13th Note HiFi Review of Network Streamers

The M5 sounds interesting. Thanks for the heads up!

The reviewer should have tested the latest Innuos which is in fact better sounding. Big miss.  

@small-green-computer  Andrew, thanks for sharing. 

I don’t have the patience for 27 minutes, when S.P. COULD have written it down and saved each of his followers 20 minutes. (I just don't "get" video reviews.)

AND I think "shoot-outs" are stupid. People have preferences. They are not absolutes.

BUT I have direct experience. I tried the M5 in my system for about a week and compared it to the Auralic Aries G1. I could not hear a difference. The Aries has many more features, and I could trade in my old one, so I bought that. The M5 has other virtues, one being a domestic manufacturer who (by all accounts) offers outstanding support.
Just one point of reference, with one set of ears, for the M5

@small-green-computer -- Andrew, thanks for posting this review. I have the opticalRendu, and honestly it's one of the very few products that I would call 'giant slayer'. I have compared it to Innuos Zen and Zen Mini, Lumin U1 Mini, Lumin U1, Auralic Aries G1 (auditioning it this week), Node 2i, and Google Chromecast, and it certainly stands heads and shoulders above any of the aforementioned products. The opticalRendu's calling card is a much lowered noise floor, thanks to the galvanic isolation by way of fiber optics, which, as the reviewer mentions, is the reason for better dynamics, depth perception, and resolution. I'm pairing it with Luxman DA-06 ... what a sublime combination! The reviewer is spot on when he says that this streamer scales with better DACs.

I have recommended it to at least 3 other audiophiles and they're similarly thrilled. Now only if you guys can make the Signature Rendu SE Optical more sexy -- better case, silver, and cheaper, I will be all over it.

I guess you think it’s worth it since he makes yours #1 even though it does the least. No player software and no USB input to play local files. I’d have one if your team could have managed to get it to play anything.
I also disagree with the review in that Orange Squeeze on piCore player loaded on the Allo is more customizable and joyful than BluOS. And HiRez files on SSD sound better on it. To me.  Notice that he thinks that from Allo on up sound as good as the high rollers.  A better compare would be an Eno feed to competitors vs an Optical Rendu

tvad
Apparently you missed the point.  He purposely "lefr out" all the high priced players. 
You are $1100 over budget. 

I love the OpticalRendu. I have recommended this to so many people. 

When I first hooked it to my DAC the improvement in sound was so great that I bought a second opticalRendu immediately for my second DAC.

I have a music network setup that I imagine is incredibly noisy. Yet my streaming sounds incredible. My setup is as follows:

1) A cheap Dell Server in a far away room running ROON Server
2) A PowerLine network to extend my Ethernet network. My ROON Server machine connected to the PowrLine network
3) Ubiquiti Network Switch with 2 SFP cages near my DACs
4) Sonore OpticalRendu for ROON Only. Takes the Fibre and converts to USB which goes to my DAC.

I also have a microRendu and use that on a system for my 5 year old son in his play room. He says the microRendu has a bigger soundstage and blacker background.

Sorry but I did not watch the video.  I agree it would have been nice to list all the "major music streamers" for everyone.  Curious about what streamers were included.  Rather spend the time listening to music than watching a video.  I am currently using Wolf Audio Alpha 3 SX and enjoy it.  Did not need to do any shoot out comparisons.  It just sounded great in my system when demo'd.

That’s fine for lower grade  products , there are a Ton far better 
small green computer I don’t rate that as good ,good low budget .

Also, as I pointed out, the digital output of the Sonore is limited to USB, whereas the digital outputs of the Bricasti M5 (and Auralic) are robust and don’t restrict one’s choice of DAC. That was my primary point.

Sonore offers the ultraDigital as an addon to the opticalRendu. This give you a SPDIF output and most importantly an i2s output. Very few network players that I have see have an i2s output.

i2s is the best input on many DACs.

tvad
I got it wrong. He didn't leave ALL high priced boxes out.  He included the Innous for comparison purposes. It has a larger feature set that he incorporated into the rating. He priced the Sonore in £, I guess you missed that.
More importantly on topic he missed the best examples in the price range - Magna Mano Ultra (i2s out) and Pro-Ject S2 Ultra.
He loves BluOS, but the only advantage it has to me is quick auto indexing of local files.

@audioman58  Have you heard the opticalRendu with a fibre network? If so, what are the better streamers you have heard?

@agillis Since the UltraDigital comes after the OpticalRendu. Along with the fact that it must have a power supply then the benefits of the OpticalRendu would be lessened. The Power Supply of the UltraDigital would be inside the isolation barrier that the OpticalRendu provides.

Lumin u1 , and u1 mini  priced $4 k, and $2 k
andhave great interface for library organization  similar to Roon
If you don’t need all the footnotes for each song or album.

The u1 is $6k my friend bought used at $4k it sounds great  the U1 mini is a great buy ,and add a S booster linear PS it’s better still for $450 
Mike at audio Archon installs them and backs them as part of the mfg warranty .