The "Official" Aurender Discussion Thread

[Fsonicsmith]

I have previously tried the Bryston BDP-1 (soon after it first came out several years ago) and a PC based music server that is well marketed/reviewed on some websites though not a huge name. I have an N100H on the way and I am very excited by all I have read. To DavT, when I borrowed the Bryston and then later purchased the PC-based server, I had a good one month long learning curve. Despite the review stuff, I knew the Aurender would not be a plug-n-play or so-intuitive-grandma-could-do-it kind of thing. All references to simplicity have to be taken in context. I am asking that all of you with N100s or N100H's continue to keep this thread going and I will do the same. On the topic of USB-SPDIF converters, it seems to me that there are primarily two reasons we see folks using them with the Aurenders; the user's DAC has a better SPDIF input than USB (often enough the case) or a the user, reasonably enough, has a bias developed over the years that USB is an inherently compromised configuration. I have the original version of the AMR DP-777. My old music server was configured to output SPDIF. I will be comparing apples to oranges somewhat as I try USB input with the Aurender. I am 99% certain the separate USB input section of my AMR DAC has not been burnt-in at all.

[Fsonicsmith]

I don't mean to digress when the answer could be found elsewhere, but if anyone can suggest the best means of "ripping" vinyl to the Aurender, (again, I have an N100H on the way), I would be most grateful. I asked my dealer (one of the best, but perhaps not all that music server savvy) and he was pretty vague. I have both a MBP and a PC laptop. My thought was that I need to go from ADC (HRT Linestreamer) to laptop using a software program like VinylStudio (though I had VinylStudio previously and hated it for offering too many options) to the laptop, create a file and then transfer to Aurender via USB. That's about all I know and I am likely wrong. I may need iTunes too and don't even know that. Step by step or reference to step to step would be most appreciated. I don't care about metadata so much (tho album art would be nice) and I have no intent to separate vinyl tracks/preserve them. I intend, for the sake of simplicity, to simply record side A and B and stick an identifier for artist/album name and leave it at that. I am 98% vinyl-committed and the Aurender/AMR is for those times when I just don't feel like going through the vinyl playback ritual or have company over and can't keep getting up.

[Fsonicsmith]

This is so basic but I don't see the answer on Aurender's site. My confusion will be self-evident, and I suppose I could also ask my dealer. I have an N100H that is due to arrive tomorrow. I have ATT UVerse which as I understand it combines a WiFi and a router into one unit. My dumb question; when the Aurender Start-Up Guide and Users Manual suggests an Apple Airport Extreme, do I in fact need one?

On a related front, my feeble understanding is that the need for a LAN/Ethernet cable is that the Aurender needs to be physically (via ethernet) connected to the Router in order to process the remote function of the iPad app. Is that correct? I ask because I am already set up to easily hook up the UVerse Router via ethernet in the wall to behind my equipment rack and into the Aurender. If I have to daisy chain the Uverse router to an Airport Extreme (which makes little sense to me) than I will.

Considering that I had a Bryston BDP-1 hooked up years ago, temporarily on loan, I ought to remember the basics but don't.

[Fsonicsmith]

Krass;

Thank you so very much for you help!

[Fsonicsmith]

Fsconicsmith,

 

I'll be curious to hear how you like the Aurender vs. the Bryston and if there are any differences in the sound. I've been researching both the N100H and Bryston as my next possible digital purchase. If I may ask, what made you consider Aurender vs. upgrading to a BDP2 with the new soundcard?

 

I auditioned the very first iteration of the Bryston quite some time ago. The Bryston had no internal storage and was more of a gateway, signal buffer, and proprietary software package/sound card boosted by a hefty power supply. Music that I was given to sample via thumb drive left me cold and unimpressed. I was not happy with the sound and functionality of CDs ripped to an external hard drive.

Too early to give any valid impressions of the Aurender but give me a few days.

