Antoine's system

[Antoine]

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

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!