Philande

I have had the pleasure of listening to these speakers in Annapolis, MD. I can only say that they were the best sounding speakers that I have heard in anyone's home. They have a world class low end, a natural and full mid-range and are very good spatially. Oh, they image very, very well. They are active and require either an analogue signal processor or a DSP before amplification and require a minimum of three channels per side. These speakers are DYI, (you need to purchase the plans from Mr. Linkwitz) but kits are available from Dr. Frank Brenner LX521 Constant Directivity Loudspeakers and Madisound. These speakers are designed to work in a home environment with little or no need for room treatment. Normal furnishings suffice. I will own these speakers before long.

I too have had a Sonore for about a year. I purchased it for two reasons. The first was that I was looking to better my Cd player front end and the sound quality from the Sonore has exceeded expectations. The second was I needed a simple, easy to use computer. My unit has been a joy to use. However, being the technoloser that I am, I have needed assistance from time to time. Who knew that sometimes your IP address changes. I certainly didn't. Jesus came to the rescue and taught me how to find the new one and then change it in Mpad. As my ripped collection grew he modified the interface so that every time I opened mpad, it would look for changes and reset. Pretty slick I'd say. He has helped me more times than I care to say. I couldn't have chosen a better product for my needs. As good as my unit is, Jesus is the secret sauce making this my best audio purchase- No my best purchase ever.

Jesus built the first I2S Sonore for me because I asked him if it was possible as I had read about the theoretical advantages of the connection. I have no idea whether I2S is better than USB and there is no way to compare the two connections as the W4S DAC will not support USB via a Linux op. However; The music that plays through my system is fabulous. I visited the Capitol Audiofest here and listened to as many rooms and manufacturers as I could. Only two systems were clearly superior and they were MBL and the Wilson/ Dagostino combo. Those systems cost better than 100k each and both were using computers as a source. My point is, I don't care if the connection is the reason for the great sound that I have. What's important to me is that my investment in Sonore and W4S is a success. It could have gone the other way as I purchased before listening. Jesus promised me that he wouldn't ship me the unit if he couldn't get it to play well and was true to his word. My Sonore plays flawlessly through this connection.

I have a CD from 1976 and Orson Welles narrates on a few of the cuts. The sound quality is very good for such an old disk.

Michel, Currently, I am using Bliss to help me with Teg Editing on my Sonore. I have only used it to help with some difficult tags. It has more flexibility but I hesitate to use them. What are you using and if you are using Bliss, what are settings are you using to help manage your library? Thanks Phil

My W4S DAC doesn't support USB from a Linux based server. Can you compare the two inputs? I would like to know if there is any noticeable difference between the two.

The app for playback on mpod and mpad both have gapless support for the Sonore. I haven't had any issues with this. Phil

You may not have to "throw the baby out with the bath water". As many of you have written in your posts, there are many connection types that produce wonderful sounding music. Part of the allure of the PS Audio DAC / Bridge combination is the I2S connection and using a home network. From all that I've read, the PS Audio DAC is a special unit at its price point. I did consider it before making a different purchase. If there was an I2S capable server avilable at the time, I probably would have pulled the trigger and purchased both. If I was unhappy with the DAC /Bridge combination and wanted to use the I2S connection for the PWD, I'd check with Jesus at Simple Designs. I couldn't be more happy with the performance of this connection. I know he was working on providing an I2S connection from a Sonore into a PWD. I am sorry this sounds so much like an ad but, Jesus has helped me every step of the way. He has been available on line and by phone to answer all of my questions. I have never experienced such customer support. I believe that you'll have the performance of the PW Transport with the convenience of a music server and HI Res capability as well. Phil

I too was interested in purchasing a Music Server rather than "building my own". I read where an I2S connection from the server to a DAC was possible and quite possibly prefferable. I asked the folks at Simple Design if this was possible and they said yes. We chose the W4S DAC2 and Jesus built me one. I can only say that the combination really creates beautiful music and the twounitshave a synergy between them.

