I have had my microRendu for just over a week now. Last weekend did include a few hours of listening to the thing, but this was far from critical listening, as it involved company and a modest (!?) amount of Macon Rouge. All very enjoyable, but not ideal for critical listening. One observation though, the microRendu was absolutely rock solid, not one stutter, dropout or glitch. No small thing when you think about it, because it is very annoying when you are with company, typically people who think you are a complete lunatic for spending so much money on hifi, if your AIR powered system starts stuttering or whatever. It's also worth noting that this is an absolute direct comparison with AIR, because the microRendu is running off the same PC, with the same network, identical. Well, identical except the mR is stable, and AIR is not. OK, nothing new here...
So what does it sound like? Even during last weekend's Macon Rouge soaked session, I was coming to the conclusion it was pretty good, I was certainly enjoying listening to it. Today, I had some free time, so could do some critical listening, as well as some back to back testing with the only real benchmark I have at home, Windows AIR 2.1.3. The short version of this is that AIR 2.1.3 and the microRendu sound very similar. Indeed, with many tracks played quick-fire back to back I was genuinely finding difficult to separate the two, so any sound quality observations from here on come with the caveat that we are talking very fine margins here. However, I did fairly quickly start to think that there was something I preferred about the microRendu, just very slightly more realistic, a fraction more organic than AIR's 'digital edge'. However, this did worry me. The margins were so fine that I did have to question how much of this was real, and how much was expectation bias. Maybe I was expecting the mR to sound more realistic than AIR? The margins were so small, that yes, it could be imagined. So I persevered, checked rechecked, many back to back tests, and convinced myself that the mR did have the edge, just! Later a golden opportunity presented itself, a friend willing to try a blind test. A small selection of tracks were selected, played randomly between the mR and AIR. My PC is a reasonable distance behind the 'listening sofa', and out of site. Sat on the sofa there is no way of knowing which was playing. The blind tester picked the mR as being preferred pretty consistently, but did make the statement that there was nothing in it. There was however one track where AIR got the nod. This was the 2012 remake of Freddy Mercury's Barcelona (remade with a proper orchestra, rather than the electronic trickery of the original). This was an interesting result for me. The Barcelona track does have some previous form for me, being one track that put me off the Melco N1Z a bit. This is a track with utterly thunderous timpani generated bass, and with the Melco, D800 and Blades, I did get the impression that the bass realism was a touch lacking versus the Aurender W20 and also the Cad Cat. I had been trying this track earlier in the day, and had come to the conclusion that this bass realism was a touch better via AIR. To be clear, the very deepest bass accuracy is a bit of a KEF Blade strong point, with many alternative and not necessarily cheaper speakers I think this might be difficult to pick up, but it struck me as interesting that this was the only track I had tried earlier where I noticed this slight week point with the mR, and the only track my blind tester picked AIR as being better. I do wonder if this is in part a quirk of the Devialet USB input. Why? Well, at the OAC 'streamer day' they did a back to back test of the Aurender N10, first via USB, then via AES/EBU. The big improvement for me, and for others in the room, was that the bass definition was better via AES. Not more bass, far from it, just better defined and more realistic. The Cad Cat does rather confuse this point, as it appears to reasonably good in this area, but perhaps worth remembering that I auditioned the latest version of the Cad Cat together with it's trick power supply and special grounding box widget, which is one very expensive way to get a USB output. (Pushing £8k? I can't quite remember)
One thing though, without going into endless specifics, next time I sit down to listen, I would definitely choose the mR over AIR, it's just that bit nicer to listen too. So the mR wins, just, and on points, not outright.
That is not the end of the story though...... The microRendu is currently running with the slightly controversial iFi power supply. Some say this is a giant killing audiophile PSU for budget money, some say it is the work of Beelzebub himself. For sure, it is not the best thing to power a microRendu with, and both the mR designers and users have stated that the clean power is the route to best performance. So, in theory, with a better PSU the mR should pull further away from AIR. Then there is possibility of further improvements of using a USB to AES/EBU converter, such as the re-clocking Mutec MC3+USB. What I am thinking now is that if a Mutec could mitigate this very slight bass issue, then the mR pulls away or matches AIR in all areas. It is a very specific issue though, I think the only way to find out would be to try one. Of course the Mutec should in theory offer improvements in other areas, which together with a more appropriate PSU should be a combination that outperforms AIR comfortably. To be continued.....
