Sonore Streamers

[Hifi_swlon]

Finally the SR3 arrives! It's a nicely built little thing, with a very understated blue LED on the underside, and a nicely weaved very fine silver DC lead.

First impression after about 5 mins quiet listening - it sounds pretty much the same as the ifi to my ears. Perhaps it will improve when it warms up a bit....

I need to try a few experiments, removing the Intona and that sort of thing. Hopefully get some time over the coming days to listen properly.

I've been watching all the praise for the Uptone LPS-1 trying to decide if I'll pop for it.   

I will say that since AIR 3.0.1 beta has been released, I'm finding less reason to use the microRendu.  AIR now seems to be completely stable and SQ via AIR vs the uRendu/iFi PS is quite close.  If there's a very slight difference, I can't tell which I actually think is better.   Now, the Uptone LPS-1 might certainly nudge that difference well toward the uRendu.  Won't know unless I try, right?  Damn.

There is no end to all the ways I can throw money at this crazy hobby.

If the latest AIR betas worked for me I'd probably still go that route even if it wasn't quite as good - it wouod be an elegant and simple solution, and would also mean I could use Dirac.

Sadly it doesn't and honestly I just don't trust it now. I know that even if it worked, it would fail at some point in the future with an OS update that may take forever to fix. Right now I have flexibility, but at the expense of not just cash, but clutter and wires which drives me a bit mad.

Assuming I can detect an obvious improvement over the ifi in the weeks ahead, I'll keep the SR3 and call it a day SQ-wise. If not I'll revert back to the ifi and send it back. If I'd ordered the LPS-1 I would have done the same there but since I'd ordered the Paul Hynes just before it was released, I'm not going to bother trying both. There's only so much time/enthusiasm for these things, and where do you stop!

There's still streamerboard hope for me.....