The "Official" Aurender Discussion Thread

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Question about the new A10.

 

Can both the Single-Ended and Balanced outputs be used simultaneously? Without any sonic degredation?

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Just my experience, but I haven't noticed any negative effects with the latest software update.  I don't do anything fancy with folders and box sets though, so that might make a difference. 

 

I don't think the Conductor app is perfect, but it works just fine on the iPad.  Every UI app is going to have features that appeal to one subset of users and features that another subset of users find wanting.  I've been around long enough in the software industry to see standards change, and companies rise and fall with those changes.

 

I've also worked on enough embedded system platforms to understand that "standard interfaces" or standard anything, only advances the standard. Many designers have advanced/competitive ideas that are a competitive advantage, and they don't want to roll them into some standard. Or the standard can't agree to add a feature because it would require all of the other sponsors to support it, etc.  The N10 works great as it is.  I don't want to give money to another company (e.g. Roon) and then have to deal with two entities pointing fingers at each other when feature XYZ doesn't work.

 

We've been really happy with the N10 / Berkeley combination.  Though now I'm curious about the bamboo cutting boards....

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Yes, it's simple.  DHCP IPaddress reservation on your router.

Just create an association with the Aurender MAC address and a valid IP address in your assignable range.

I would recommend doing this for every single device in your home that is "permanent".  Use the routers "dhcp status" screen to show which mac address - ip address leases are already effective.  That's one way to get the Aurender MAC.  I think it is on one of the Settings screens too in the Conductor app.

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It's generally better to do IPAddress management at the router where it can all be managed in one single location.  Then you can start to get fancy and assign IPAddresses within certain ranges.  And then allow some ranges access to the internet and some ranges get no access to the internet (internal devices only).  Then you can start to police the network and have to router display all unknown MAC addresses.  And if you're really paranoid, you can deny network access to any unknown MAC addresses.  You can also set up a DMZ for a guest network etc.

 

A lot depends on the capabilities of the router, and your own needs.  But I assume that most folks with HiRez streamers are using something like a Cisco fixed wire router and discrete wireless access points.  A setup like that provides the best wired performance, wireless performance and security.

 

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Any chance that the geographic specific roll out of software feature has more to do with international licensing agreements versus just hating the Brits?

 

I have to imagine that it is a total headache for Aurender to keep track of which features and services are available in which geographies. This isn't something that they would do voluntarily. Any English language release feature would be easier to deploy in all geopgraphies, etc. etc.

 

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I doubt that Aurender has any say in software based MQA decoding.  There is a lot of discussion of software based and hardware based MQA decoding on the web.  It's an issue of licensing, copyrights, royalties, and technology partnerships.  Nothing new for this industry.

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This thread has seen a lot of posts regarding changing internal hard drives.  What is the motivation to change the internal hard drives?  Is there a NAS drive or USD drive option that would achieve the same?

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There are significant changes between W7 and W10 regarding file/folder permissions on mounted file systems.  This issue is not specific to one kind or brand of product.  That said, I've had no issues mounting the N10 volumes on my W10 desktop.  I am careful about using the correct passwords for the network shares being mounted.

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If you already have Ethernet wire to the basement, just put an Ethernet switch in the basement, and you are done.

 

The very last thing you want is a radio in an audio component.

 

In many larger homes, the wifi router should always go on an upper floor.  You can either backfeed to an Ethernet switch in the basement, or even better to use a hard wired router in the basement feeding multiple WiFi access points located in multiple attics.  I use multiple fancy WiFi routers with the routing and DHCP disabled in our attics.  There is a Cisco small business router in the basement, along with two Gigabit Ethernet switches that add port capacity and fan out to the router.  All of the ISP gear is on the other side of our Cisco router.  The main router in the basement does all of the firewall, NAT, and DHCP responsibilities.  While all this might seem excessive, I can't see how anyone could manage a decent size house with primary and backup NAS servers, multiple streamers, TV's, etc. without this type of network architecture.

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I am interested in adding optical isolation to our N10 as well.

What brand did you select?

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I'm curious to compare N10 SSD playback with and without optical isolation.  Unfortunately, I may also have to invest in a linear power supply or a battery power supply for the downstream transceiver in order to hear any difference.  But I think I may try the optical isolation using a wall wart power supply for both transceivers first, and see if that is promising.

 

Comparing SSD vs streaming (of the "same" content) is a different kind of test.  I am not surprised at all that there is no difference in that scenario since in all cases the SSD cache is feeding the bit stream to the DAC.

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My personal N10 experience with USB vs AES/EBU is a little different then some other posts.  I'm certain that the results depend on all of the components present.  In my particular case, I found the AES/EBU balanced digital out to be noticeably superior to the N10's USB output.  Big caveat in my case, is that the USB had to go through a Berkeley Alpha USB and be converted back to AES/EBU.  Our Berkeley BAD2 doesn't have a direct USB input, hence the Alpha USB that was used.  Many reviews of the Alpha USB claim that it improves, not degrades, the final result.  But those reviews would also suffer from specific equipment bias.

 

I guess the only point here, is that there are no absolutes, and which digital output sounds best in a particular system (using the N10) has a lot to do with what that system is, rather than just this output vs that output.  Listening and judging for yourself is always required.