So what does it sound like? Even during last weekend's Macon Rouge soaked session, I was coming to the conclusion it was pretty good, I was certainly enjoying listening to it. Today, I had some free time, so could do some critical listening, as well as some back to back testing with the only real benchmark I have at home, Windows AIR 2.1.3. The short version of this is that AIR 2.1.3 and the microRendu sound very similar. Indeed, with many tracks played quick-fire back to back I was genuinely finding difficult to separate the two, so any sound quality observations from here on come with the caveat that we are talking very fine margins here. However, I did fairly quickly start to think that there was something I preferred about the microRendu, just very slightly more realistic, a fraction more organic than AIR's 'digital edge'. However, this did worry me. The margins were so fine that I did have to question how much of this was real, and how much was expectation bias. Maybe I was expecting the mR to sound more realistic than AIR? The margins were so small, that yes, it could be imagined. So I persevered, checked rechecked, many back to back tests, and convinced myself that the mR did have the edge, just! Later a golden opportunity presented itself, a friend willing to try a blind test. A small selection of tracks were selected, played randomly between the mR and AIR. My PC is a reasonable distance behind the 'listening sofa', and out of site. Sat on the sofa there is no way of knowing which was playing. The blind tester picked the mR as being preferred pretty consistently, but did make the statement that there was nothing in it. There was however one track where AIR got the nod. This was the 2012 remake of Freddy Mercury's Barcelona (remade with a proper orchestra, rather than the electronic trickery of the original). This was an interesting result for me. The Barcelona track does have some previous form for me, being one track that put me off the Melco N1Z a bit. This is a track with utterly thunderous timpani generated bass, and with the Melco, D800 and Blades, I did get the impression that the bass realism was a touch lacking versus the Aurender W20 and also the Cad Cat. I had been trying this track earlier in the day, and had come to the conclusion that this bass realism was a touch better via AIR. To be clear, the very deepest bass accuracy is a bit of a KEF Blade strong point, with many alternative and not necessarily cheaper speakers I think this might be difficult to pick up, but it struck me as interesting that this was the only track I had tried earlier where I noticed this slight week point with the mR, and the only track my blind tester picked AIR as being better. I do wonder if this is in part a quirk of the Devialet USB input. Why? Well, at the OAC 'streamer day' they did a back to back test of the Aurender N10, first via USB, then via AES/EBU. The big improvement for me, and for others in the room, was that the bass definition was better via AES. Not more bass, far from it, just better defined and more realistic. The Cad Cat does rather confuse this point, as it appears to reasonably good in this area, but perhaps worth remembering that I auditioned the latest version of the Cad Cat together with it's trick power supply and special grounding box widget, which is one very expensive way to get a USB output. (Pushing £8k? I can't quite remember)
One thing though, without going into endless specifics, next time I sit down to listen, I would definitely choose the mR over AIR, it's just that bit nicer to listen too. So the mR wins, just, and on points, not outright.
That is not the end of the story though...... The microRendu is currently running with the slightly controversial iFi power supply. Some say this is a giant killing audiophile PSU for budget money, some say it is the work of Beelzebub himself. For sure, it is not the best thing to power a microRendu with, and both the mR designers and users have stated that the clean power is the route to best performance. So, in theory, with a better PSU the mR should pull further away from AIR. Then there is possibility of further improvements of using a USB to AES/EBU converter, such as the re-clocking Mutec MC3+USB. What I am thinking now is that if a Mutec could mitigate this very slight bass issue, then the mR pulls away or matches AIR in all areas. It is a very specific issue though, I think the only way to find out would be to try one. Of course the Mutec should in theory offer improvements in other areas, which together with a more appropriate PSU should be a combination that outperforms AIR comfortably. To be continued.....
1000 Pro - KEF Blade - iFi Zen Stream - Mutec REF10 - MC3+USB - Pro-Ject Signature 12
