The "Official" Aurender Discussion Thread

[Deyorew]

So simple question. Does the app let you sort your album by artist then by year? Another words view your beatle albums chronologically instead of alphabetical? Call it OCD but albums not filed by release date drives me nuts....

[Deyorew]

Okay so second question ...does the software allow for artist and album artist? Like in iTunes? Or just one artist field....

i was seriously about to order the n100h after using a Mac mini for 10 years. But album artist and sort by year have become must haves for me.

[Deyorew]

Yikes guys this sounds like aurender is really lacking in some basic library cataloging functions. This honestly is a deal break for me and I was so ready for an n100h too. Does the lightning DS software with aurelic lack this sorting functions as well? My next product on the list would be an Aries or something.

[Deyorew]

I have a few questions about the Aurender N100H. I have been eyeing it for about two years now but haven't pulled the trigger.

 

1) If I get the 2TB model, can I add a SSD externally or swap out the HD to a larger size? What are my options here for upgrading. (I don't intend to have a NAS, but I am not opposed to hooking up my 2TB external SSD I have.

 

2) The N100H and C have been out for many years, any word on model updates or discontinuing? Any new "entry level" Aurnder products coming soon?

 

3) Do you folks enjoy the Conductor app more so than other software like J River or Roon if files are stored locally?

 

4) how well does it manage DSD content? I have a lot of ripped SACDs, both original ISO and converted to DSF formats. How does it handle these? Does it pass multichannel? Does it send DSD gapless? Are there any quirks between sending DSD vs FLAC vs ALAC formats? I would be connected to my Oppo 205 USB input for a while until I upgraded to a separate DAC and my long term goal is gapless DSD natively and of course all PCM based formats natively.

[Deyorew]

Thanks you for the response! very helpful!

[Deyorew]

I was curious on the ACS10 how you use the "folder" function. For instance it says it has a "Music 1" as the first folder.

If you wanted to use one folder as device ripped cds and a separate once as imported from an HDD and label it "Music 2" is it just in the background how the files or stored? Or when using the App do you have to go between "folders" for your different libraries?

 

Also still curious how it handles dsf files. On the website it looks like it handles them natively without any issues or conversion...

[Deyorew]

It seems very little has been said about the ACS100 (the more affordable sibling of ACS10)

I saw a post a while back about the spec differences between the two. Mainly around user replaceable HDD, USB/ethernet isolation and power supply.

Anyone have real world experience with it?

With the ACS100 priced at $1000 more than an N100H, I would tend to think its audio performance is at least as good as that entry level Aurender?

 

The little discussion I have seen shrugs the ACS100 off as a ripper only, but so many folks are happy with their N100 series that I think this downplay is coming from folks that have W20 and DCS type of money in their systems.

 

My big question is around value, I don't have $15,000 to spend on a streamer and network interface and I am still living in the mac mini style server world and ready for a change. Does the ACS100 offer good audiophile value at its price point?

 

the ACS10 at several thousand more seems overkill for my McIntosh/Oppo grade setup. I have currently just had SSD direct in my OPPO 205 for a year or two and am ready for a full hardware/software solution of streamer and eventual DAC.

 

Any feedback or insight to the ACS100 would be greatly appreciated...

[Deyorew]

I have another 2 questions...

 

About 3 and a half years ago I asked a question in this thread about sorting albums by artist chronologically. The responses were all saying Conductor app didn’t have that capability (which really shocked me) but was constantly improving. Well should I assume albums chronological is a way to sort now? In other words Abbey Road (1969) is shown after Sgt Pepper (1967)? Or is it still A-Z?

album art.... I know you can search the internet for covers but I have carefully curated all my albums with accurate hi res artwork and in many cases custom scans. Can I use the same files and scans using the aurender manager app? Is there a max resolution or size? I don’t care about taking a photo... 

 

yes I still haven't pulled the trigger on a music server yet and have been getting by with iTunes and an Oppo Blu-ray player for far too long.

[Deyorew]

The feature hasn’t kept me from getting an Aurender... I actually ended up spending my budget at the time on a new analog turntable rig that I have really enjoyed. Fast forward a couple years and now have the budget again to update the music server side so I was back to looking at Aurender as my preferred upgrade option.  11 years with iTunes which is still not too bad of a browsing software if you ask me. Just wish it checked the audiophile boxes.

 

I’m  really digging the idea of an ACS10 since I have so much more music to rip.
 

I understand it can sort by year but I didn’t think that was by artist by year. Just the whole catalog by year. What Chris mentions is more along the lines of my reasoning. An artists work through time chronologically. I believe it would require a secondary sort function.

[Deyorew]

Thanks for answering my questions! Glad to hear my music library OCD is within the software!

 

I understand some people may not care about this, but for me an Artists work is always catalogs by record of events. Look at Discogs and Musicbrainz main method of view in support of this notion. My large cd and vinyl collections are sorted first by Artist (first name, disregarding A and The) then chronological by record. 

 

Don't get me started on my movie collection. Its definitely an acquired taste of cataloging... which is by genre, then by Studio (Sony, Warner, Universal, etc) then alphabetical by title. A part of me catalog Music by label too (all MFSL is together for instance). 

 

Looking forward to demoing the ACS10 soon!