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    The Computer Audiophile

    A Quick Spin With The RoonReady Sonore Sonicorbiter SE

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    Got a USB DAC that you'd like to put on your network? Been looking for a network DAC that supports a plethora of sample rates and protocols? Want to remove a Mac or traditional PC form your listening room? The Sonicorbiter SE may help you with these first-world problems. The Sonicorbiter SE isn't a DAC but it can breath new life and capabilities into almost any DAC available.

     

    The Sonicorbiter SE is an Ethernet to USB (or TosLink) converter. It uses software developed by Andrew Gillis of Small Green Computer / Vortexbox fame, that runs on unmodified Cubox hardware. Sure the tiny ( 2" x 2" x 2") Cubox is a neat piece of hardware, but the Sonicorbiter SE is all about software. This is where the real value lies. It's possible to duplicate much of the Sonicorbiter SE's functionality on one's own by purchasing a Cubox or Raspberry Pi based solution, but let's get real. Nothing is more expensive than our time. If people want to spend countless hours trying to duplicate what's already available, then more power to them. I however, highly recommend outsourcing this work to Sonore by purchasing the Sonicorbiter SE (likely sold out as we speak). Plus, as of right now Joe Sixpack or Joe Bloggs can't create their own RoonReady device without working with the Roon Labs team to get the license and to get the product certified. Sonore had those boxes checked before any other company in the world.

     

    I've been using a Sonicorbiter SE for a few weeks and totally love this little device. What's not to love about a $300 network endpoint? Well, there are a few items but I don't believe they are show stoppers. Again, this thing is $300! In this hobby that same $300 won't buy you one meter of cable.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]

     

    Not A Full Fledged Review, Just A Quick Spin

     

    Briefly, the Sonore Sonicorbiter SE is a network audio solution for SqueezeLite, ShairPort/AirPlay, MPD, DLNA, HQ Player NAA, and is RoonReady. Many of these options have been discussed for years around here, and all are still very valid ways to send music over one's network. However, I'm most interested in using the RoonReady capability of the Sonicorbiter SE. Once connected to the network, via wired Ethernet only, users can select which of the aforementioned modes they'd like to use. My unit came with RoonReady already selected, but I could have just as easily opened the Obiter's webpage and selected the RoonReady icon. There's no real configuration required and there are only a couple options. If one is using a DSD capable DAC he can select the DSD option. One option to note is the RoonReady volume control. It's possible to select Hardware, Software, or None. Based on my experience, it's best to select None. When I selected Hardware, thinking I only wanted my DAC to control the volume (hardware) the Sonicorbiter SE wouldn't appear as a RoonReady device within the Roon application. As soon as I selected None, it appeared instantly.

     

    Since I received the Orbiter I've connected it to several DACs including my Berkeley Audio Design Alpha DAC RS / Alpha USB combo, emm Labs DAC2X, Mytek Brooklyn, and many others. The Sonicorbiter SE turns these DACs into network capable devices for $300. Mark my words, the concept of the Sonicorbiter SE has legs and will become even bigger in our hobby. Plus, this specific device is only a precursor of what's to come with the Sonore microRendu. But that's a story for a later date. In my system right now, I'm running Roon on a MacBook Pro, controlling playback with an iPad Air 2, sending audio to the Sonicorbiter SE2 that is connected to the Mytek Brooklyn DAC via USB. I can't wait to simplify this setup even further when Roon releases its software to install on QNAP NAS units. Then I will use an iPad to select music on the NAS and it will be sent straight to the Orbiter. Again, that's a story for a later date.

     

    With the Sonicorbiter SE in my system, I sent PCM audio up through 24 bit / 352.8 kHz and DSD audio up through DSD256 to the Mytek Brooklyn DAC without an issue. Gapless 24/192 and DSD64 was also a breeze. The sound quality of the Orbiter is pretty good, especially with the iFi iPower supply that's an option when purchasing the Orbiter. Readers must keep in mind that the Cubox hardware used for the Sonicorbiter SE isn't built for low noise, it's built for low price and small size.

