[Johnny Moondog]

  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.

I've been extremely happy with the Sonore Signature Series Power Supply driving the microRendu since day one. What grabs my attention just a bit... is the designer of the LPS-1 having also designed the microRendu, and thus the expected synergy. Are there any indications that the LPS-1 was conceived and designed to exceed the performance of the Signature Series Power Supply? Or do you think the focus was more along the lines of "excellent synergy for the money"?

 

[romaz]

 
I've been extremely happy with the Sonore Signature Series Power Supply driving the microRendu since day one. What grabs my attention just a bit... is the designer of the LPS-1 having also designed the microRendu, and thus the expected synergy. Are there any indications that the LPS-1 was conceived and designed to exceed the performance of the Signature Series Power Supply? Or do you think the focus was more along the lines of "excellent synergy for the money"?

I think that's the question that many of us want answered also.  I had e-mailed Alex (owner of Uptone Audio) regarding how the LPS-1 would compare against his JS-2 PSU, another highly regarded PSU capable of driving the mR well and he told me he had no clue since he had never heard the LPS-1 himself.  Apparently, only John Swenson knew although I'm sure that has changed.  Because the Sonore Signature PSU was designed by Barrows Worm and certain principals from Sonore, it's not even clear John or Alex have heard the Sonore PSU for themselves.  I have not read any posts by them commenting that they have but for political reasons, I'd be surprised if they ever offer an opinion.  I'm sure they will leave it to people like us to provide comparisons.  

 

[holeout]

  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.

Thanks Romaz, I definitely try out HQPlayer. Just wondering, if I go Roon/HQPlayer/uR/Dave in Win 10 environment, is it possible to do native DSD? 

 

[romaz]

  Thanks Romaz, I definitely try out HQPlayer. Just wondering, if I go Roon/HQPlayer/uR/Dave in Win 10 environment, is it possible to do native DSD? 

No, not possible.  See my post #551.
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/787020/review-comparison-of-5-high-end-digital-music-servers-aurender-n10-cad-cat-server-totaldac-d1-server-auralic-aries-audiophile-vortex-box/540#post_12822449

 

[holeout]

Noted with thanks. Hope Chord can put this in the Dave's enhancement list for a future firmware update.

 

[gryphonos]

Dear experts, I need to ask for your help and assessment:

So far, I managed to install Roon server on a NAS, where also my music library is located. Music files are led over my router to a microRendu as a Roon endpoint, and finally to Dave Dac. This setup works excellent insofar as I am playing PCM files. The Roon package for QNAP NAS is s special one, it's Roon 1.2, build 157. As I understood it is co-developed and implemented for Synology and QNAP NAS by Chris Rieke.

As DSD Playback is concerned, the developer notes in his manual "DSD playback has not been tested in this configuration, as I have not been able to confirm the kernel supports it [...] ".

The only possibility to influence DSD Playback is shown in the first two screenshots above, showing the respective settings for Roon and the microRendu.

I could not set max. sample rate higher than 352kHz; otherwise Dave shows "no USB connection" and no sound is emitted.

When I play DSD files, DSD256 and DSD64, under these settings 3rd and 4th screen shot show the corresponding Roon diagrams. Dave itself shows 352kHz.

Can I adjust anything better? Could you please tell me your assessment and give me any further hint, what I can do better or is the result regarding these facts OK? Is my system playing DSD via DoP?

I am very sorry for all these questions, but I am really unexperienced in this field. Due to my visual impairment I was forced to go this way, because I could not handle my CD collection any longer with comfort.

Thank you for your kind help,

Jorg







@Johnny Moondog
I consider to buy a PSU for my microRendu as soon as possible. Therefor I am currently very interested in the Sonore Signature Series power supply, although I ask myself the same questions as you do. What about the uptone LS-1 ...?
Did you had a chance to compare your Sign. Series power supply to other competitors?

 

[stvc]

Your question had been answered just few post before your. Rendu can't play native DSD to dave as dave only able to run native DSD thru windows with chord driver. So... It's DOP thru rendu but it claim that no lost, just run thru few post before your, you should get all the answer you need. I don't think upscale is a good idea.. At least for me.

 

[gryphonos]

Hey stvc,

I was aware of the post you mention, but I felt that my situation is a bit different. In my case the Roon diagramm does not not show that data processing is lossless (because of the sample rate conversion). In case of DSD256 there are two conversion steps.

What do you mean by upscale?

 

[stvc]

Hey stvc,

I was aware of the post you mention, but I felt that my situation is a bit different. In my case the Roon diagramm does not not show that data processing is lossless (because of the sample rate conversion). In case of DSD256 there are two conversion steps.

What do you mean by upscale?

Misunderstood your question. Somehow my can set up to 768khz, is your setting same as my?

