Though these small and relative easy tweaks in a way are tempting I'm currently not seriously considering them. I'm a bit afraid it could be the beginning of a never ending story/a source of unrest. "What if I do this next or that". I already have enough of these distractions in this hobby.
But it could be like Gui mentioned, a seed planted that'll grow and reach the surface at one point.
Like I mentioned in the post above in reply to Thumb5/Ian I believe this could not have been caused by shipping alone. It must have been a bad solder job in the first place. If Devialet tested the amp before shipping it out, the shipping process may have been the final nudge. I see I wrote that the D's case being made out of a solid block of aluminium can't really 'torque', but torque is the wrong description. What I meant was 'twist' or 'wrench'. Unfortunately I can't seem to find the right translation of the Dutch word 'torderen'. Anyway I think it's fine, there's little inside that 'courier bashing' could really weaken. But of course the thought occurred to me as well and this was the reason to ask Devialet to make a note of this. If anything would go wrong or happen over time there's a record of this history.
The heatsink pad looked like new when I removed the bottom plate, which also came of very easy. It's not the kind of pad/material used between a CPU and a heatsink that melts when it gets hot and thus must be replaced when ever the heatsink is separated from the CPU. It's also not a paste, it most looks like an oily, flexible type of dense foam containing some type of heat conducting material. I'm sure it's perfectly fine.
(19-Nov-2016, 23:14)Antoine Wrote: [ -> ]...I'm a bit afraid it could be the beginning of a never ending story/a source of unrest. "What if I do this next or that".
Yeah, but really that's the only downside of it. And the 5yW...pfff...just a number on paper
I mean you fixed it ones, so...
But it's interesting. Has there ever been a survey of Dxxx that were going to be repaired? Never heard of a Dxxx that actually failed (other than yours
). Did you? Might be worth a Poll Thread.
gui
Haha, you can keep talking but still not gonna do it!
And yes, unfortunately, I've read on this forum of failed D's and a bunch of D200's that had to be sent back because they emitted a "burning smell".
The person I talked to at Devialet was worried that the weak spot in my D (the noard that was/came loose on one side) might possibly be a common one. Who knows, the Pro is a new platform (V6) other things may come to surface over time.
Nope, not interested right now. Warranty, resale value, the risk of me screwing something up myself, the potential source of unrest. All reasons to not do it right now. Perhaps when it's several years old and out of warranty but right now this hasn't happened here because of two upgrades that both renewed both electronics and the warranty.
Whoooohahaha, just listened to some Prodigy songs (Poison and Smack My bitch up) from back in the days. Hadn't listened to The Prodigy for at least a decade (or two
) but OMG...wet armpits from excitement!
Never knew there was so much happening/layering in these songs, brilliant, an almost 360 degree 'stage' too and that gut wrenching bass...no doubt rattling cups in the kitchen cupboard...wow! I feel like I'm 17 again...gonna listen to more and other old skool techno soon as well, poor neighbors of mine!
Sorry, just had to share this. We'll now return to our regular programming.
Yesterday I picked up a new SOtM SMS-200 at a nearby dealer who had one in stock. The SMS-200 in a way is a "shameless copy" of the Sonore microRendu. It was released after the microRendu but it has the exact same functionality (though in addition to the mR it has two additional USB ports to connect a USB drive or harddisk). I will use it as a drop-in replacement of the mR between the fiber media converter and the Mutec. It's ethernet in and USB out.
The Youtube review by fellow Dutchman Hans Beekhuizen (
https://youtu.be/TV-FvRF9KGA) and comments by a fellow called Romaz (who also owns a SR7 PSU like I do) who both liked it better than the mR made me decide to try it as well.
Romaz's comments on SQ:
http://www.head-fi.org/t/766517/chord-el...t_13067878
Quote:I have compared microRendu powered by the Paul Hynes SR7 against a recently purchased SOtM sMS-200 which is also powered by the SR7. Compared against the LPS-1, I have found the SR7 to be superior. USB cable used is a Clarity Cables Natural USB which is one of few USB cables that has been actually measured to meet true USB 2.0 spec (90 ohms differential impedance). This cable outperformed and replaced my Curious USB which outperformed and replaced my TotalDac USB. I have recently compared it against the RedNet 3 via SPDIF.
With each connected to my Chord DAVE, RedNet 3 sounded very good, a bit better than the microRendu with iFi 9V PSU. As you suggested, details were a bit cleaner. With the microRendu powered by the SR7, soundstage of the microRendu was much bigger with more air and much better dynamics but clarity with RedNet was still a bit better. In comparison, microRendu sounded a bit muffled. Which one is better between these two, I think it's a toss up. It depends on which qualities you value more.
The winner of the group by a fair margin, however, was the SOtM sMS-200 powered by the SR7. This is now my new reference front end with my DAVE and surpasses the microRendu by a fair margin and for less money ($450). In fact, it is the least expensive device of this group. It matched every bit the clarity and the smoothness of the RedNet but the soundstage was bigger still and with extraordinary dynamics. Compared to RedNet, RedNet sounds flat. Treble edge or glare? I'm not hearing any of it. This device is very clean and the PSU has a lot to do with it. Part of this is almost certainly due to DAVE's exceptional USB implementation which incorporates galvanic isolation. While the RedNet 3 holds much promise, I suspect its downfall is its PSU.
I haven't yet listened to it. After I got home yesterday evening I took it to my home office room and upgraded and configured it first. All very easy and straightforward. When that was done I connected it in place of the mR but it didn't become active on my network.
I always like these type of devices (that have a web GUI built in) to have a fixed IP address in my network and since the SMS-200 no longer offers the functionality to disable DHCP and configure a fixed IP I configured the DHCP server in my router to always assign the same IP. After two hours or so of troubleshooting (I suspected the fiber optic converters were causing the issue though a laptop connected worked fine) I disabled the fixed IP in my router, powered down and up the SMS-200 and then 'poof' it worked. Conclusion it's somehow not compliant with standard DHCP. Before this I already noticed it got a different IP address each and every time it rebooted which is also non standard/non typical behaviour.
Roon has been streaming music on repeat to it overnight (and still is) so I will have a first listen tonight. Since the SOtM is cheaper than the mR it shouldn't cost me anything after I sell the microRendu, if I like it better. If not I may sell the device I find a buyer for first.
To be continued!
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Made a flow chart/diagram of my stereo/streaming setup. It shows how everything is connected and powered. No HT components are drawn into it.
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Very nice! That shows a lot of attention to detail; I especially like the way you've de-coupled the two power domains using the optical connection.
How are you giving the signal to dspeaker? Digi or analog?