     

    A couple issues I ran into with the Sonicorbiter SE aren't showstoppers. First, the TosLink port requires a special adapter or cable in order to fit in the port. This is because the optical port is recessed in the plastic case. This has been the problem with Cuboxes since they were first introduced with an optical port years ago. It's nothing Sonore had control over, but I believe Sonore's Jesus Rodriguez is researching a solution for his customers. Second, I ran into a very strange problem that has taken three days to troubleshoot (as of this writing) with the Roon Labs team. The CA readers who also frequent the Roon forums will likely have seen my long thread about sending audio to the Sonicorbiter SE form Windows based Roon computers. Fortunately, the issue has been duplicated by Brian at Roon Labs, and it's not an issue that only effects the Orbiter. I found the same issue when using Auralic's Aries as a RoonReady endpoint. Two issue, that really aren't issues of the Orbiter alone, and will likely be fixed soon.

     

    I also want to touch on Roon licensing and certification. This is a critical piece of RoonReady devices that shouldn't be overlooked. Roon doesn't use, what I consider the most non-standard standard, UPnP/DLNA, to send audio from point A to point B. Roon uses its own UDP based secret sauce for end to end control. Thus, to manufacture a RoonReady endpoint a company must work with the Roon Labs team to license its software and provide a hardware sample for certification. The software that is being licensed was created by Roon Labs and is installed on the third party manufacturer's device. In this case RoonReady software is installed on the Sonicorbiter SE. When users send audio from a Roon server to a RoonReady endpoint, they are sending it from Roon-to-Roon. This controlled environment can be considered the Apple to UPnP's Microsoft. Closed and works, versus open and should work. The certification step to being RoonReady is equally as critical. In fact, when I ran into problems with Windows based Roon servers sending audio to the Orbiter, the Roon Labs team was positive that the platform I was using worked and it even had the device in its lab for trying to replicate my problem. I know we aren't talking about sending missiles across the globe and nobody on Earth absolutely 100% NEEDS this stuff, but the whole licensing and certification process makes my music listening life much easier.

     

     

    Wrap-up

     

    The combination of RoonReady and the Sonore Sonicorbiter SE is the beginning of something special. This tiny device can turn a "simple" USB DAC into a network capable powerhouse with more features than almost any high end DAC alone can offer. If you want to get in on the RoonReady bandwagon while it's on the ground floor and it's still inexpensive, I can't recommend the Sonore Sonicorbiter SE enough. It may not be the height of living when it comes to absolute sound quality, but at $300 I doubt it's too rich for anyone's blood. Pick one up and give it a spin. It's a great device.

     

     

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    i don't believe anyone claimed that. Chris did state that the sound using it was good, and the computer used as the source/server didn't seem to make a difference in SQ.

     

    If someone makes that comparison they can report.

     

    I just don't get the sonic difference between a piece of electronics such as this an NUC or Mac Mini with and SSD. I'd love an explanation.

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    I just don't get the sonic difference between a piece of electronics such as this an NUC or Mac Mini with and SSD. I'd love an explanation.

     

    The expalanation (at least partly) is that by serving your audio over the ethernet to this device, you isolate your playback from noise created in your server. With this device, which is simple and electronically quiet (more than just about any "computer/server"), you do only playback, no processing. Therefore, less noise is conducted to your DAC. Ergo, better sound. Lots of people have found that it works.

    Hey but if you don't like the concept - don't sweat it.

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    Hey but if you don't like the concept - don't sweat it.

    If everyone had this attitude the audio world would be such a friendlier place :~)

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    OK..quick question.

     

    I'm not fully up to date on Roon at the moment but am I understanding it correctly that the Roon server running on a standard PC elseware on the network will do all the processing of the audio files even if one doesn't choose the HQ Player NAA endpoint option within the Sonic Orbiter Web interface?

     

    Also, if one chooses the Roon option on the Sonic Orbiter do you then use the Roon server interface to point it to a NAS device on the network via UNC path?

     

    Thanks

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    OK..quick question.

