The "Official" Aurender Discussion Thread

[matthias]

5 hours ago, bmichels said:

.......an upgrade from my W20 to the W20SE or... to the Taiko Audio SGM Extreme which, for same price range, is offering the ROON experience and is "supposed" to sound even better !

 

Hi bmichels,

I am not (yet) one of the Extreme owners but I listened to it at very good show conditions.

IMHO, the Extreme is a no-compromise product and I would go for it.

If within a limited budget I would spend less on the DAC as some found out most DACs sound good in a combo with the Extreme.

Please read the latest post (or may I say article) of @romaz here:

https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/...eaming/page/616/?tab=comments#comment-1014096

The 20SE was inferior to his own builds and now he ordered an Extreme.......

Merry Christmas to all, celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ

Best

Matt

[matthias]

2 hours ago, Ponzi said:

FWIW, if I have noticed anything it is exactly the opposite.  But then, I suppose it depends on what you mean by "softening."  

 

Musical instruments themselves, of course, seldom have sharp or glaring transients.  Not never, as you know, but seldom.  Stereo systems, by contrast, even very good stereo systems, often do.  One might say that instruments "soften" transients, but only if one takes one's bearings from reproduced music.  Piano recordings are notoriously glaring in the upper registers, or at least that is my experience.  But much less so, even not at all, on the W20SE.  Even so, the transients on the W20SE are as close to live music as I have heard.  I guess what I am saying is that getting the transients right is both very tricky and, when done right, singularly rewarding. Softer maybe, but only because the glare if gone.  

 

One thing I've notice with the W20SE, too, is that one can tolerate higher volumes. My guess is that the missing glare explains this also.    

 

I would have you try a recording like Paul Galbraith's recording of Bach's lute suites, played on an eight string guitar.  It is masterfully recorded and of course Galbraith plays with a greatness few can rival.  On the N10, I found it riveting.  But more polite.  On the W20SE, you can hear more breathing, which is a bother, but the visceral impact of the mid- and lower registers is just quite something.  The N10 presents a beautiful painting.  The W20 SE presents vibrating strings, rosin, faint pianissimos, the rocking back and forth of the instrument . . . in a word, the real thing.  

 

Ivan Morevich's Chopin preludes, played on his famous 7 foot Baldwin, are also a wonder.  I could go on and on.

 

How does the W20SE compare to the N30 which seems to be the new top model?

Thanks

 

Matt