The Hugo of streaming?

Strange, I used it for a few days? ....but not with Roon.

I am going to just listen to music until the Sbooster arrives, well almost, I have a VdH AES to run between the Breeze and the Mutec. Getting to the point where I just want to sit and listen to music!

M

Masterpiece.

Received my microrendu + ifi power last week and connected to the Hugo. After installation and trying DLNA (minimserver) and squeezelite mode first thing noticed that I turned up the volume. The last (for me annoying and fatiguing) "digital" distortions seem to have vanished. Hugo was capable of reducing this distortions, the microrendu takes this even two steps further and the FLAC streams sound like "analog".

Started listening to the snow goose recording 2013 by Camel and could not help to be dragged into the music and listening it till the end. Space, image, inky blackness, goosebumps, real timbres as I never heard before. (think I heard this album around 300 times).  The microrendu made clear that this album is a masterpiece once more.

I might be overreacting but this little renderer makes clear there is much more information in the recording and that the rest of the system (DAC, Naim amp & speakers) have no trouble in communicating this. 

Thanks to charlesphoto and collegue forum members; you definitely got my attention !

Bowers you are welcome! Brilliant little piece of gear isn't it? It gets better with a better linear power supply. I have an HD Plex I pick up used; you may want to wait for reviews of the forthcoming LPs-1 from Uptone Audio. You can read about it over on computer audiophile forum. Its a one of a kind ultra-capacitor design. It will need a power source to feed it - the iFi should be perfect. I'm done spending on hifi for the moment, but will follow the LPS-1 closely and perhaps next year. The HD Plex sounds very good - a nice bump in depth and solidity compared to the iFi (detail about the same). 

Enjoy!!

Hi Charlesphoto,

Thanks and yes; I'm following the discussion concerning PSU's. However not sure what it will bring and which one to choose right now. In the meantime waiting for the ordered curious USB cable and planning to upgrade to a Naim 282. Convinced that this amplifier will communicate and demonstrate even more detail in the music. Please let me/us read your experiences concerning PSU's as it comes to it........

Peter

SBooster LPSU 6v:

Got this last Friday. This is not a Damascene experience, in my system it does not change the character of what I hear; bare in mind that I am passing the mR output into a Mutec MC-3+USB. What the SBooster does do is:

1. Improve the quality of the high frequencies; and
2. Further uncover low level information in the music.

Example:

Signe from Eric Clapton Unplugged.
Standard test piece for me. Included in the supporting percussion are a triangle and wood blocks. These were evident before but, in the case of the triangle the emphasis was on the leading edge and it could almost sound truncated, and out of time in places; now you hear the rounded ring, it falls further back into the mix but you can here what the percussionist is doing. Similarly the wooden blocks are more of the piece and you can hear the resounding wooden sound, rather than a greater emphasis on the strike.

In summary, the Sbooster improves on what my system is doing right. This can almost sound minor, but in terms of what we are after in High Fidelity I suspect it is not - I just don't think it will supply this on its own. If your system is in good shape it will help focus what is already there.

M

Hi M,

thx for sharing your impressions with the Sbooster.

I am enjoying the mR + Hugo and still impressed by the natural sound. Waiting for an Ultracap LPS-1 and can only hope for a further (minor ?) improvement. to be continued...

Peter

Oooooo,

That'll be interesting. Look forward to your impressions.

Martin

Does it make coffee?

Hi Bowers,

Any news on the LPS-1?

M

Hi Martin, 

No news, still waiting for it's arrival this month.

I'll keep you posted...

Peter

Hi All,

I have been going through some pain over the last few weeks. In the last two months I have been concentrating on the positives of the microRendu over my Naim NS01. The detail has been great, but with each step I have increased clarity whilst, I now realise, losing what I will call ....timbre? For instance I have been hearing more clearly the bass line, and what the player is doing, but in some way it feels as though it has lost weight. Additionally some tracks, particularly Rock and Pop, have gained aggressive S & Ts, and overall the music has become sharper. This sharpness can be positive, additional detail and attack.

Over the past six weeks I have been trying to address this as the brightness has spoiled my enjoyment of the positives I have been hearing. I have:

1. Swapped in alternative amps;
2. Swapped in alternative cables;
3. Played with my speaker positioning;
4. Swapped in alternative speaker stands;
5. Cabled in alternative mains power;
6. Amongst others!

All of which did not address the issues. Things which did assist in a minor way:

1. Removing SMPSs in favour of LPSUs;
2. Adding ferrites to cables - perhaps, not convinced but it didn't hurt;
3. Adding FMCs and EMO EN70-HD;
4. Adding Jitterbuster;
5. Adding USB > RJ45 > USB bridge.