     

    I'm not fully up to date on Roon at the moment but am I understanding it correctly that the Roon server running on a standard PC elseware on the network will do all the processing of the audio files even if one doesn't choose the HQ Player NAA endpoint option within the Sonic Orbiter Web interface?

     

    Also, if one chooses the Roon option on the Sonic Orbiter do you then use the Roon server interface to point it to a NAS device on the network via UNC path?

     

    Thanks

    Good questions.

     

    The main Roon computer (RoonServer or standard Roon) does any DSP processing you need and send the final PCM or DSD audio stream to the endpoint.

     

    Yes, the Roon interface from a computer or iOS/Android app is used to configure the software to look at a NAS via UNC or mapped drive.

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    The expalanation (at least partly) is that by serving your audio over the ethernet to this device, you isolate your playback from noise created in your server. With this device, which is simple and electronically quiet (more than just about any "computer/server"), you do only playback, no processing. Therefore, less noise is conducted to your DAC. Ergo, better sound. Lots of people have found that it works.

    Hey but if you don't like the concept - don't sweat it.

     

    Not debating, just trying to understand. To me this device fits the definition of a computer and I don't understand how/why it has less noise than a NUC with an SSD. And if it does, I wonder what the measurements are. What is the level of noise of say a Mac Mini with an HD, a Mac Mini with an SSD, a NUC wish an SSD, and the SonicOrbiter.

     

    I've also understood (maybe wrongly) that if an audiophile's music is on a hard disc on a server many feet/yards away, the noise of those spinning HDs are still in the chain and corrupt the silent endpoint.

     

    It's not that I don't like the concept, I'm just trying to understand what the measurable differences are and why.

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    Is Roon Server able to perform different conversions, from the same source file, according to different endpoints and respective attached DACs capabilities. This should be useful for multi-room purposes.

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    Good questions.

     

    The main Roon computer (RoonServer or standard Roon) does any DSP processing you need and send the final PCM or DSD audio stream to the endpoint.

     

    Yes, the Roon interface from a computer or iOS/Android app is used to configure the software to look at a NAS via UNC or mapped drive.

     

    Sounds promising...Thanks for the info

     

    So besides the benefits of offloading the processing to another machine I see this device also has a pretty lightweight footprint in terms of power requirements as well. The small Linux box I'm using now needs about 12V (Alix 2d2) verses the Orbiter which only requires 5V. I'm using Voyage Linux MPD but I am not sure what flavor of Linux is being used by the Orbiter and if it would be considered just as good as Voyage or not?

     

    Assuming its equal to Voyage MPD in terms of code optimizations..etc then I think it would be reasonable to assume that the Orbiter should be as good if not better than my current setup (Looking at it from my keyboard/mouse engineering chair on the other side of the Internet) :)

     

    So Chris, you mention that this device sounds good as is but could not be considered the ultimate in terms of SQ possibly due to its Cubox hardware not being built for low noise. I'm curious to know of another device (excluding the Rendu that isn't available yet) that could be considered better with possibly less noise compared to this Orbiter which only requires 5V of power?

     

    This is an honest not trying to be a d1Ck question, I am truly interested to know because I've had the itch to try another music server for awhile now but haven't seen any that stood out as being much better then what I have now.

     

    Thanks

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    Not debating, just trying to understand. To me this device fits the definition of a computer and I don't understand how/why it has less noise than a NUC with an SSD. And if it does, I wonder what the measurements are. What is the level of noise of say a Mac Mini with an HD, a Mac Mini with an SSD, a NUC wish an SSD, and the SonicOrbiter.

     

    I've also understood (maybe wrongly) that if an audiophile's music is on a hard disc on a server many feet/yards away, the noise of those spinning HDs are still in the chain and corrupt the silent endpoint.

     

    It's not that I don't like the concept, I'm just trying to understand what the measurable differences are and why.

     

    You're overgeneralizing the "computer" concept. It's not just about the hard drive. A NUC with an SSD is still full of off the shelf computer parts that don't exist in some of these smaller devices, as they are much simpler and don't do as many things as a PC. There's a lot more going on in a NUC than in many of these specialized devices, which are basically one board on the inside/ In terms of processing, something like the Sonic Orbiter is doing much less than most PCs - because the OS is designed that way. PCs, even at idle, have more processes running than something like a Sonic Orbiter.

