Tír Na HiFi

No details or pics of the Rendu server insides to show how this $1300 device is built to "audiophile standards"?

nige2000 wrote:


can only see one oscillator on this board on the top right in black

why is this board supposed to be good?

Is that the back of the SDTRANS board?
That's not a clock on the top right of the front of the board - it's a Neweva SPDIF transformer
I can now see what I think are the NDK clocks on the original pic - designated X1 & X2 as I expected them to be named

jkeny wrote:No details or pics of the Rendu server insides to show how this $1300 device is built to "audiophile standards"?

it has to be its "$1300" as per laws of hi-fi ;)

i gave in to a little experimentation and ordered one of these
http://www.ebay.com/itm/111721479669?_t ... EBIDX%3AIT

jkeny wrote:

nige2000 wrote:


can only see one oscillator on this board on the top right in black

why is this board supposed to be good?

Is that the back of the SDTRANS board?
That's not a clock on the top right of the front of the board - it's a Neweva SPDIF transformer
I can now see what I think are the NDK clocks on the original pic - designated X1 & X2 as I expected them to be named

yea that the back of it

good eyes spotting the xo's
must be a big enough board

nige2000 wrote:

jkeny wrote:No details or pics of the Rendu server insides to show how this $1300 device is built to "audiophile standards"?

it has to be its "$1300" as per laws of hi-fi ;)

i gave in to a little experimentation and ordered one of these
http://www.ebay.com/itm/111721479669?_t ... EBIDX%3AIT

Oh you divil -couldn't resist the temptation :)

Yea, those NDK clocks are small but I knew they used them, just couldn't spot them

jkeny wrote:

nige2000 wrote:

jkeny wrote:No details or pics of the Rendu server insides to show how this $1300 device is built to "audiophile standards"?

it has to be its "$1300" as per laws of hi-fi ;)

i gave in to a little experimentation and ordered one of these
http://www.ebay.com/itm/111721479669?_t ... EBIDX%3AIT

Oh you divil -couldn't resist the temptation :)

Yea, those NDK clocks are small but I knew they used them, just couldn't spot them

resist everything but temptation

i have goodish clocks i can swap in and ill have to see what other voltages are necessary when it arrives
hoping its only 3.3v to get i2s out

trouble is we will be on the next fad by the time it arrives

i soldered wire to the pads of two ndks front to back once
certainly wouldn't like to have do too many

Randy,

You must understand: I hate the baby.


Nigel, your toy might be interesting but I have to think what the SDT folks have done with the firmware could make a big difference.

Along with the fact you can power all of those pieces individually. Not to say you are not capable of doing all of the same things to your player other than the firmware.

I am not trying to proselytize this device. I will report what I hear.

I will be happy if it is almost as good but I have the feeling I am going to hear a superior tonal balance to what I am hearing now. Maybe some details will be lost but many of those
are usually spotlighted by other tonal imbalances inherent in the remainder of the system. They are entertaining and interesting but I am not sure a search for detail should be the goal. I thought I read something about
missing detail ...

So if some is missing I will wonder just which approach is correct and, of course, I will never know.

I have just bought a SDTrans384 after reading the whole DIYAudio thread. Among others, I was impressed by Jonathan Carr (from Lyra cartridges) post stating he had heard the best digital sounds with this transport.
I also have a Soekris DAC and I wonder if it could be used in a similar way to the ES9018 DAC, sharing the master clocks with the SDTrans in sync mode. This is reported to be a vast improvement.

adolfo.a.aguiar wrote:I have just bought a SDTrans384 after reading the whole DIYAudio thread. Among others, I was impressed by Jonathan Carr (from Lyra cartridges) post stating he had heard the best digital sounds with this transport.
I also have a Soekris DAC and I wonder if it could be used in a similar way to the ES9018 DAC, sharing the master clocks with the SDTrans in sync mode. This is reported to be a vast improvement.

cool at least we have someone that can do a proper comparison now
what usb to i2s converter are you using on the soekris?
which revision soekris is it?
any mods done?

sd trans should connect up fine with soekris

did i miss a trick with soekris does it work in slave mode?

adolfo.a.aguiar wrote:I have just bought a SDTrans384 after reading the whole DIYAudio thread. Among others, I was impressed by Jonathan Carr (from Lyra cartridges) post stating he had heard the best digital sounds with this transport.
I also have a Soekris DAC and I wonder if it could be used in a similar way to the ES9018 DAC, sharing the master clocks with the SDTrans in sync mode. This is reported to be a vast improvement.

Don't think you can use the Soekris in synch mode with anything - it has one clock from which all timing is derived, AFAIK

But as Nige says, it should be fine to connect I2S into it

Look forward to your impressions of the sound