These things generally cleaned the signal without removing the brightness.

I picked up an ART transformer from eBay for £30 and slotted it in whilst considering a more expensive Jensen. And? YESSSSS.

Adding the ART REALLY hit the spot. The general brightness has GONE. The specific issue on S & Ts is greatly reduced, indicating that this was a grounding issue.

This now leaves me with one issue - I have an option on a Jensen at a good price, although not dirt cheap; will this further improve things, or just prove to be a waste of moolah. Of course I could go the mad route and contact Tim de Paravicini, who makes my amps and is famous for the quality of his transformers, and get a quote for a hand made isolator!

Anyway, this has returned enjoyment to my listening, and doubled down in the advantages of the mR. My thanks to a contributor to Computer Audiophile who mentioned doing this en-passent whilst discussing another issue!

Interestingly I now find LMS on my Synology > mR to be much to be preferred to Minimserver/BubbleUpnp/Kazoo, which is sharper and more strident.

M

Have you tried the new Uptone LPS-1 for the rendu yet? About to order mine. Will let you know how that clean it up, if at all, from the HDPLEX I have now powering it. Haven't tried any of the isolators you mention, but have read about them. 

Mr Underhill - Wow that is some dedication to the mR you have there, and I can now see why. 

I am late to the party, but received my mR & LPS-1 a few weeks ago. They replace a SB Touch (EDO) with TP PS + Regen. All into a Chord Hugo. As the mR and LPS-1 were deployed at the same time I can't comment on what the LPS-1 might separately bring, but as a pair they are a compelling listen. I am also using LMS via a Windows Home Server, as I have lots of other Squeeze devices around the house, and a few O2 Jogglers, used as controllers, running Squeezeplay. 

At  first, although immediately perceived as better than the SBT, there didn't seem to be a huge amount in it. More detail yes, but not much more. But after about a week of running in the pair are clearly superior in a very musical way. The main area where I notice this is in fact the timbre of bass and drum notes, and the discovery of low level notes on some songs that I had never been able to hear before. The top end has also benefited with virtually no digital glare and a better rendering of cymbals in particular. Backing or multi-track vocals are more clearly rendered and I am happily doing the 'rediscovery of my collection' thing.

This is indeed the Hugo of Streaming. Next up - a Curious USB cable as a Christmas present to myself. I am currently using the short USB that came with the Hugo. 

Hats off to Sonore & Uptone.

Hi Charles,

The LPS-1 is not on my immediate shopping list, having bought the Sbooster, but I will be interested in what you hear. I am very impressed with John Swenson and his posts. The complexities around DC, AC, Jitter, EMI, RFI et al are a huge journey. I have just bought a Jensen transformer as a pressy for Christmas, from SWMBO.

Hi SAMS,

I would love to hear the mR/Hugo. I read a post a few months ago by a recording engineer who thinks the Hugo is simply superb, and the best DAC he has heard at presenting back to him what he heard in the studio/mixing. That said the processes above are now FINALLY allowing me to hear what my Bel Canto 3.5vbs can really do ...so, although I would like to hear the Hugo I won't be moving away from the BC for the foreseeable.

I think that the detail the mR presents is superb, not simply in terms of resolving instruments but in terms of reverb, which gives instruments and voices life. Like you I find myself revisiting my music collection, and things I haven't listened to for years.

I have gone the other way with USB cables. I have a number, from bog standard through to a TotalDAC D1. I am currently using a USB B to A adapter which cost me the princely sum of £1.15!

Be interested in reading your experiences.

M

The LPS-1 will be appearing under the Xmas tree thanks to my lovely wife - who has no clue what she just ordered. 

Now to find that perfect piece of jewelry.... 

Mr Underhill posted:

.............

 I think that the detail the mR presents is superb, not simply in terms of resolving instruments but in terms of reverb, which gives instruments and voices life. Like you I find myself revisiting my music collection, and things I haven't listened to for years.

....................

 M

 

Yes, forgot to mention the reverb, just like I get from my turntable (if not more), coming way into the room, if it is in the recording. Simply marvelous.

charlesphoto posted:

Now to find that perfect piece of jewelry.... 

Yes, I had better hop on a train in the next couple of weeks and go to the designated jeweler!

Does anyone know if extra components like iFi iUSBPower+iPurifier2 in USB signal between a laptop and Chord Hugo would make as pure USB signal as microRendu does? If yes, then I would not need microRendu.

They are feeding my NAC282+NAP300DR now.

