out and the LPS-1 is now performing well and reliably.  Only 150 units will be in the first run and it will be first come, first served.  
 
http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f27-uptone-audio-sponsored/mystery-revealed-uptone-audio-ultracap%99-linear-power-supply-1-a-28609/index18.html#post576205
 
The noise measurements of the LPS-1 are very good but not the best I have seen.  Obviously, there is more to a good PSU than just low noise and since the designer of the LPS-1 also designed the mR, most are expecting excellent synergy for the money but is it the best at any cost?  I think that remains to be seen.  As you have suggested, you can use the iFi to feed the LPS-1 and so I don't see a great need to buy a 7.5v MCRU at a higher cost if you already have an iFi.  I suspect that if the LPS-1 is better, it won't be a night and day difference, not enough to forgo your investment in the MCRU unless your mains supply is just utterly polluted where a battery supply would be advantageous.

 

[lojay]

  It appears Uptone Audio will begin taking orders for the first run of LPS-1s soon pending availability of the production boards.  It has been suggested that the wrinkles have been ironed out and the LPS-1 is now performing well and reliably.  Only 150 units will be in the first run and it will be first come, first served.  
 
http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f27-uptone-audio-sponsored/mystery-revealed-uptone-audio-ultracap%99-linear-power-supply-1-a-28609/index18.html#post576205
 
The noise measurements of the LPS-1 are very good but not the best I have seen.  Obviously, there is more to a good PSU than just low noise and since the designer of the LPS-1 also designed the mR, most are expecting excellent synergy for the money but is it the best at any cost?  I think that remains to be seen.  As you have suggested, you can use the iFi to feed the LPS-1 and so I don't see a great need to buy a 7.5v MCRU at a higher cost if you already have an iFi.  I suspect that if the LPS-1 is better, it won't be a night and day difference, not enough to forgo your investment in the MCRU unless your mains supply is just utterly polluted where a battery supply would be advantageous.

I suspect my system, despite the dedicated power line and Shunyata Triton and Sigma cabling, has dirty power given my office is in the middle of a 40 odd floor skyscraper in the middle of a business district.... 
What is the best battery power for the microrendu out there and is it compatible with the LPS-1?

 

[romaz]

  Hoping for an informed option as I'm out of ideas...
 
I can't get my Roon to MicroRendu to Dave setup to play lossless DSD. I have the microRendu setup for native DSD but signal path shows as "High Quality".
 
Any ideas?

kennyb123 is correct, you will have to use DoP to play DSD as a lossless/bitperfect file from Roon to the microRendu to the DAVE.  No information is lost with DoP (it is truly lossless) although admittedly, native DSD playback would require less resources and probably do away with your dropouts.  While the DAVE is capable of native DSD playback on Windows via Chord's ASIO driver, since neither Chord nor anyone else makes audio drivers for Linux, the only possible means for native DSD playback to occur between mR and DAVE is a hardware firmware upgrade.  Jesus Rodriguez and Andrew Gillis ran a diagnostics on my DAVE and figured out the XMOS USB firmware on the DAVE is the older version.  If this firmware can be upgraded, then all will be good.  Unfortunately, such a firmware upgrade requires not just having Chord provide the new firmware but also having the end user send their DAVE into Chord or to their local distributor to implement the upgrade, not a minor undertaking and so this might not happen anytime soon.  Of course, we could start a grass roots campaign and send mass e-mails to Chord demanding the upgrade.
 
What has worked for me is to have good quality CAT 6 cables (such as from Blue Jeans Cables) and keep the distance between your Roon Server, router, and mR as short as possible.  Mine are literally a couple of feet from each other and I get almost no dropouts with DSD256 and zero dropouts with DSD128 and less.

 

[romaz]

  I suspect my system, despite the dedicated power line and Shunyata Triton and Sigma cabling, has dirty power given my office is in the middle of a 40 odd floor skyscraper in the middle of a business district.... 
What is the best battery power for the microrendu out there and is it compatible with the LPS-1?

The LPS-1 is itself a battery-based PSU for the mR.  Since it can't hold a charge for very long (it discharges very rapidly), it needs a feeder supply of at least 7.5v to keep it constantly charged.  Because of how it's designed, the LPS-1 is completely isolated from its feeder supply and so no matter how dirty your mains power is, the mR will never see it.  The LPS-1 will probably be your best solution.

 

[romaz]

  I'm using a 7V LPS built by Kenneth Lau and is quite a leap from the basic iFi psu. IMO better definition, separation, density across the board with a larger 3D soundstage (about 10-15% if you have to put some figures on). I'm running the setup on my 2-channel system with the Maggie 20.7 and is one the best CAS setup I heard so far.
 

I have very good experience with Ken Lau's PSUs so I don't doubt your excellent experience.  While I am still patiently waiting for my Paul Hynes PSU (literally any week now), as a further tweak to improve your SQ from the mR, I suggest you download a trial of HQPlayer for your Mac.  Obviously, don't use any of the filters and let DAVE do all the upsampling.  Rob Watts has wondered how this HQPlayer could improve the SQ if no filters are used and I wondered myself.  Here is a quote someone sent me:
 
"The theory advanced by some HQP fans is that it is able to provide better sound, through a microRendu, than Roon's own RAAT protocol, because the NAA architecture is better at isolating noise carried by the signal. The developer of HQP created the NAA to isolate the signal from all the heavy lifting that normally occurs when one uses HQP's upsampling and filtering options."  
 
Regardless, the upgrade in SQ is unmistakeable and the $145 asking price for HQP seems like a relative bargain.  If you don't run filters, this program is not resource-hungry at all.

 

[GreenLeo]

... don't use any of the filters and let DAVE do all the upsampling.  Rob Watts has wondered how this HQPlayer could improve the SQ if no filters are used and I wondered myself.
...

Hi Roy,
Have Rob or u found the answer?

 

[ddanois]

  kennyb123 is correct, you will have to use DoP to play DSD as a lossless/bitperfect file from Roon to the microRendu to the DAVE.  No information is lost with DoP (it is truly lossless) although admittedly, native DSD playback would require less resources and probably do away with your dropouts.  While the DAVE is capable of native DSD playback on Windows via Chord's ASIO driver, since neither Chord nor anyone else makes audio drivers for Linux, the only possible means for native DSD playback to occur between mR and DAVE is a hardware firmware upgrade.  Jesus Rodriguez and Andrew Gillis ran a diagnostics on my DAVE and figured out the XMOS USB firmware on the DAVE is the older version.  If this firmware can be upgraded, then all will be good.  Unfortunately, such a firmware upgrade requires not just having Chord provide the new firmware but also having the end user send their DAVE into Chord or to their local distributor to implement the upgrade, not a minor undertaking and so this might not happen anytime soon.  Of course, we could start a grass roots campaign and send mass e-mails to Chord demanding the upgrade.
 
What has worked for me is to have good quality CAT 6 cables (such as from Blue Jeans Cables) and keep the distance between your Roon Server, router, and mR as short as possible.  Mine are literally a couple of feet from each other and I get almost no dropouts with DSD256 and zero dropouts with DSD128 and less.

Perfect! Thank you for the advice. Now Roon is showing Lossless.