[Fsonicsmith]

Two weeks ago I said I would report back with my listening impressions. I am the world's most proficient thread killer-everywhere I go. This thread died after I said I would report back. Well, I trust no one minds my reviving it. I am very happy with the N100H. I have been ripping my CDs with my MacBookPro using XLT in FLAC and then sending them to an NAS, a 2 TB WD MyCloud that I picked up for a whopping $125. I have always fumbled around on both PCs and Macs, but usually can intuitively kind-of-logically work things out. I managed to get everything seeing each other (iPad, Aurender, NAS) with little-but some-fumbling around. Now to the SQ. Fantastic. My CDs sound better ripped to the NAS and through the Aurender than they did through an external HD hooked up to the Bryston BDP-1 or through a PC based music server I had recently, or through my old Simaudio CDP.5 I bought 20 or so years ago. I attribute this to the buffering that goes on in the Aurender. I am hearing a blacker background/lower noise floor, wider, deeper soundstage, and more detail. The highs are a more relaxed. My only nit-the bass sounds a bit emphasized and a bit off to me. "Off" in the sense of not sounding real, sounding a bit like I am in a nice rental car in which some previous renter jacked up the bass. I am hoping this ameliorates with more burn in time-I have no doubt that my Aurender is not yet fully burnt in. I am using a JPS Digital AC-X PC to the Aurender. My preamp is an Audioprism Mantissa, amp is an ARC VS110, speakers are Acoustic Zen Adagios. I downloaded three albums from HDTracks to the Aurender's HD. Each sounds more dynnamic and immediate than any of my CD transfers. Ok, the kicker-do CDs through the Aurender sound better than my vinyl played back through a VPI Prime and Soundsmith Zephyr? No. Vinyl sounds punchier and more vibrant (the best adjective I can apply) to my ears than the CD rips. But again, this is the best CD sound I have managed to eke out in my system and the interface, build quality, and joy of ownership is the best I have had when it comes to music servers. Note; I have not tried to stream Tidal. I went to the Tidal website and found it to be a mess, very unfriendly to new users who wish to hunt around to get an idea as to what music is available.

[Fsonicsmith]

I failed to mention-my DAC is an Abbingdon Music Research DP-777. USB is by Black Cat/Chris Sommovigo.

[Fsonicsmith]

Thanks for the report.

 

Now, please consider another comparison report ... Down the line of course when you are familiar and comfortable with everything and maybe have it well tweaked. This comparison would be would be well done high-res digital vs. your LPs - same music.

 

I, for one, am quite interested in your thoughts on this.

 

Doak

 

 

That is already on the to-do-list. That said, I know from experience that there is a lot of variability not only in vinyl quality but the skill/luck of the person that is transferring the vinyl to digital. It is mostly a matter of setting optimum recording level. Most home "recorders", myself included, have no inclination to do live monitoring-the set-up is a bit too involved. As it is, I insert a tubed preamp between the phono stage out and the laptop/hard drive with VinylStudio in order to set recording level in the analogue domain rather than relying upon the software's digital input level. I tried to bring this very important aspect of recording vinyl up with Mikey Fremer on his website, and he seemed clueless as to the distinction. I believe one reason why "rips" done with an Ayre QA-9 are generally superior than most ADCs is that the Ayre implements analogue output of recording level rather than relying upon the user's software to set recording level in the digital domain.

[Fsonicsmith]

I've asked some previous dumb and fundamental questions so why stop now; I have been using and enjoying my N100H for two months now but I will be danged if I can figure out what purpose on Earth Aurender Media Manager serves. I've downloaded it, installed it, it seems to run, and yet the program just sits there like a bump on a log-where are the functions? There do not appear to be any function tabs and I guess I'm not smart enough to figure out what the consumer is being offered here. Help?

[Fsonicsmith]

Thank you dminches!

I'm sitting here listening to music through my Aurender now and on a completely different topic, has anyone else noticed that CDs that sounded great on previous rips or through previous CDP's sound OK (not bad, not great) and that CDs you could not bear to listen to due to poor perceived SQ now send spectacular? No doubt this premise will make some think there is likely a gremlin in my set-up but I don't think so. You see, I ripped about 20 CDs yesterday, mostly ones that I thought were among my better sounding discs e.g. Don Byron's "Bug Music", and I hesitated before ripping Grant Lee Buffalo's "Jubilee" because I found it shrill and overly compressed through my Simaudio CDP.5. Say what you want about the content, but the texture, depth, and three dimensional "grip" (strange listening descriptors noted) are incredible. Am the only one? Maybe I'm having one of those days where my hearing is off kilter.

