The "Official" Aurender Discussion Thread

[KunterK]

Dear fellow Aurender users...

 

Yesterday I changed the SATA cable of the SSD disk in my N10 with PPA Black SATA cable I had lying around from the previous setup. To do that, I had to use an extension cable for the power part since the aurender SATA connection is a combined data/power cable. A simple SATA Power extension did the trick.

 

And the result is simply outstanding.

 

Just so you know...

 

Cheers

 

KK

[KunterK]

I have a N10 and would also be interested in what exactly was "Better". Also a little more info or pictures on what you did and if needed to be ordered what and where to order from.

 

Hi and sorry for the late answer to the previous poster... Did not check this site recently...

 

The site I ordered the Black SATA is

SHOPPING AREA: SATA CABLE

 

The sound is better in all audiophile terms. More depth, more detail, more space, more "real". I did not take pictures at the time of install but will do so when I open the unit up once more to make a power modification to the SSD. I plan to power the SSD externally via Batteries, and will post the results here if you are interested. Should be a couple of weeks though, since I need to take the top cover to a place where I can have a hole drilled to let the battery cable in.

I will use this:

SHOPPING AREA: BATTERY ADAPTER

 

for the W20 owner:

I just changed the SATA cable of the SSD since it is where the music is copied to and than played back from. I am not sure if there will be any benefits to change the SATA cables of the HDD's as well and I am not willing to explore due to high cost. The HDD's sleep once the data is read...

 

I remember it was the 20 cm that I used but will double check when I open up the N10. For the W20, I am not sure about the length requirements, or even this change is possible. The SATA cables seem to pass through some serious shielding in the case...

 

Cheers

[KunterK]

Dear fellow Aurender users.

 

Although this topic is covered well outside of this forum, just wanted to share my experience in case there are others interested and did not do research elsewhere.

 

I own an N10. As per Aurender support's suggestion, I moved to Fiber connection and very happy with it.

 

My initial setup was:

 

All files used for playback on Aurender disks (no NAS, etc). Except for Tidal of course.

My wired network comes very close to the N10 with a longish (8m) Cat6 from Apple Airport Extreme, there, a battery powered and Entreq grounded PPA switch takes on.

I connect N10 to the switch with an Audioquest Diamond Ethernet (.75m) and an Acoustic Revive RLI-1. So I was well covered.

 

The new setup is, 

One TP-Link MC100CM sits beside the Airport Extreme, connected with a short Cat6.

An SC/SC fiber cable travels for 10m to the back of my system

Enters into another MC100CM

The same Diamond Ethernet and RLI-1 then connects the MC100CM to Aurender.

 

Initially, there was a very welcome increase in performance.

 

Then I powered the MC100CM on the system side with a 5v Battery (PPA I used for the previous switch).

 

Wow. 

 

The difference is huge on all audiophile dimensions. 

 

Local file playback is delightful and Tidal playback is now very much improved as well..

 

Just wanted to share. YMMV

 

Kunter

[KunterK]

Strange right?

it might be due to some electrical garbage traveling through ground? 

Beats me. 

 

[KunterK]

Hello again. 

After many months of procrastination, I finally took the plunge and started powering the SSD in my N10 with external battery. The Data (sata) cable used is PPA Black. Battery used is PPA battery power supply. 

I expected some improvement but this is big. The sound is so real. 

 

Now I need to find a way to close the top cover

 

 

the remaining cables you see in the photo is the unused default sata cable in the device, with some extensions I used prior to adding the battery supply. 

 

Kunter

[KunterK]

7 minutes ago, dminches said:

 

How about disconnecting the ethernet cable and seeing how the sound changes.  I just don't understand how the ethernet connection affects the sound when you are playing from the internal drive.

Then Aurender will be busy trying to find a network so not apples to apples. 

The improvement is hard to believe unless you hear it. 

 

And this was suggested to me by Aurender support so there should be a merit somewhere. 

[KunterK]

N10 is one level below your w20.

If you are asking about the networking isolation thing, theoretically benefits should be similar. One friend with a w20 ordered the media converters so sometime next week we will know for sure if this improves things with w20 as well... 

As per the operation, nothing changes. Its just an extension to your normal wired network.

 

 

One thing I am sure, I am not jealous of his w20 anymore

 

Cheers

[KunterK]

23 hours ago, agladstone said:

How do I go about doing this? This is Sata and battery power to the SSD the Aurender uses for playback right? 

- Yes

What size battery power does it require (5V?). 

- Yes

Would the LPS-1 power supply work well for this? 

- It should... 

Does this require leaving the top off? 

- Yes, but I plan to have a small dent in the case to let the cable out and close the top...

Any thoughts on increasing the size of the SSD? I have the N100H and it only has a 128GB SSD, whereas the N10 and the W20 have 256 SSD and I think the extra storage for cache would probably benefit playback also? 

- Depends on how many files you will load to playlist. an average album takes about 400 MB so you are well covered with the standard disk.

I'll try whatever I can within reason if it can improve my sound quality  

---- Well you have one problem. As far as I know, the playback ssd in N100H is mSATA so you can not power it externally.

 

23 hours ago, agladstone said:

 

Answers inline...

[KunterK]

23 hours ago, isquirrel said:

Thanks, I have not heard about the Media Convertors, are they an Aurender product?

TP Link. You can read more in the many Optical Network Isolation threads...

[KunterK]

15 hours ago, agladstone said:

KunterK - thanks for your response/ answers!!

seems like the battery power can't be done in the N100H:( 

Also, if it is mSata, seems like no sata cable is used either, thus no need to upgrade a Sata cable!! 

I wonder if attempting to mod the N100H so that the entire unit could be powered via an external LPSU would be possible and offer any sound improvements?

I would do the Network Optical Isolation trick first. N100H already has a nice linear supply.

[KunterK]

9 hours ago, isquirrel said:

How do you control the Aurender if the Network cable is removed ?

You will be limited to the front facing buttons.

But you can first start a playlist and pull the network plug to test. 

[KunterK]

4 hours ago, agladstone said:

I have network isolation in my system already!!

I have an isolator first at the cable modem (prior to RG6 going into cable modem), then a network isolator from Cable modem to Wireless Router with built in 8 port Gigabyte switch, then another network isolator from Cable wireless router/switch prior to going into Aurender. (3 LAN Metwork Isolators in chain prior to Aurender). 

These are hospital grade Gigabyte Network LAN Isolators (as opposed to using the TPLink / optical cable / TPLink method, I've read in another thread on this forum (network isolation thread), that this was a better method vs the TPLink method to achieve LAN Isolation. 

I also currently use a W4S RUR that is powered by its own dedicated LPSU going from Aurender to my DAC, I am planning on upgrading from the W4S RUR to the new IFI ISO Micro iUSB as soon as it's available (should be within the next week or so) and I will also upgrade from the LPSU I'm using to power the RUR to the battery powered LPS-1 to power the ISO Micro iUSB. 

Thoughts?? 

Wow, you are pretty much covered. 

 

I find grounding the network switch also pays off, sometimes by a large margin. I use an Entreq Silver Mini and Eartha Copper LAN to a great effect.

 

But I would anyhow try the optical isolation as I found it a better match to my tastes. But I did not have the hospital grades so your solution might be better...