Sonore ultraDigital v2.0

5 minutes ago, George Hincapie said:

 

Will it be recognised as a Roon end point?

If it's just a DDC then perhaps not John.... hence my very first question.

Thanks mate.

@vortecjr did John Swenson do the hardware engineering for this product?

1 hour ago, George Hincapie said:

 

Will it be recognised as a Roon end point?

If we submit the unit to Roon if would show up as ultraDigtial. If we don't it would show up as micro/ultra/signatureRendu.   

1 hour ago, rickca said:

@vortecjr did John Swenson do the hardware engineering for this product?

Nope. John is busy on other fun projects. 

@George Hincapie ... I stand corrected !!! 

2 hours ago, Charente said:

 

If it's just a DDC then perhaps not John.... hence my very first question.

You are also correct because its not an endpoint. I just wanted to add what would happen inside Roon. 

So if one were to use it, there wouldn't be a need for an ISO Regen?

ie. the chain would be Streamer -> USB cable or USPCB -> Ultra Digital -> HDMI cable -> DAC .

Correct?

Have you guys tested it and done a comparison in sonics vs an ISO Regen cleaned USB connection to a DAC?

1 hour ago, mikey8811 said:

So if one were to use it, there wouldn't be a need for an ISO Regen?

 

ie. the chain would be Streamer -> USB cable or USPCB -> Ultra Digital -> HDMI cable -> DAC .

 

Correct?

 

Have you guys tested it and done a comparison in sonics vs an ISO Regen cleaned USB connection to a DAC?

I might be missing something of course but it seems to me that the ultraDigital is a USB -> SPDIF and a USB -> i2s convertor.

Thus, meaningful comparisons would be against devices like the Schiit Eitr, the Audiobyte Hydra Z, the Mutec MC3+ USB, etc.

In such comparisons the same DAC input (SPDIF or i2s) would have to be used for all tests. In order to assess the capability of the devices to deal with noisy USB inputs, it would be meaningful to compare each device pair first on a clean source (for instance, the output of an Iso Regen) and then with a source that is not so clean like the USB output of a Raspberry Pi.

This is quite a lot of work but, considering that many alternatives to the ultraDigital only have SPDIF outputs, certainly doable if the devices are available.  

22 hours ago, vortecjr said:

Like the micro/ultraRendu line it has external DC input so you can tweak the sound with the power supply you use. We will offer a iFi iPower supply or you could use your own uber expensive power supply with it. So the sounds is going to vary from great to whatevery your needs are. How it compares to other gear I'll leave that up to you. Yes it has galvanic isolation and reclocking to deal with the jitter it induces as a result of it. Nothing special needed for Linux and native DSD is supported via the LVDS i2s output. 

Interesting, is the galvanic isolation before (like ISO-regen) or after the USB receive? and does the USB input need power?

10 hours ago, vortecjr said:

If we submit the unit to Roon if would show up as ultraDigtial. If we don't it would show up as micro/ultra/signatureRendu.   

The point is that Roon will see it and it'll work; I don't mind what it is seen as.

I would be grateful if you would respond to an earlier post of mine. Would Sonore make a SPDIF version of the mR/uR?

45 minutes ago, kboung said:

Interesting, is the galvanic isolation before (like ISO-regen) or after the USB receive? and does the USB input need power?

Good points! It would also be interesting to know whether the device is based on a XMOS U8, XU208 or on a different approach.

10 minutes ago, George Hincapie said:

 

The point is that Roon will see it and it'll work; I don't mind what it is seen as.

 

...

I understand that whether an USB interface is seen or not is a feature of the operating system, not of application-level software. I thought that Linux and OS X support most USB class 2 devices via kernel modules. At least, I never had a problem with devices like the Meridian Explorer on Debian, Raspbian, etc. Old interfaces like the M2Tech HiFace Evo need special drivers though. If a Roon endpoint runs on a Linux device, I would expect it to see any modern external USB interface as soon as this is plugged in. 

5 hours ago, mikey8811 said:

So if one were to use it, there wouldn't be a need for an ISO Regen?

 

ie. the chain would be Streamer -> USB cable or USPCB -> Ultra Digital -> HDMI cable -> DAC .

 

Correct?

 

Have you guys tested it and done a comparison in sonics vs an ISO Regen cleaned USB connection to a DAC?

Its mean to be connected directly to a micro/ultra/signatureRendu and then to your DAC.  

2 hours ago, nbpf said:

I might be missing something of course but it seems to me that the ultraDigital is a USB -> SPDIF and a USB -> i2s convertor.

 

Thus, meaningful comparisons would be against devices like the Schiit Eitr, the Audiobyte Hydra Z, the Mutec MC3+ USB, etc.

 

In such comparisons the same DAC input (SPDIF or i2s) would have to be used for all tests. In order to assess the capability of the devices to deal with noisy USB inputs, it would be meaningful to compare each device pair first on a clean source (for instance, the output of an Iso Regen) and then with a source that is not so clean like the USB output of a Raspberry Pi.

 

This is quite a lot of work but, considering that many alternatives to the ultraDigital only have SPDIF outputs, certainly doable if the devices are available.  

Most of customers just want to listen to music:) 

1 hour ago, kboung said:

Interesting, is the galvanic isolation before (like ISO-regen) or after the USB receive? and does the USB input need power?

It uses USB power for one side of the isolation and external power of the other side of the isolation. 

1 hour ago, kboung said:

Interesting, is the galvanic isolation before (like ISO-regen) or after the USB receive? and does the USB input need power?

You are overthinking things...it's exactly where it needs to be for this kind of product:) 

1 hour ago, George Hincapie said:

 

The point is that Roon will see it and it'll work; I don't mind what it is seen as.

 

I would be grateful if you would respond to an earlier post of mine. Would Sonore make a SPDIF version of the mR/uR?

We might revamp the old Rendu (Ethernet input, SPDIF/i2s output), but that is pending a firmware change we are anticipating. To soon to say if and when this might happen.

5 minutes ago, vortecjr said:

Its mean to be connected directly to a micro/ultra/signatureRendu and then to your DAC.  

Hmm ... this is a bit disappointing. I thought the device was a generic USB interface like Hydra Z, Eitr, MC3+ USB, etc.   

4 minutes ago, nbpf said:

Hmm ... this is a bit disappointing. I thought the device was a generic USB interface like Hydra Z, Eitr, MC3+ USB, etc.   

It is. You can connect those devices to a micro/ultra/signatureRendu as well. 

25 minutes ago, vortecjr said:

Most of customers just want to listen to music:) 

Right, thus you cannot expect them to buy no matter what comes to the market and start running systematic tests by themselves. Most customers need to rely on careful and honest comparisons to make up their choices.

2 minutes ago, nbpf said:

Right, thus you cannot expect them to buy no matter what comes to the market and start running systematic tests by themselves. Most customers need to rely on careful and honest comparisons to make up their choices.

To be fair to JR here, those comparisons generally come from customers in due time.

I think Sonore have a 30 day returns policy (correct me if I'm wrong) so you can always try, risk free.

10 minutes ago, vortecjr said:

It is. You can connect those devices to a micro/ultra/signatureRendu as well. 

Well then, thanks for the clarification!

1 hour ago, vortecjr said:

We might revamp the old Rendu (Ethernet input, SPDIF/i2s output), but that is pending a firmware change we are anticipating. To soon to say if and when this might happen.

Thank you. I would be very interested in such a device.