 

[romaz]

Dear experts, I need to ask for your help and assessment:

So far, I managed to install Roon server on a NAS, where also my music library is located. Music files are led over my router to a microRendu as a Roon endpoint, and finally to Dave Dac. This setup works excellent insofar as I am playing PCM files. The Roon package for QNAP NAS is s special one, it's Roon 1.2, build 157. As I understood it is co-developed and implemented for Synology and QNAP NAS by Chris Rieke.

As DSD Playback is concerned, the developer notes in his manual "DSD playback has not been tested in this configuration, as I have not been able to confirm the kernel supports it [...] ".

The only possibility to influence DSD Playback is shown in the first two screenshots above, showing the respective settings for Roon and the microRendu.

I could not set max. sample rate higher than 352kHz; otherwise Dave shows "no USB connection" and no sound is emitted.

When I play DSD files, DSD256 and DSD64, under these settings 3rd and 4th screen shot show the corresponding Roon diagrams. Dave itself shows 352kHz.

Can I adjust anything better? Could you please tell me your assessment and give me any further hint, what I can do better or is the result regarding these facts OK? Is my system playing DSD via DoP?

I am very sorry for all these questions, but I am really unexperienced in this field. Due to my visual impairment I was forced to go this way, because I could not handle my CD collection any longer with comfort.

Thank you for your kind help,

Jorg






 

This is not DoP.  For some reason, you are transcoding to PCM at a sample rate of 352.8kHz.  This works but you are no longer bit-perfect.  If you are happy with how it sounds, then you're fine but I suspect DoP will sound better.  This may be a QNAP limitation but I believe the more likely problem is that you are using an older microRendu firmware.  I suggest you update your firmware.  The instructions on how to do this are in the microRendu user's manual.

 

[romaz]

I consider to buy a PSU for my microRendu as soon as possible. Therefor I am currently very interested in the Sonore Signature Series power supply, although I ask myself the same questions as you do. What about the uptone LS-1 ...?
Did you had a chance to compare your Sign. Series power supply to other competitors?

This is pure conjecture on my part but from what I am reading from John Swenson's posts, the LS-1 might be the best PSU for the microRendu, bar none.
 
Here are a few of John's recent posts:
 
"What you have all been waiting for -- LPS-1 listening tests!

I now have two LPS-1 boards that seem to be working perfectly so I decided to finally do a quick listening test. 

The existing system is very simply: microRenu feeding Bottlehead DAC trhough my own custom designed "hard adapter", audio going to pair of Dave Slagle autoformer volume controls and then to the power amp, (only commercially bought part of the system), feeding the "bazookas" my own Lowther systems (suspended from the ceiling). The microRendu and DAC fed by a JS-2, so there are only two power supplies in the system. 

This system is sounding REALLY good (I think Alex liked it too). 

I added the LPS-1 after the JS-2, WOW, another big notch in realism, aliveness etc etc. The detail is even better, but it doesn't really seem like it, everything is now just realistically put together, nothing is "sticking out", it is just "organically" there. It has become almost impossible to listen to the sound, you are just drawn into the music. 

Then I swapped out the JS-2 for the infamous 7.5V MeanWell, it wasn't quite as good, better than the JS-2 without the LPS-1, but not quite as good as the JS-2 driving the LPS-1. Who knows, it might be the infamous "SMPS" noise on the AC line getting into the power amp. Or not. But that supply was completely cold, it's getting a little better as it warms up. 

So first ever impression of the LPS-1 is: WOW."
 
And then there's this one:
 
"...the PRIMARY purpose of the LPS-1 is to break leakage current induced ground loops, (which exist in almost all systems), the fact that the output is isolated from the input (thus not affected by noise of the feeder supply) is a bonus, not a primary goal. Of course the LPS-1 has a very low noise, very low impedance output as well. 

As I have posted many times now, there are two very different mechanisms by which an AC power supply can interact through the AC mains:
1) traditional "noise injected back into the AC line", this is easy to measure, easy to grasp what is happening, and many devices exist to try and filter out this sort of noise.

2) Leakage current, this is created by capacitances between the AC line and the DC output of the supply, it ALWAYS exists but varies from supply to supply. This is hard to measure, hard to grasp what it is and how it propagates through a system. After everything else is taken care of the leakage current is still there, I consider it to be the last great untouched detriment to great sound. 

Both #1 and #2 exist in almost any system to varying degrees. Since there is already a large body of knowledge and products to deal with #1, I set out to work on finding ways to deal with #2. The LPS-1 is the first fruits of that work.

Leakage current has always been there, but has not been a big issue until recently for two reasons:
A) it is fairly low level in most systems so its effects have been masked by all the other problems preventing our systems from being their best, as these other sources of problems have been identified and addressed, the sonic results of the leakage current are now much more obvious.
B) leakage current from SMPS is usually much higher than from LPS, so the inclusion of computers (which are usually run from SMPS) into systems has greatly exacerbated the sonic detriment due to leakage current.

