OK, realise I am a bit late to the party but just received my MicroRendu yesterday and thought prospective buyers might appreciate how it compares to the Auralic Aries which I used for almost 2 years prior. Should note my DAC is the Auralic Aries with LPS so there should be some extra synergy between these 2 Auralic components (in theory).
First thing to say is that considering the MicroRendu is half the price of the Aries it compares very well performance-wise. First thing, this is amazingly compact and a joy to setup/use. Stability is superb, the Aries was a nightmare for me, wired or wireless, UPNP, Openhome, different routers, perhaps my unit has specific issues but it was always dropping out/completely disconnecting. The stability and just all round pleasant user experience of the MicroRendu alone might be enough to cause me to switch sides.
I am using the TeddyPardo PSU straight off the bat, so I don't know how it might sound with a stock PSU. I am using a Cardas Clear USB cable and cheap ethernet cable I found in a drawer somewhere (awaiting a Supra CAT 8 cable coming) The USB cable is a definite improvement on the hard adapter, first conclusion to draw (this was easy)
Squeezelite vs DNLA modes, if there is a difference it isn't massive but I will play with some of the oversampling options available via minimstream later. Using Squeezelite just because of the excellent Squeezecommander android app and Spotify support. Not tried playing music off a USB stick yet either (I believe this is possible with the MicroRendu?) It's a noticeable improvement on the Aries but wasn't really practical for me since all my music is on my NAS.
OK, I am not a great believer in burn-in, I've had it running around 24hrs, if any improvements manifest themselves they will be slight so let's just assume it's reached the required burn-in time. One thing I will say is that I had this thing set up in 10 mins from opening the box streaming music which is to be commended.
Of course now the all important criteria which products live and die by: sound quality. If I could describe the MicroRendu in one word I would say "clean". It's ability to extract detail is superb and noticeably better than the Aries. On Imogen Heap's Hide and Seek near the start there is a sound something like a plate crashing, it is heard on the Aries but with the MicroRendu it is like a light is shone on it. Just to show how emphatic this quality is there is a London Grammar song, I forget which but there is a random digital glitch on one of the tracks near the start, I listened to this album ad nauseum over the years I had my Aries, it wasn't that it was masked or faint, I literally never heard it, the Aries clearly wasn't capable of resolving this level of detail.
It would be pleasing if I could say the MicroRendu outclasses the Aries in all departments, however I'm not able to go this far. One clear advantage the Aries has over the MircroRendu is soundstage, the Aries soundstage is wider, deeper, vocals in particular have more room to breathe. If I listen to a track like London Grammar's If you Wait the Aries just draws you in, it sounds heavenly and totally ethereal, the midrange I feel at times is a little better on the Aries (though this is really close) The MicroRendu has a more compact soundstage (maybe this suits other systems better, I can only speak for my own) it simply lacks the cohesion of the Aries, dare I say it at the risk of perhaps oversimplifying it, it sacrifices musicality for accuracy.
Everything is a just a little more compact/reigned-in than the Aries. Bass is very tight and controlled, the Aries has more "slam" but on some tracks this can result in boominess and drowning out some of the other higher frequency ranges. Sibilance is non-existant on the MicroRendu, this is a clear win versus the Aries which suffers in varying degrees. Treble I give to the edge to the Aries, the MicroRendu treble is a little harsh, hi-hats for example sound more synthetic and as if they have been artifically boosted, whereas the Aries is much smoother( some might say rolled-off), strings sound more liquid for lack of a better word. It just sounds a little more believable on the Aries.
I saw enough good things in the MicroRendu and I realise there is far more tweaking to be done to lift its performance to an even greater level. I think the categories it wins in are: a) Price (at more than half the price) b) better flexibility, use with Squeezelite etc c) better accuracy, for me this was emphatic across the board. d) stability and robustness, compared to the Aries this is a (pleasant!) night and day difference.
Where it comes second best I feel is a) soundstage is definitely not what it is with the Aries, smaller and less "cohesive" b) treble is a little sharp, at times not real sounding (hi-hats) c) Aries has the better "musicality" overall but this difference is not huge and with some tweaking/performance optimisation can envision the gap narrowing.
I was hoping the MicroRendu's performance would be comprehensively better than the Aries, enough so that I could sell my Aries. I will hold off for now, the MicroRendu will stay in my system as my prefered source and will see what benefits come from the CAT8 cable and maybe try HQPlayer and oversampling options for MinimServer. Overall the MicroRendu is a definite win, and perhaps a comparison to a product greater than twice its price is an unfair one. People coming from PC streaming, Squeezebox etc will be blown away by the performance of this thing. I think its level of performance merits a higher price, but hey not complaining