[Fsonicsmith]

I removed a great number of albums from my hard drive ( NAS ) that did not have cover art. Aurender Media Manager ( AMM ), then updated all this on my iPad. Now I easily rip all new CD's using dbpoweramp for mac, it has always found a nice selection of coverart, insures that my rips are completely accurate and stores in automatically on my Synology 414 slim NAS. Once I have ripped a number of cd's, ( 5-50 ), I just turn on AMM and update all my files. Works slick. My N100H has a 1TB SSD and I use this only for purchased high resolution purchases and the AMM helps to keep all the meta data updated on my iPad.

 

Thanks. Yes, though I have the 2TB of the H, I reserve the intrnal storage for HD downloads as you do and rip my Seedies-as I call them-to my NAS.

[Fsonicsmith]

I have an N100H into a Black Cat USB into an AMR DP777. I have been using both the AQJB and Uptone Regen in tandem. Got the AQJB first, noticed an improvement, and when the Regen arrived I put it in the signal chain without thinking twice (or once) about removing the AQJB. Having seen r_w's post, I removed my AQJB and fed signal only to the Regen. No doubt about it IN MY SYSTEM, the sound is much better with both. The sound was brighter, coarser, and with less spatial cues once I removed the AQJB. Bass was less taught. With both, my SQ is very much akin to my vinyl rigs which are top notch (VPI Prime, Benz Glider, Manely Steelhead, Thorens TD124, Benz Glider, Manley Steelhead).

[Fsonicsmith]

I need some help. My directory in Aurender App is FUBAR. If I go to "Folder" and "Root" my directory accurately shows that I am not using USB or NAS and only "Music1". Under Music1 I somehow have not only "Classic, Etc. Jazz, Local, and Pop" but also "MyCloud". I have no idea how I got "MyCloud" as a sub-folder in "Music1" but I suspect it has something to do with my 23 year old son trying to assist when I was having problems getting my burned files to appear in my directory. If I touch "MyCloud, all my music is there but zero metadata. For the most part under "MyCloud" my albums are intact but on some, I have mysterious doubling of each song. When I have this "ghosting" (two of each song and not one), only the second one plays.

If I touch "Artist" at the top of my app, things get really weird. My metadata re-appears but my every single album has the above-referenced "ghosting" or doubling of every single song within each album. I have albums that appear under "Artist" that disappear (are not present) under "MyCloud". Please tell me what if anything I can do to clean this royal mess up.

[Fsonicsmith]

Thank you. We were able to clean things up using "Clean Scan". I remain puzzed though by the lack of an editing function with Conductor. Am I missing something? Why not allow easy manipulation of files and folders within Conductor so that duplicate files can be deleted or so that errant files and folders can be re-arranged? Why not allow easy re-naming of files and folders?

[Fsonicsmith]

Yes, I believe you are missing something.

 

And that is, the Aurender Conductor app simply does not let you (or anyone else) edit your library files or folders.

 

That simply isn't the way it now works.

 

 

So my question to you: Why rail against what doesn't exist? And if you wish it did exist, those in-Conductor editing functions, put your query to Aurender perhaps.

 

Despite your somewhat aggressive tone, I am relieved to hear your answer and a sincere thank you. I will ask Aurender why they don't design their software to address editing. Thanks again.

[Fsonicsmith]

I have tried to search this thread for the answer to this question without success. I have an N100H. Can someone please tell me why Aurender can not come up with a wireless protocol to connect the Aurender to the iPad without LAN? Why do I ask? Because using a frigging LAN wire from the Aurender to a router is not always practical. I have a large but not immense home. I HAD the Aurender hooked up to a router in my basement via LAN but then our router was not covering all of our rooms. So what does an ATT tech do when he's called out? He moves the router into our upstairs family room. So where does that leave my Aurender? Out of service! So then I need to hook up a "booster" right? Not so easy. Frankly, I am ready to chuck my damned Aurender out a window. Someone please tell me why I can burn discs wirelessly from my MBP to my Aurender (I did for years) and yet Aurender won't allow a connection to the iPad without a damned LAN wire. In case you can't tell, I find it infuriating. 

