A front-mounted USB port is included, for charging your mobile devices and for backing up files stored on the Sonore’s internal drive. Heatsinks run the length of the sides, obviating the need of a cooling fan and resulting in absolutely silent operation. Now available, however, is Simple Design’s Signature Series ultra-low-noise power-supply upgrade, which starts at $649 and can be bought for any Sonore unit already in the field. My review sample included an external power supply slightly larger than a typical laptop’s. The Sonore’s case is CNC-machined from aluminum. (The size of hard drive can be specified at time of order.) Yes, the Sonore doesn’t need an external hard drive for data storage - something you should factor in when comparing it with a laptop, which won’t have as much storage capacity. My review sample included an SATA power-line noise filter from SOtM Audio, for the rejection of radio-frequency interference (RFI) and “ripple reduction.” It also had an internal 2TB hard drive for music storage. It will also rip your DVDs to the MKV format. It's also interesting to note that the hard drive assembly is mass loaded and floats between the top and bottom cover, separated by special rubber isolation tabs. ![]() (They did this with me to check my setup all was fine.) The Sonore can automatically rip and tag your CDs, the latter with cover-art finder (which is why it needs access to the Internet), via its front-loading slot drive. The folks from Simple Design can also remotely log in to your network to ensure that all your settings are correct, or even help with installation if you run into snags. ![]() The Sonore connects to a home network via an Ethernet cable in a process that’s a snap, assuming you have any experience at all with routers. You can also use a Web-enabled interface that uses Logitech Squeezebox Server, which is what I used with my Apple MacBook laptop. Control of music playback in your system comes via a free subscription app that you can use with Android devices and iPod Touches, iPhones, and iPads. The Sonore is compatible with almost all formats of music file you might put through it, including AIFF, WAV, FLAC, ALAC, and MP3, but is not compatible with formats encoded with Digital Rights Management (DRM). There are a number of output options: via USB digital using an internal SOtM tX-USB soundcard, like my review sample ($1899 USD with Cardas USB cable) i2S via HDMI ($1999 with Cardas HDMI cable) AES/EBU digital via an internal Lynx AES16 soundcard ($2399 with Cardas AES/EBU cable) or analog via an internal Lynx L22 soundcard ($2439 with Cardas analog cables). (Sonore is based in Miami Lakes, Florida, and was founded by Jesus Rodriguez, who manages it with his business partner, Adrian Lebena.)Ī Sonore can be built in several different ways, configurable at time of order. In that sense, the Sonore is a hi-fi component like any other, and belongs on the rack between your preamp and DAC. It’s a computer whose sole purpose is to feed a high-end digital-to-analog converter a perfect digital signal. It can’t handle your word-processing duties or surf the Internet, and it won’t sit in your lap on that long airplane ride (unless you’re carrying it to your vacation home). The Sonore music server from Simple Design is built for just that purpose. Today’s top-performing music server should be dedicated to the one task it’s designed to do: feed the DAC while protecting the integrity of the signal. One engineering creed about a music server designed for audiophiles is that it should be a stripped-down version of the do-everything computers we’re used to using. And where a need is perceived, someone will be ready to fill it, which is why standalone music-servers from various companies are popping up like weeds in fertile ground. It’s the audiophile way: The quest for better sound required a rethinking of the computer as music server, and a number of companies have taken up the challenge.Īn ever-increasing proportion of audiophiles now seem to be fully committed to music servers as high-end sources. There wasn’t much else you could do to improve that setup, except maybe a few tweaks to make the computer run its best: RAM upgrades, better USB cables, and so on.īut computer audio continued to evolve: Enter the standalone music server, built not for the masses - that is, not for convenience and for simultaneously performing a multitude of tasks - but for the hardcore audiophile for whom high sound quality is paramount. Only a few years ago, the conventional audiophile wisdom was that the best sound from computer audio could be had for the price of a Mac computer and downloaded aftermarket music-player software from the likes of Amarra or Decibel.
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