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    Sounds promising...Thanks for the info

     

    So besides the benefits of offloading the processing to another machine I see this device also has a pretty lightweight footprint in terms of power requirements as well. The small Linux box I'm using now needs about 12V (Alix 2d2) verses the Orbiter which only requires 5V. I'm using Voyage Linux MPD but I am not sure what flavor of Linux is being used by the Orbiter and if it would be considered just as good as Voyage or not?

     

    Assuming its equal to Voyage MPD in terms of code optimizations..etc then I think it would be reasonable to assume that the Orbiter should be as good if not better than my current setup (Looking at it from my keyboard/mouse engineering chair on the other side of the Internet) :)

     

    So Chris, you mention that this device sounds good as is but could not be considered the ultimate in terms of SQ possibly due to its Cubox hardware not being built for low noise. I'm curious to know of another device (excluding the Rendu that isn't available yet) that could be considered better with possibly less noise compared to this Orbiter which only requires 5V of power?

     

    This is an honest not trying to be a d1Ck question, I am truly interested to know because I've had the itch to try another music server for awhile now but haven't seen any that stood out as being much better then what I have now.

     

    Thanks

    Hi cjf - I've used Voyage off and on over the years on Alix boards and other devices. It's a good combination. I remember when it was the only combination of its kind. The Sonicorbiter is built on Fedora Linux and highly customized just like Voyage is built on Debian Linux and highly customized.

     

    I think you assumption that, "the Orbiter should be as good if not better than my current setup" is correct.

     

    Looking at 5v devices i can't think of any that would for sure be better than the Orbiter. I'm really looking forward to the microRendu. Based on what I know about the product, it should be fantastic.

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    You're overgeneralizing the "computer" concept. It's not just about the hard drive. A NUC with an SSD is still full of off the shelf computer parts that don't exist in some of these smaller devices, as they are much simpler and don't do as many things as a PC. There's a lot more going on in a NUC than in many of these specialized devices, which are basically one board on the inside/ In terms of processing, something like the Sonic Orbiter is doing much less than most PCs - because the OS is designed that way. PCs, even at idle, have more processes running than something like a Sonic Orbiter.

     

    Yep. I am aware I may be overgeneralizing "computer". But quite frankly I haven't seen that clearly defined in audiophile context. Is the RaspberryPi a computer? What about a Beaglebone Black? An iPhone? An iPad? A Microsoft Surface? An Auralic Aries? A Sonos? A TiVo? A CableBox? An AppleTV? A SmartTV?

     

    What's the line where it's good to have the "computer" near your audio equipment or not?

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    Would this device support 8 channels and output all 8 channels to my exaSound e28?

    The Sonore SonicOrbiter SE does not currently support exaSound DACs (via USB) as they require a custom driver which is not available for Linux (outside of exaSounds own PlayPoint device).

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    I think that PiCoreplayer with Daphile (server+multizone player in one) or with Roon are best combinations for today. Especially by reason that Daphile have bruteFIR convolver DRC for each possible zones. (Daphile as SQUEEZEBOX SYSTEM ORIGINALLY , also supports UPnP-DLNA and syncAirPlay. And with external BubbleUPnP server support OpenHOME Linn UPnP ). As best DAC for my opinion I use NAD D7050 DDFA DACamp or UcD based NAD D3020 DACamp,all throughout M2Tech USB to SPDIF)

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    I need to think about this and the microRendu some more... I think one of these could make my audio life A LOT easier given that I am trying to set up an environment where my wife can play whatever she wants wherever she is in the house. Thanks Chris.

    Mike

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    I need to think about this and the microRendu some more... I think one of these could make my audio life A LOT easier given that I am trying to set up an environment where my wife can play whatever she wants wherever she is in the house. Thanks Chris.

    Mike

     

    What will be the advantage of the microRendu over the SonicOrbiter?

