Do you have a Cisco or other switch with an optical output?
But does the OR only have a fibre cable input and a USB output?
So do you convert usb to spdif to feed the NDS, or do you have another optical module of some sort to convert back to a metal Ethernet cable to feed the NDS via upnp??
And - do you think putting an OR or OMs in as an optical bridge to feed my 272 or an NDS without Roon would improve SQ e.g. by unpacking flac files and so taking processing work away from the streaming section of the 272 or NDS?
Without a full demo I think you’ll find it hard to know if it’s right for you or not. Some people find it add a lot of value to the playback experience, others I suspect find it doesn’t or is an extra step/encumbrance they could do without.
Naim app support for Qobuz is a massive improvement as otherwsie Roon/Audirvana was needed as Chromecast from the Qobuz app was not a great experience, especially with gapless music.
@charlesphoto can you help answer any of my questions that I ask in post 23 above?
As I’ve never used or heard or seen these products, and they are not very clearly described in the online materials and videos I’ve found, it’s hard to get my head around what they can do for an old platform Naim streamer like a 272 or an NDS.
I hesitate to demo Roon or Audirvana on my existing setup where it would have to run via my aging ASUS laptop via WiFi to noisy pc.
So any improvement in sq would probably be muted or killed off entirely by the worse sq obtained by adding a WiFi link.
Unless the audio files don’t actually run thru the laptop in either case?
Where does the noisy PC come into it - is that where audio would be stored?
Worth pointing out that both Roon and Audirvana have mobile apps (free for Roon, paid for Audirvana) - a PC or MAC, wired or wireless, acts as the ‘control unit’ running the software, you can play/select from the computer or on the mobile app provided the computer software is running.
Files can be on local storage, local network or pulled from the internet if you have a relevant subscription to Tidal/Qobuz etc.
I use an old Mac Mini over wireless as the ‘controller’ primarily as I often work with music playing in the other end of a knocked through room but stupidly forgot to add an ethernet socket close to where I sit to work, but the wifi works well, though my Nova is wired to a switch.
Is your streamer wired? If so wi-fi may work fine, if not I think the older platform had slower wi-fi and it might be more of a struggle especially with hi-res using several devices on wi-fi to play, but you wouldn’t know until you tried if it would work really. There are of course many other options out there that I’m sure others will mention.
The specs of any computer/laptop you use will be important as theer will be minimum requirements - to simply manage/organise/fetch/play music the machine probably doesn’t need to be that fast/well specced (though it helps of course) - if however you add processing of the tracks, fancy conversions etc it will take more power to get the task done smoothly.
Sorry Jim, not really addressing your questions well, but I think there are so many variables at play in terms of streamers, networks, computers etc that what works well for one person might not for another - one day I need to sit down and compare these things properly for my own satisfaction, but I’m just too hectic currently and spend more time with the system as relaxing background music than serious listening - hopefully that will change in coming months.
Sometimes however, I think we have so many options to try/test these days that it does detract a little from simply enjoying the music on our systems that will probably already be more competent than any average domestic playback setup.
Hi AC
I have no stored files.
Well, apart from a hires copy of Bitches Brew I bought as a tester.
I just stream over the web from Tidal hifi via the Naim app running on a work iPad.
My 272 is wired with BJC Ethernet cables via 3 Cisco switches connected in a power over Ethernet configuration.
It sounds very clean and low noise and really the sq is great.
But if I ran Roon on my laptop then the Tidal files would have to be sent into my laptop via WiFi I should think.
And I imagine that would sound worse than they sound now, even if there were other things about Roon like the upnp stream it creates that would sound better.
So it’s a self defeating test to run unless I bother to wire up my laptop.
But why do that when I’ll never stick with the laptop as an audio device and when that would add a bunch of em noise to my network?
You’re correct, the optical Rendu appears between the switch(ubiquity) and the NDS, the signal is then sent to the NDS via the UPnP bridge in the rendu, originally I had the microrlndy connected via a USB to SPDIF but in my opinion UPnP sounds better in this system. I really only have the rendu so I can use ROON, I think the OR would improve the sound whatever your source.
So - key question - could I just buy an OpticalRendu and put it between my final Cisco and my Naim 272 streamer, and somehow instruct it to convert the Tidal files I listen into a upnp stream - would that work??
Presumably not if I continue to access the Tidal files via the Naim app?
But in that case would the OR just pass the files along without processing them at all?
And can you say what cables link the switch to the OR - and link the OR to the NDS?
And say also what you run your Roon Core on and where that is?
All the best
Jim
Hi Jim, Sorry it’s take a while to get back to this thread.
For me the primary purpose of the OR is to run Roon, I was just looking at the settings on the rendu, theres spotify connect but no way of playing Tidal through it, Tidal and Qobuz play through Roon.
I don’t use a special optical cable from the ubiquity router and the rendu, it’s just standard.
I’m running my Roon core on a 6 bay Qnap NAS which is where the music library lives, it works well.
A friend of mine that has a 272 is using this devices from sonore, he loves it and it was painless to set up, it UPnP’s to the 272 and lives in a cupboard.
Does your Sonore OpticalRendu looks like the black box below on each side?
Or do you have something like the white box - a Sonore UPnP Bridge?
The Sonore OpticalRendu has:
External power input jack
*** SFP cage / SFP optical transceiver for network connection**
*** USB-A audio output connector**
Micro SD port for the operating system
So the audio files enter it via the fibre optic cables and must leave via the USB? So do you have a USB cable out of that USB slot into a usb to spdif converter, and then into the NDS like that?
Or do you have a usb to ethernet cable converter?
I’m still confused - you seem to be saying that there’s a software upnp bridge within the Sonore Optical Rendu - is that correct?
And how does the OR feed the NDS.
Or can the usb slot on the NDS accept files!?
sorry to bug you with lots of Qs, but this bit about your friend is also very useful and intriguing - I would like to do that
But when you say that he uses ‘this device from Sonore’ do you mean the sonicTransporter i5?
If so, that’s similar I think to the UK Audiostore Prestige 3, which some forum members use.
If a 272 revised version finally appears in May at the big event in Munich that will now not happen because of the coronvirus, then I might get that and might not then need an OR or other upnp device.
But at some point soon I’m going to get fed up with waiting for this legendary event to happen, and perhaps get an OR or an Innuous box or a NAS or similar as a upnp bridge and then just stick with the 272/555DR, which already gives excellent SQ.
Hi @JimDog I totally get your question. I was a Roon user happily paying my annual sub in order for it to login to Qobuz and offer it to my NDX2 over RAAT.
I had it like that for nearly a year. It was fab.
Then the update came long. Qobuz direct sounds brilliant to my ears and I prefer the way my system sounds like that.
I have cancelled my Roon sub and just play direct now.
Thats correct Jim, just standard optical cable, I think I got it from a computer shop, nothing audiophile about it. From the account below mark likes the sound of qobuz thought the Naim app, I much prefer the sound of roon through the sonore but I do have a legacy NDS. Good luck with what you do, I’m sure it will bring great joy to your listening experience.