 

And just to pile on a little, I never had a N100H, but have owned two similar types of devices.  The step up to the N10, sound quality wise, completely justified the steep price.

 

 

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Berkeley Audio Design Reference Series 2.

 

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The whole "WAV vs FLAC" debate has raged on many forums before.  And by FLAC, let us assume strictly uncompressed FLAC only.

 

In general, there isn't a winner.  A lot depends on the specific hardware platform, the core operating system, the application software, and having two good encodings of the exact same source material.  Good luck, have at it.

 

As Vincent stated, listen to the two and pick whichever one you like.  But don't assume that one "data packaging technology" (aka file format) is better than a different data packaging technology.  Again we're talking strictly about uncompressed FLAC vs WAV.

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I've had good results with USB in the past.  But when I upgraded to the N10 i re-compared USB to AES 110ohm.  In our system, I found the AES to be better than USB.  YMMV as already stated.   

 

For USB I was using the Berkley Alpha USB, and then AES to a Berkley Alpha 2 DAC.  With the upgrade to the N10, I found the straight AES to better.  All top line cables from Tara Labs.  A little different then a lot of comparisons, as this was two cables and an added device.  Albeit high end cables and one of the best USB converters out there.

 

Typing this I realize I also have a Tara spdif cable that I never tried in this system (its used in another rig).

 

Anyway, you won't know for sure in your own system without comparing.  Good luck!

 

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I'm very surprised (shocked) by all of this discussion of coping data off of an Aurender product?

 

I keep the master copy of all data on a NAS drive.  The NAS drive is what gets backed up as well.

My N10 is simply a "rsync" replica of what's on the NAS drive.  The NAS drive is the reference copy of the data,

not the Aurender.  I never have to copy anything off of the Aurender.  That is just way way backwards!

All music files are "managed" on the NAS drive.  

 

There is nothing for Aurender to fix.

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From an IT perspective, relying on the device itself is a flawed approached.  In that model, if an Aurender unit (disk) does die, you don't have a mechanism to reconstruct the data set from scratch.  It would be much better to have a specific rsync script for each unit; mirroring data from the NAS drive to the device.   That way, anytime the source content on the NAS drive is modified, it is rsync'ed to the specific Aurender.  If files are added or metadata is updated, it just gets pushed to the specific Aurender, as dictated by its rsync script.

 

RAID6 provides "reliability".  RAID is *not* a backup mechanism.  RAID6 is expensive, in that it is slow, and wastes storage.  A far better solution is to dedicate a single, separate, NAS server as a dedicated backup.  Relying on RAID as a backup mechanism is a recipe for a lot of eventual trouble (data loss).

 

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@justubes, well you're not alone.  I hear about similar situations all the time, where someone suddenly realizes a lot of data ($) is at risk.  Sometimes things just grow organically, and then all of a sudden there's a small problem.  Correcting it is not hard, but it will cost some. Everyone has to do the calculus of risk vs backup.  It's a lot like the insurance business.

 

First you need to have requirements, then defined strategy to meet those requirements, and then implement the strategy.  Then continually refine and adjust the requirements, strategy and implementation.  It's always investment vs risk.

 

As a simple first step, you're going to need a device that holds the master copy of your data.  View the music server as just a cheap replica of the master copy that can be lost at any time.  And then the master copy needs a backup.

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@noushy, please don't equate "reliablity" (e.g. RAID) with "disaster recovery" (e.g. backups).  They are not the same thing.  RAID is an amazing thing.  RAID (at some level) should be embraced by everyone who can afford it.  But RAID is not a backup strategy.

 

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There is safety in paranoia (i.e a secondary backup). 😊

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I don't think any music server should be considered a master copy or a backup copy. 

 

The music server should be considered a disposable replica of the data set.  The master copy should be on a reliable storage appliance (e.g. a co-located NAS drive).  That NAS drive should have a backup strategy that matches your disaster recovery requirements (e.g. a remote storage appliance, or just another co-located storage appliance, or simply some USB SSD).

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Exactly as Noushy states, just a fancy little Linux computer.  A computer which has all the same weaknesses of any disk based operating system.  If not cleanly shutdown, the system may decide to verify the disk on power up.  Usually this is nothing more than a little time spent checking the disk.  On infrequent occasions the fdisk procedure may make some small corrections.  On rarer occasions the disk can be deemed to have corrupted data.  It basically depends on whether any writes were directly in progress at the moment the power died.

 

I'm not a fan of battery backup for compute devices.  That solution is far more expensive than the problem.  A good power management system (of which there are many) is all that is needed.  The critical feature is for the power to be cleanly disconnected as soon as the first supply side glitch is detected (brown-out, surge, phase drift, etc. etc.).  The power must remain off until manually switched back on by an operator.

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?

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Could you run the A10's digital USB output to a cheap USB DAC to feed zone-2 ?

 

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The speed test may not show useful information.  Streams will originate from a CDN somewhere in the world.   At that location, or someplace in between, there could be congestion.  Assuming of course that the content provider has deep enough packets to be able to contract out to a reliable CDN (almost certainly the case).

 

If the problem is somewhat intermittent, I would think that.  The stats I have seem are generally about three times normal traffic volume.