I began this post by explaining why I wanted to purchase a server that was more of an “appliance” than computer that I would have to tweak to gain sonic benefits. I chose to purchase a Sonore from Simple Design primarily for two reasons. The first was the favorable review here on CA and the second was the great experience that I have had with Jesus. As mentioned previously, he has answered all of my questions and has helped me through the set up of my new server. Jesus and I decided on him building a server with an I2S output to a W4S DAC 2. This unit is the first that he has sold and I couldn’t be more pleased with the ease of use and the sonic performance. I can access this unit from my Ipad as well as from my laptop. It is all handled wirelessly and once I make a selection the music begins playing immediately. Wow, there is no waiting for the files to boot up. I click and I have sound. Not just OK sound but music that is better than anything I have heard on my system before. I have compared this I2S connection to a Quad CDP-2 unit that sounds wonderful in its own right and an Oppo 93 universal player. The quad is connected to the W4S through Toslink and the Oppo through SPDIF. I also compared them directly into my system, bypassing the W4S DAC. While comparisons are difficult as the sound level has to be spot on to effectively discern a quality difference, I have gotten pretty good at adjusting levels and the Sonore sings in comparison with the other units. The sound is more pure, more live sounding and most certainly, way less fatiguing. There is a wonderful synergy between the Sonore and the DAC. I have not downloaded Hi Res music yet although the Sonore came with a few pre-loaded tracks from ITRAX. I will begin to purchase some and compare them to my CD versions. The Sonore is dead quiet in operation. You would never know it is producing this beautiful music. If I couldn’t see the little blue led showing the unit is on I’d have no idea it was doing anything. The unit also multitasks. I have dropped 4 or 5 music files that I have ripped on EAC into the Sonore and simultaneously ripped a CD while listening to already stored music. I am amazed by this. The only noise I hear is when the unit is ripping a CD. Once the ripping process is completed there is complete silence from the machine. I have one last point. I know that my system is resolving enough to hear differences in some components. In the past, I have tried to hear a difference with phase. I couldn’t reliably tell when the phase was inverted and I can’t hear a difference with the optical or digital inputs on the W4S either. With the I2S connection there is an obvious change in sound that everyone who has listened to my system can hear. Each who has listed has a preference though we do not always agree on the setting.

I have "Lurked" on this site for many months before jumping into using a computer as my main source for storing and providing my music. I have read most of the forum entries as well as all of Chris' posts as well as his articles. Chris, you have an enjoyable site with great content and folks who are happy to discuss their hobby without all of the snobbery that I have found elsewhere. At first I was interested in Chris’ CAPS Server but felt that my limited computer knowledge would just frustrate me and most probably, defeat my goal of easy, high quality music playback. Many on this site use and recommend MAC products and I looked into a modded MAC Mini. I was thinking of using Pure Music as well. Upon reading your posts I realized that I would have to ask a younger, more computer savvy friend to help me. That is not what I want. So, I began looking into Appliances as Chris calls them. There are a few mega-bucks units out there and I dismissed them as beyond my means but there are a few that are in my budget. I have considered the Olive, the Auraliti, PS Audio DAC with it’s network Bridge and the Sonore. I have found a few too many negative comments from Olive owners on the web. The same is true for PS Audio. The Auraliti is a file reader with no internal hard drive and can not rip direct. I would prefer not ripping from my laptop to an external hard drive and then connecting it to the player. The Sonore seems to fit my requirements and a quick check of my archived emails shows me that Jesus of Simple Design the manufacturer of Sonore Music Servers has answered every question that I have asked since December 31,2010. If anyone ever earned a sale it is him. I have worn him out with questions about lynx cards, USB, etc. About 3 weeks ago I asked him if we could speak in real time and he graciously called me. I also had many questions about DACs. I was on his site and noticed that he could build a server with an I2S output. I thought that the PS DAC would work with it and he told me no, the Wyred for Sound DAC 2 is the only DAC that knew of that could use this connection. I ordered the new server and the W4S DAC on the spot. Jesus has everything working in his studio and will be sending it to me later this week. I can’t wait to set it up and listen. If any of you show interest, I’ll be happy to report on the sound as it “breaks in”. Thanks to all of you for helping me to first jump into using a server as my main source and generously offering your knowledge to this website. I would not have made this choice without all of your help. Also, if any of you are computer limited as I am, please do not hesitate to email Jesus for help. He has been patient, knowledgeable and generous with his time and insights.