I have no experience with those iFi products as such but did use the Uptone Audio USB Regen (also a USB>USB cleaner/regenerator). I found it worthwhile with the Chord Hugo. There are some reports in these forums about that. Theoretically the microRendu takes this an extra bracket since it is a microcomputer 'streamlined'  to accepts  Ethernet  and render the USB. This would probably be more rewarding in your setup. It might be worthwhile to talk to the mR /USB Regen creators over at the computeraudiophile.

B.

Hi Tuomo,

The IFI products do get good write ups, for whatever that is worth. I would expect the mR to be better than your laptop simply because it is a honed specialised piece of kit. All that said I suspect that there are multiple issues that are very complex and not really well differentiated. I have just got a real jump in performance by placing a line isolator between my DAC and pre-amp, pointing at a grounding issue. In the meanwhile I had done a number of things which had minor effects. I would like to come up with a solid methodology for approaching these problems, with some form of hierarchy of effect.

M

Hi Mr Underhill,    It would be interesting to know your DAC - line isolator - NAC combination. Maybe line isolator would be worth to try also between my Chord Hugo and Naim NAC282.

Brilliant posted:

I have no experience with those iFi products as such but did use the Uptone Audio USB Regen (also a USB>USB cleaner/regenerator). I found it worthwhile with the Chord Hugo. There are some reports in these forums about that. Theoretically the microRendu takes this an extra bracket since it is a microcomputer 'streamlined'  to accepts  Ethernet  and render the USB. This would probably be more rewarding in your setup. It might be worthwhile to talk to the mR /USB Regen creators over at the computeraudiophile.

B.

I doubt the mR people will be overly keen to advise that something else can be as good as mR spending less money!

When I had a Hugo, fed from Mac Mini running Audirvana with dedicated USB output, I used a Gustard U12 isolator to remove the RF/noise that adversely affects Hugo. I started off being interested in mR, seemingly a very inexpensive alternative  route to perfection if my Mac Mini one day dies, however by the time a suitably good power supply has been added and noting that isolation is still needed, it doesn't appear to offer any price advantage, while being more fiddly than MM/Audiv and a NAS still needed. Meanwhile the turnkey Melco doesn't cost much more than MM/Audiv+isolator for those for whom ease of setup is more important than cost.

Have I missed something here?

innocent Bystander

I am kind of with you on this,when I first heard about the Micro-Rendu I was thinking that it might be something to pursue,since I have a Hugo,yet all these add on gadgets and isolaters and power supplies,not to mention all the fiddling around you need to do are really a turn off for me.Since I do not currently have a NAS (I have a 2 terabyte external storage connected to a laptop) I was thinking that a Melco would be a simple solution for me.Now with the uniti core about to hit the market,this might be all I need,yet I would be curious to know which combo sounds the best,I think all Naim is the simplest.I would like to take my laptop out of the chain,currently I use j-river feeding my 272 ...the Hugo is not being used at the moment.

Innocent Bystander posted:

Brilliant posted:

I have no experience with those iFi products as such but did use the Uptone Audio USB Regen (also a USB>USB cleaner/regenerator). I found it worthwhile with the Chord Hugo. There are some reports in these forums about that. Theoretically the microRendu takes this an extra bracket since it is a microcomputer 'streamlined'  to accepts  Ethernet  and render the USB. This would probably be more rewarding in your setup. It might be worthwhile to talk to the mR /USB Regen creators over at the computeraudiophile.

B.

I doubt the mR people will be overly keen to advise that something else can be as good as mR spending less money!

When I had a Hugo, fed from Mac Mini running Audirvana with dedicated USB output, I used a Gustard U12 isolator to remove the RF/noise that adversely affects Hugo. I started off being interested in mR, seemingly a very inexpensive alternative  route to perfection if my Mac Mini one day dies, however by the time a suitably good power supply has been added and noting that isolation is still needed, it doesn't appear to offer any price advantage, while being more fiddly than MM/Audiv and a NAS still needed. Meanwhile the turnkey Melco doesn't cost much more than MM/Audiv+isolator for those for whom ease of setup is more important than cost.

Have I missed something here?

Assuming one is interested of course - a technical discussion  can offer some light on the merits of a product (à la Rob Watts did for Chord at Head-fi)?   Part of the fun of the hobby for me  is a lingering engineering interest and the reason I visit the www. I have no experience with Melco or Mac Mini /Gustard, so cannot contribute anything there.

Enthusiasts will tweak an already fine product to eek the last ounce of performance out of it - surely that is not news on a NAIM forum! mR with iFi power (as purchased) was a marked improvement over my laptop USB feeding the DAC-V1. I would happily use it  in that basic configuration.