I realized now that I’d never actually written directly about my experience with the Sonore opticalRendu. I’ve got a lot of references and mentions and mods I’ve done to it but never and actual review. The forum is Sonore friendly as a whole, with the Signature SE being highly recommended and referenced on @m0n Shit List and the ultraRendu being considered a good step up from the Pi based streamers and a world away from PC out audio. Here however I’m going to talk about the opticalRendu, how I wound up with it modified it and grew to love what it is and what it does. I’ll also mention how IMO it’s the bang for the buck king in the Sonore lineup.
My search for the opticalRendu started out of frustration as I spent months dicking around with my dCS Network Bridge and my (then DAC) a Mojo EVO B4B. I’ve documented the issues on the forum but in short, the output from the dCS (whether SPDIF coax or AEX/EBU) when playing anything other than 16/44 would sometimes not sync and I’d get broken digital stream or it wouldn’t lock. Nothing that I did worked and after many discussions with both Mojo and dCS there was no explanation found as to why and certainly no solution offered. In fairness to both Mojo and dCS both of the pieces of kit worked separately with other gear… c’est la vie.
In my search for alternatives, I knew I wanted something close in quality to the dCS, once you realize the importance of the digital source, there’s no going back. Roon is the interface I use and since I’d been using an Uptone EtherREGEN I started my hunt for a Sonore bridge given the positive nature of comments here, and the given price point.
Not long after I set course however, I realized that if I looked for an opticalRendu I could ditch the EtherREGEN, sell the dCS and have beaucoup money left over for other stuff, so that’s what I did.
I bought a “complete” kit on USAM, a guy selling the opticalRendu, a Sonore ethernet to optical converter, a 7v small green computer LPS and the SFP ends and optical cable. The price was right, after a little of the dB Cooper negotiation charm, the price was even better and voila. I bought it.
There was still the problem of the opticalRendu being USB out only (albeit a good quality USB) and my clearly preferring the AES input of the Mojo over the USB input. So to remedy that, I purchased an Alpha USB DDC to take the USB from the opticalRendu, reclock it and send it to the Mojo over AES, problem solved right? After some initial comparisons I found the chain to be a bit too analytical for my taste, that being primarily an issue with the introduction of the Alpha USB. Don’t get me wrong, a ton of detail and spacial ques, and so much more information. But using the same VooDoo Stradivarious AES cable (so as much apples to apples comparison as possible when compared to the previous dCS into the Mojo chain). I was surprised as to how much more technical ability this new combination presented over the dCS bridge, but I preferred the warmer meatier tone of the dCS.
So here’s where I talk about those “mods”. I’ve always found it interesting that the Aurelic Aries G2.1 streamer encased its internal in a copper box within a box. I’ve read in the past that copper has a sweeter sound as a shielding material over a ferrous steel and the non ferrous aluminum enclosures and that’s why you see vendors use copper often. Lampizator is a good example of copper being used. So I went to town in both the sonoreOptical and the Alpha USB lining the top and bottom in 1 mm copper sheet and the sided coated with three layers of copper tape. In the sonoreOptical I took the extra step to add a final layer of RF shielding paper again a common practice by various vendors and something that Sonore does with their Signature SE. The last change was to incorporate the use of a Mojo Audio Illuminati linear power supply. Using a 7V setting for the Mojo and a 9V setting to disconnect the internal power supply from the Alpha USB and wire up and external connector to feed it directly from the Mojo Illuminati instead.
That’s a lot of work to get to where I am today but it was necessary given the AES input issue I was trying to solve the technical jump that I wound up with was actually surprising. Now in all fairness I’m using the reclocker more expensive cabling, (switching to an FTA Calliston from the opticalRendu) and a very expensive LPS. In the end the money I had left over from the dCS was eaten up by all the extra stuff I threw at the chain but like I said a worthwhile net gain.
The Sonore opticalRendu offers a great amount of value, functionality, a VERY clean USB output and will scale quite a bit with improved power. The mods I’ve done with the increased shielding on the case IMO improved the sound further and indeed make it more liquid, improve the timbre and add a blacker background. Given that the SE incorporates a lot of what I’ve done here, power supply, shielding, I think that it’s as close as you’re going to get to a Signature SE without actually buying one. I had the power supply and given it’s cost I wouldn’t recommend someone go out and try to replicate what I’ve done in order to save some money, it’s just not the most direct course, you have multiple boxes and additional wiring but in the end, I like to tinker, it’s a hobby and I wound up much closer to the sound I was looking for.
Wrapping up, I’d also add that it’s a very stable Roon bridge, with weeks and weeks of hickup free play with an occasional reset needed. It does require a very precise power down as it doesn’t like to just be unplugged or when I’ve lost power in the house but that’s not a specific issue to the Rendu.
Now, to point the guys over at Sonore to this review so I can get my free 2.9 upgrade and all is right with the world. 
