Sonore OpticalRendu

I've been using the OpticalRendu (original version) that I bought from Small Green Computer 5 years ago and it's been a revelation in my system. I have it paired with Roon and streaming from Tidal and my own library of music stored on a Synology NAS. 

I don't have a dedicated listening room, so the benefits from the optical signal and connection have been a huge plus for me. There is better separation of instruments, bigger soundstage and just a more relaxed presentation of the music compared to other ethernet streamers that I've tried. And perhaps less surprising, the noise floor was very low.

I've been tempted to try a better power supply and eventually upgrade to their flagship Signature Rendu, but there is no going back to ethernet streamers. I'm also planning to run a fiber optic cable behind the walls directly from the Rendu to my Ubiquiti switch, which has an SFP port and this will allow me to remove the fiber media converter in the chain. I'm not sure if this will improve the sound, but it simplifies my network.

Also, shoutout to Andrew at SGC for the great after-sales support when I've run into minor network problems with routers and double NAT issues.