Back to the listening session run last night (err morning!), my system has been designed so it has quite low leakage current to begin with, so there won't be as big an improvement as with many other systems. I was actually surprised at how much of an improvement the LPS-1 brought. 

When I run the system without the LPS-1 and use the MeanWell it is MUCH worse than with the JS-2 on its own, putting the LPS-1 in the system was significantly better than the JS-2 without the LPS-1. With the MeanWell feeding the LPS-1 the sound was only slightly worse than with the JS-2 feeding the LPS-1, still quite a bit better than the JS-2 on its own and WAY WAY better than the MeanWell on its own. I think that is a pretty good showing. 

I let the system run over night with the MeanWell powering the LPS-1 and it now sounds almost identical to the JS-2 powering the LPS-1. The MeanWell is now warm, it was cold last night, that probably has something to do with it. At this point I have no idea what is actually responsible for the difference in sound between the MeanWell and JS-2 powering the LPS-1, the two obvious choices are: noise injected back into the AC line (I KNOW this is worse for the MeanWell than the JS-2, this I have measured) OR there is some small component of the MeanWell noise that is somehow getting through the LPS-1, since the sonic difference is small it's going to be VERY difficult to measure which it might be. 

There is still a lot more listening to do in different circumstances, but personally I am very happy with these results.

John S."

 

[nepherte]

  This is not DoP.  For some reason, you are transcoding to PCM at a sample rate of 352.8kHz.  This works but you are no longer bit-perfect.  If you are happy with how it sounds, then you're fine but I suspect DoP will sound better.  This may be a QNAP limitation but I believe the more likely problem is that you are using an older microRendu firmware.  I suggest you update your firmware.  The instructions on how to do this are in the microRendu user's manual.

 
Try setting Max Sample Rate and Max Bits Per Sample to Disabled. I had a similar "issue" and Jesus from Sonore fixed it for me that way.

 

[gryphonos]

Romaz, both of your hints are really revealing for me.

Regarding the microrendu DSD playback issue I have been lookimg through all possible settings and have finally set "DSD support" to "None" on the microrendu. The remaining settings are left as I showed them in the screen shots. This means that max. Sample rate can only be set to 384kHz . When set to 752kHz than no sound is emitted.
Therefore your suggestion, to update the firmware, seems to be the only remaining senseful solution to achieve a bit perfect playback. I will try it tomorrow.

Your quotation of John's first report of his listening impressions with the LS-1 and your comments are helpful as well.

 

[TheAttorney]

  This is pure conjecture on my part but from what I am reading from John Swenson's posts, the LS-1 might be the best PSU for the microRendu, bar none.

I thought it was already the promise, ever since the LPS-1 was announced, that it would be the best PSU for the mR (more strictly, the best post-PSU clean up device thingy for the mR).
 
However, based on other threads that anticipate some shiny new thing, there's often quite a big time lag between "almost ready" and "it's now shipping".
And I expect this will be followed by several weeks/months of opinions on best synergy of the upstream PSU options.
 
In the meantime I'll be (hopefully) enjoying my MCRU 7v version that arrived today and is warming up for a first evening's listening session.
If the consensus turns out that the LPS-1 does indeed fulfill its promise, then at the very worse I'd have lost a fraction of what I'd typically spend on, say, a single cable. 
 
As the MCRU has it's own version of a post-PSU clean-up device thingy, it would be interesting to see if a series of cascading clean-up devices improve or over complicate the situation. 

 

[romaz]

Romaz, both of your hints are really revealing for me.

Regarding the microrendu DSD playback issue I have been lookimg through all possible settings and have finally set "DSD support" to "None" on the microrendu. The remaining settings are left as I showed them in the screen shots. This means that max. Sample rate can only be set to 384kHz . When set to 752kHz than no sound is emitted.
Therefore your suggestion, to update the firmware, seems to be the only remaining senseful solution to achieve a bit perfect playback. I will try it tomorrow.

Your quotation of John's first report of his listening impressions with the LS-1 and your comments are helpful as well.

The reason I made the suggestion of upgrading the firmware is that the original firmware that came with my mR was not aware that Chord DACs were capable of 768kHz sampling and so it was being capped at 384kHz.  That old firmware was also preventing the option of DoP.  What you're getting now is the exact same screen I used to get with my mR and my DAVE.  When I informed both Jesus and Andrew of the DAVE's capabilities, Andrew wrote an update to the firmware and I was the first to receive it.  It fixed everything.  Someone else came up to me a while back with this exact same issue and I had them update their firmware and it fixed it for them also.