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    Can you plug a USB hard drive into it?

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    Chris, aside from being RoonReady, how do you compare the sound quality to the BeagleBone Black and Raspberry Pi endpoints you've made and shared here?

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    Forgive these noob questions but this "bridge" concept is the one thing I'm struggling to understand.

     

    If the music server PC is in another room - i.e. away from the other components - and connected to this device via ethernet cable - then do you have to go to that other room each time you want to change the track?

     

    My other point is, does a device like this nullify the whole premise behind the computer audiophile CAPS projects - since it apparently no longer matters what the spec of the "source" PC is? So no need any longer for SSDs, expensive SATA cables, etc etc? I have previously heard arguments that separating the source PC over ethernet doesn't get rid of the "noise" from it. People have even spoken of putting SSDs into their NAS devices to this effect.

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    For the first part of your question: there is a control point app running on your tablet, for browse you library, populate a playlist and control your player.

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    Yep. I am aware I may be overgeneralizing "computer". But quite frankly I haven't seen that clearly defined in audiophile context. Is the RaspberryPi a computer? What about a Beaglebone Black? An iPhone? An iPad? A Microsoft Surface? An Auralic Aries? A Sonos? A TiVo? A CableBox? An AppleTV? A SmartTV?

     

    What's the line where it's good to have the "computer" near your audio equipment or not?

     

    In this case, the line comes when you're sending the information to your DAC over USB. I can tell you that, compared to running my DAC directly off my Mac Mini, running it from a Cubox NAA reduces noise and hash tremendously. That's because there's nothing else going on in the Cubox except receiving the digital information from the ethernet port and sending out through the USB port. Most consumer computers are very noisy on an electronic level because they're doing a lot of things at once. The Raspberry Pi, for example, is not as good for this purpose as the Cubox because the Pi runs the ethernet and USB ports off the same chip, so your incoming and outgoing signals are competing with each other. The Cubox sounds better than the PI. I've used several laptops running full OS's as an NAA, and they do not sound as good as the Cubox.

     

    There are other music servers, like the Aries, tghat are custom designed for better audio transmission. But with the Aries you are limited in terms of what you can do and what kind of software you can use for playback. The computer/renderer setup allows you more options while isolating the DAC from your main computer. A more thoroughly-designed render with high-end USB boards and other components would be an improvement over the Cubox.

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    There are other music servers, like the Aries, tghat are custom designed for better audio transmission. But with the Aries you are limited in terms of what you can do and what kind of software you can use for playback. The computer/renderer setup allows you more options while isolating the DAC from your main computer. A more thoroughly-designed render with high-end USB boards and other components would be an improvement over the Cubox.

     

    Thanks. That is helpful. So what I am hearing, the difference is if a "computer" is multi-functional or not. There is also obviously a difference in the quality of components, but that is a different issue than the noise of a computer in the chain.

     

    But I still have the question of is a "computer" that exists outside of the audio chain but in proximity to the chain such as the devices I mentioned above (tablets, smart TVs, set-tip boxes, etc.)

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    Thanks. That is helpful. So what I am hearing, the difference is if a "computer" is multi-functional or not. There is also obviously a difference in the quality of components, but that is a different issue than the noise of a computer in the chain.

     

    But I still have the question of is a "computer" that exists outside of the audio chain but in proximity to the chain such as the devices I mentioned above (tablets, smart TVs, set-tip boxes, etc.)

     

    Well, anything that generates RF can potentially be an issue in an AV setup, but here we are just talking about the dedicated audio chain, from file storage to playback device to DAC. A lot of people control their computer playback system with a "remote" device like an iPad or other tablet, and generally this is not a problem.

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    Can you plug a USB hard drive into it?

     

    Yes you can. This would make the Sonicoribter SE a self contained music transport. The only other thing you would need is a iPhone or table to control playback.

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    Yes you can. This would make the Sonicoribter SE a self contained music transport. The only other thing you would need is a iPhone or table to control playback.

     

    But wouldn't this defeat the one of the purposes of getting the hard drives out of or at least away from the audio chain?

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