Ideon Audio 3R USB renaissance USB reconditioned

Using a computer with external d/a conversion to play music has become enormously popular. But computers aren’t built to reproduce music at high quality. To improve the sound quality, many tools and gadgets came to market, like this 3R USB Renaissance. What does it do and how does it improve the sound quality? Let’s start, as usual, with where the 3R - as I will call it from now on - fits in your stereo. Since it is for use with USB ports, let’s assume you have a stereo that has a USB DAC as separate or integrated into the amp and you want to use your computer, laptop, smartphone or tablet as a source.

For convenience I will only mention the computer from here on, 00:59 - but it’s the same for laptop, smartphone and tablet. You connect a USB A connector on the computer to the USB B input on the DAC or amp with integrated DAC. You then use a music player on the computer that is able to send the music to the USB output on the computer. Preferably bit perfect. If the computer is connected to the internet, you can also use streaming services and internet radio stations, provided you music player software supports that. Since the computer is not designed for audio playback at high quality, the USB signal isn’t as clean and perfect as is needed, which will degrade the audio quality during the digital to analog conversion.

01:43 - To reduce this pollution, the 3R is connected in-between the computer and the DAC. So now there is a USB cable running from the computer to the 3R and a second USB cable from the 3R to the DAC - or USB input on the amplifier. If you have your computer elsewhere in the house, you can use a network bridge or streamer to send the music data over the network. That might require other software, depending on the network bridge or streamer. See my video “How network audio players work”.

In this setup the 3R is in-between the network bridge or streamer and the DAC. The 3R is only a small box made of aluminium with plastic ends. It measures 62 by 80 by 22 mm and weighs only 64 grams excluding the wall wart power supply. On the input side there is a DC power input where the supplied power supply is connected to. Next to it the USB B connector that is to be connected to the computer or network bridge. On the output side there is a USB A connector where the USB cable to the DAC is connected. Furthermore a LED that indicates that an active USB connection is present and a power LED. A USB connection carries a positive data signal, a negative data signal and a Ground. So it’s a balanced signal. It also carries a +5 volts line that can deliver 0.5 amps. This powers the interface chip in the DAC so it can communicate with the computer even if the DAC is switched off.

As part of Universal Plug & Play protocol it tells the computer that it’s a DAC, 03:36 - what sampling rates it can do and some other info. But with this 5 volts bus, electric noise from the computer can get into the DAC and disturb the digital to analog conversion. So the 3R replaces the power line with one of its own cleaned up power supply. This is the power input, followed by a capacitor and voltage regulator. Then a second regulator that sends a clean 5 volts to the USB output. And then the Data lines.

Since USB ports in 04:10 - computers are intended for general data use, like storage media and printers, they don’t need to be of very high spec. For audio demands are clearly higher, especially phase jitter is rather critical for it can cause jitter in the DAC even though the USB Audio Class 2 is asynchronous. I’m still working on a video to explain this to non-technical viewers, so stay tunes. Now, what the 3R does is receive the data, reshape the eye pattern and re-clock it. So directly after the USB input we see the clock crystal and the Microchip USB 2532 chip.

This is in essence a hub controller 04:53 - but has all the technique aboard to clean and reshape the incoming signal and re-clock it. I have reviewed several USB devices that improve the USB signal. But more and more I question the validity of simple tests. Let me explain. When I connect such a device between the Auralic Aries G2 network player and the Denafrips Terminator-Plus, that I temporary have on loan for review, the effect several of these devices give is rather small. The Auralic clearly sends out a very clean and near perfect signal.

By the way, not 05:33 - only on USB but also on SPDIF and AES/EBU. And my impression is that the Denafrips Terminator-Plus has inputs that are rather insensitive to the quality of the input signals. Or, put differently, it does its own cleaning up of input signals and does that very good. The effect of the 3R on the sound quality using the Auralic, the Denafrips or both therefore is rather limited. So in this test I used a Raspberry Pi 4b with a cheap power supply, a 2017 13 inch Apple MacBook Pro i5 and the SOtM sMS-200 Ultra Neo with sBooster power supply to drive the Mytek Brooklyn with Syntaxx power supply and Denafrips Ares II DAC’s.

Both DAC’s 06:22 - were connected to the amp and loudspeakers of my setup 1. The USB cable was the AudioQuest Diamond. When the 3R was inserted, the USB cable between the computer and the 3R was a standard USB cable. I chose to use the AudioQuest on the ‘clean’ side of the 3R to preserve the cleaner signal. Using the the MacBook Pro on the Mytek Brooklyn directly sounded somewhat harsh while sibilance control was not great. The resolution and stereo image was about 50% of what I get from the Auralic Aries G2. The same goes for pace & rhythm.

After inserting the 3R the harshness was clearly reduced 07:06 - and the sibilance was more controlled. The stereo image was somewhat enlarged and more in focus and pace & rhythm was better. The Ares II, connected to the Raspberry Pi 4b scored a stereo image at about 30% of what I get from the Aries G2, which isn’t strange, of course. There also was more harshness and sibilance while pace & rhythm was rather poor. The Ares II can sound a lot better when offered a cleaner signal.

07:36 - So the 3B was inserted and that did indeed bring the sound quality up quite a bit. It sounded more relaxed, had better pace & rhythm while the harshness was clearly reduced. Using the sMS-200 Ultra Neo on the Ares II of course gave already a better result but adding the 3R made the sound more relaxed while the stereo image and resolution improved. Sibilance didn’t change that much, it was already rather good. Using the Mytek Brooklyn with Syntaxx power supply gave a less clear difference.

There certainly was improvement in resolution and stereo image 08:14 - but I wonder if my neighbour would hear it. For the true audiophile it is a noticeable difference. Devices like this do improve clearly the sound quality of setups with non-audio sources like computers. Also used on affordable streamer they can offer clear improvements, but it all depends on the equipment used. In this field of USB cleaners and reclockers the Ideon Audio 3R USB Renaissance offers a decent price/performance at around 350 Euros.

Which is great for a product 08:53 - built in the EU; Ideon is a Greek company. I would advise you to buy products like this at a place where it can be returned if it doesn’t benefit you. I have tried to give an indication where it might do a great job. Which brings me to the end of this show. There will be another video next Friday at 5 pm central European time. If you don’t want to miss that, subscribe to this channel or follow me on the social media so you’ll be informed when new videos are out.

09:25 - You can help me reach even more people by clicking the thumbs-up icon and mentioning my work on the socials. Many thanks to those viewers that support this channel financially, it keeps me independent and thus trustworthy. If that makes you feel like supporting my work too, the links are in the comments below this video on Youtube. I am Hans Beekhuyzen, thank you for watching and see you in the next show or on theHBproject.com. And whatever you do, enjoy the music. .