[Fsonicsmith]

5 hours ago, rwwjr44 said:

@russellbobby

How do you transfer music files to the the N100? Or if you are using a NAS to hold your music files, is WiFi really a good solution? Just two things to consider for the future.

 

You stated that the router was moved to another room, did they remove the ethernet cable from the room your Aurender is located? If not, I would suggest buying a router and connect your Aurender to it. It is easy enough to do and the Aurender is pretty good making connections to your server. Also you now have the flexibility to add other devices to your internet.

 

 

 

Well it turns out I was wrong. My 24 yr old "I know it all and you know nothing" son advised me that my problem was the lack of a LAN connection but I knew the ATT tech had not gone into my dedicated listening room and assumed the tech had simply unhooked the LAN from the old router in the basement and left it dangling so to speak. But once I went down to the basement-after my rant above-I found that the tech had in fact connected the other end of the LAN to an extender of some sort. I therefore no longer think the LAN is the problem. My problem is that my new MBP will not connect to my Aurender N100H. My new MBP replaces an old one that completely died on me. The new MBP "sees" the Aurender under "shared devices" in "Finder" and when I double click on the Aurender or hit Command-K to connect to it, I am invited to put in my password as a registered user and my username already appears but no password (and I know my passwords) works. They all bounce. I then try to connect as a "guest" and get this message; ""The share does not exist on the server. Please check the share name and then try again." Nothing I try seems to work to get beyond this message. What does it mean to "check the share name"? The only shared device under "Finder" is my Aurender N100H which appears to be listed correctly. And furthermore, changing the name of the Aurender does not help and I certainly see no option to fix the problem of "the share does not exist on the server". Does anyone have any idea what is going on here?

[Fsonicsmith]

2 hours ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Make sure you're using the username and password set in the Aurender iOS app.

 

1 hour ago, rwwjr44 said:

 

If this doesn't work contact Aurender they MIGHT have to connect to your set remotely. 

 

Thanks. So I DID look in my Aurender App on my iPad under settings and I don't find any reference to my password anywhere. Is there some trick to finding my old username and password when looking under settings in the Aurender app on the iPad? I also DID ask for Aurender to go into my new MBP by remote and look around. They sent me the website info to use, my MBP shot out a password and ID for them to use and that was five hours ago with no response. What time is it in Korea? Really a shame Aurender does not a US based help-center or at least one that caters to US time. 

My suspicion at this point in time is that my MBP can't connect to my Aurender because of some corruption of the file where I previously sent and stored my music that was burned from my CD drive using the freeware program XLD-on my old, "deceased" MBP. On my new MBP the same file shows up due to the Apple store using iCloud to retrieve certain settings from my old MBP to my new one but the new MBP won't accept XLD even if I try to download it because it was not created by an "approved developer"-the latest High Sierra OS blocks such programs from being installed. I was forced to download a different app from the App Store that can burn CDs and convert them to FLAC files. I also have not yet downloaded AMM to my new MBP and perhaps that will help solve the problem. 

Again, if anyone can stoop low (lower than my snide 24 year old know-it-all) and guide me to how to retrieve my user name and password from the Aurender app on my iPad, I would appreciate it. 

To someone else who posted recently, I know the Command K and "connect to server" routine all too well and it has been of no use. 

[Fsonicsmith]

I could use some help please. 

My Aurender N100H was working fine just a few days ago. 

Now, my Conductor App shows nothing and won't connect to my Aurender. 

I powered down and up my N100H and my iPad multiple times. No change. 

Here is the weird part-even after powering down my Aurender, when it powers back up it displays that it is playing music stored on it by artist and song name but it just stays frozen. 

Things get weirder-when I try to update my Conductor App, no matter what I do, it just shows "loading" and does not change, even after 12 hours. 

I just used the iTunes store and downloaded the new Conductor App that way. It shows version 2.9.11(15) now but still no change. 

Also, if I hit "Remote Support Request", all I get is "Please try again" with no change over 12 hours. 

Any hints or suggestions?

[Fsonicsmith]

We only have one network. Any other ideas?

[Fsonicsmith]

I spent a very frustrating night last night and almost again tonight until I found this thread. I looked to see if there was a known bug last night and did not find this thread. I just installed the testpilot beta and all is good. Great to have Qobuz again on my W20. Thank you.