These are really good, but can get a little spendy.
Maybe this the right place to ask this, if not Iām sorry.
Since im getting my sonore ultrarendu network bridge later today in the post, I wanted to ask; what are some different upgrades or tweaks I can do to increase performance and my enjoyment? And before anyone asks I am using a pretty nice USB cable already.
Iām getting just the standard SGC LPS with it, but I plan on buying this one later down the line on monās recommendation.
As far as networking goes, it is just coming from my google fiber router to a standard 1gig netgear switch into the ultrarendu, just using standard cat6.
Also if anyone can take some time to help with a roon rock/nuc setup that would be great. That is my next planned upgrade since right now I just have roon server running on my synology NASā¦ Itās okay but you can tell that my particular model isnt exactly powerful enough to run the core, so I feel like there is a lot of performance Iām leaving on the table 
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Wrong Optical cable.
Toslink cables do matter, as they do carry the audio clock, and itās all about Jitter.
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To be clear the Renduās are very good. But Iām torn on any recommendation for a PSU where it costs close to what the device itās powering does, and there are starting to be better devices at the point of the total expenditure, they do matter and at some point it becomes relevant, but that sort of expenditure starts to make more sense in a upgraded streamer.
From my experiments, there is some marginal benefit to isolating the incoming ethernet, but by the time youāve bought 2 fiber converters, SFP modules and a linear PSU for the one connected to the Rendu, I think again you have to weigh up if you arenāt better off just starting with the Optical Rendu.
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If youāre seriously going to buy a better power supply in the future, Iād say save your money on the SGC now and just buy an ifi like this and use that until youāre ready. I think theyāll be a better option short term than a SGC LPS.
When youāre ready, yeah the Plixir stuff is good, even better if you buy new. There are better power supplies out there and you can can find a lot of good stuff used. Howeverā¦ itās so easy to plunk money on power supplies. I made a law for myself that Iād never buy an expensive power supply that didnāt have variable voltage outputs otherwise youāre stuck with it and something like 9V is very limited in usability.
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A word of warning on all the Renduās, you REALLY WANT a 7V PSU
they will run on 9V but get INSANELY hot, internally the voltage regulator is a none switching type, so it has to shed any additional voltage you feed it as heat.
Even at 7V the Optical Rendu is the hottest component in my system by some significant margin, though the SFP module might be contributing to that, since I have noticed Fiber Media Converters all run hot.
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True, Iām running mine at 7V!
and there are no heatsinks and the chassis isnāt designed to dissipate heat so yeah, 7V is better.
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Others have replied already - but IMO the SGC is fine for now. As the others with more practical experience have stated when I was looking at upgrading to a Hypsos PSU or even KECEs P6 I deciced to stick with the SGC for now and if I wanted to upgrade - Iād just upgrade the entire lot.
Using the uRendu with the SGC keeps the value inline while making the first step off the PC - if that makes sense. I was not sure that the Rendu would make a significant difference over my pi-hat based streamers so did not want to go all out. Spoiler: the uRendu was a significant upgrade and one that I am still enjoying and not yet ready to upgrade away from just yet.
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And they do scale with better power but itās as @Polygonhell says, itās all a balance as at some point youāve got a substantial investment that could have also bought you a substantial upgrade.
I didnāt @ anyone. The first item in the thread topic is āFiber opticā. I was just posting some fiber optic cables I like.
Makes sense, although I am plannong on staying with the ultrarendu for a few years atleast. Iām not gonna go out and upgrade it anytime soon, it should be more than sufficient for my setup. With that said since I am planning on longterm use I definitely am gonna want to get a better psu at the very least.
Yeah wen I said āin the futureā I really meant in the next month or two, I can probably just live with the SGC psu until then 
Iāll keep in mind the variable voltage, thatās a good rule of thumb.
Noted. Iāll have to look into that, but a very good point to keep in mind.
Makes sense, I probably wonāt get into all of that In that case, because it would make more sense just to upgrade the device instead.
I actually wanted a opticalrendu but itās sold out everywhere and none of the used ones were at a price I was willing to pay. The ultrarendu should be fine for what I want though and part of me is relieved I donāt have to deal with all the other junk like fiber and sfp and whatnot.
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https://forum.sonusapparatus.com/t/what-have-you-purchased-recently/73/4595?u=db_cooper
Iām linking this here because it seems a more appropriate place for the feedback.
FUCK. ME.
I donāt know what else to say. This $37 cable has made more of a difference than it has any right to, any explanation just makes anyone whoās not into cables making a difference or is sure bits are just bits, will know that Iām an idiot.
The stage is more expansive, the level of detail is increased, the micro detail has improved as Iāve easily heard better than ever before, very low level detail in a handful of tracks that Iām intimately familiar with. Timbre seems more correct and I can only attribute this change to something in the time domain as nothing else seems to have shifted. No tonality shift or frequency shift. Itās just more detail and a more convincing stage or room information coming through my speakers.
Honestly, I shook my head in disbelief. I wasnāt expecting anything, hell I didnāt even know if Iād get the Ethernet signal working.
Please try this if you use an SFP paired network connection with your Sonore optical. In case it makes a difference or not, I do have a pair of the Finisar SFP transceivers that Sonore sells but I know you can get pretty much anywhere.
EDIT: continued to listen as it late and I lowered the volume; there is certainly more information in the sound, more dynamic, more obvious in itās subtlety as weird as that sound saying.
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Has anyone tried Diretta in here? Iāve been considering getting the afterdark network bridge with diretta that is able to take an ethernet or fiber input. It uses a LPS and will output USB. I could get a PCIE 1x fiber card to go directly into the box and then output into my DDC.
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AD diretta bridge will act as a target/endpoint. Youāll have to install diretta ASIO on your Windows PC which in turn will be connected to the bridge via router /switch. If you use the fibre sfp pcie card on your windows PC then you could connect your PC & bridge directly eliminating router/switch. So, youāll be using diretta over fibre.
Another Ethernet input on your PC can be used to access the internet.
PC (windows /Linux) Diretta ASIO > Fibre >AD bridge (diretta target) > usb ddc> dac .
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Which modules are you using with this cable?
I didnāt buy these, they came as part of the sonore kit when I purchased my opticalRendu second hand. You may be able to get them cheaper elsewhere and I donāt know any of the specs, just know these worked with that cable.
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Hmm thatās strange. The sonore finisar supports multimode but the cable you bought is single. The other popular finisars are single mode but shouldnāt be able to support APC cables. I bought the cable you talked about and itās working on my multimode module as well but they shouldnāt really be used together. Fiber is making me really confused. 
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Donāt worry, you are not the only one that some aspects of this hobby confusesš
I had similar issues in mating the fiber optic cables and connectors. Eventually I figured out something that worked and left it alone 
Same here. I donāt get it either. I tried the cable with both multi mode and single mode SFP modules, and it no worky with single mode. But works great and sounds great with multi mode 
Some days I just donāt ask and move onā¦
I did find that the MikroTik multi mode sfp module sounded a little better than the finisar on the switch side. Iāve kept the finisar in my OpticalRendu. It might be because itās a MikroTik switch and they just play nicely togetherā¦ 
Iāve got aMikroTik, Iāll try and pick one up.
@driftingbunnies it says duplex single mode? It worked and it sounded better, I quit while I was ahead. lol