The "Official" Aurender Discussion Thread

[The Computer Audiophile]

If anyone is interested in working for Aurender, you'll want to check this out -> http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f8-general-forum/aurender-looking-hire-someone-30498/

[The Computer Audiophile]

Yes, I agree with what you are saying. It's quite probably the case that Aurender cannot afford the Roon licensing fees and that they are working hard to upgrade Conductor. If Aurender can develop something close to Roon, so much the better for us.

 

 

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There are no Roon licensing fees for hardware partners. Roon only charges the end user a yearly or lifetime subscription price.

[The Computer Audiophile]

As used car salesmen say, there's an ass for every seat.

 

Aurender most definitely has a place in the market, as not everyone is thrilled with Roon or JRiver etc... Aurender offers a single box solution to many people really love and I don't see that going away any time soon.

 

I agree Conductor should be updated a bit. If for no other reason than it's nice to look at something different once in a while. An "Add to library" feature would be really nice for Tidal integration as well.

 

The people at Aurender still have plenty of goodies up their sleeves. I promise :~)

[The Computer Audiophile]

What more can you tell us, Chris...? Did you sign an NDA..? [emoji1]

 

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I hope to write about some stuff at CES :~)

[The Computer Audiophile]

Any reviews of the A-10 online? A google search doesn't turn up much. Surprising because the N100H jumped out of the gate with so much positive press.

 

I believe I have the first official review of the A10 coming. However, Aurender won't ship the unit for review until it has official MQA support.

[The Computer Audiophile]

Thanks for replying! No, the preamp is switched off and it has no tone controls whatsoever. I suspect that the Aurender has difficulties recognising the Master format. The Aurender tells me it sees a FLAC file, but I don't remember what sampling rate it displays. I'll check that and get back to you.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Computer Audiophile

 

Your Aurender should be passing the master format bit perfect to your DAC. There is no need to recognize anything in your current setup.

[The Computer Audiophile]

I know Tidal MQA is not available to Aurender streamers yet....but when I bought my A10 I recall the Aurender web site saying it was MQA capable: now I don't see any mention of MQA

 

am I missing something?

 

I just received the A10 and I am streaming MQA to it from Tidal and it's fully decoded. I believe an A10 update is coming soon.

[The Computer Audiophile]

Chris, are you accomplishing this without a PC in the system? I have been unaware of the Aurender app currently allowing any MQA streaming.

 

JC

 

Straight A10 only and full MQA.

[The Computer Audiophile]

I know that baby is going to sound real good with the Constellation linestage. Hopefully on the DAC side its 95 percent of the Berkeley Audio Design Alpha DAC RS and EMM Labs DA2 you have.

Is 24/192 the best you are seeing on the Aurender?

 

I've got 352.8 kHz MQA on the A10 right now.

 

 

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

So, if I purchase an A10 in the near future it should be MQA ready with the update already installed and no further action necessary?

 

Most likely yes, but even if it isn't updated, the update is very easy to do using the Aurender app.

[The Computer Audiophile]

I installed a new Aurender N10 in my sound system last month. Can you provide a step by step explanation on how to acquire the MQA update with the Aurender Conductor app?

 

I'm currently in the TestFlight group so I can get the software before it's released to the public.

[The Computer Audiophile]

Looking forward to auditioning MQA on my N100 too, when they have the software ready.

 

JC

 

Hi JC - A couple items to note. Given that the N100 is a digital only product, it will "never" be able to fully decode and render MQA. It can now, and in the future, pass MQA content un-altered to an MQA DAC for full decoding and rendering. I don't think anyone knows if devices like the N100 will be able to do MQA decoding (the first part of it) for delivery to an MQA DAC for rendering.

 

It's a wait and see thing.

[The Computer Audiophile]

Looks like nobody has a N series with an MQA dac to see if indeed it is passing MQA. I cannot tell on my A10 as it shows Tidal as Hi-Fi. I do believe I am hearing 24-48 but have no way to confirm.

 

All Aurender servers pass the audio bit perfect, unless adjusted not to. So, MQA will play back on an MQA DAC without issue.

[The Computer Audiophile]

The Aurender A10 Chris is using has a built in DAC which, with an update, is able to "decode" MQA encoded files.

 

With the all the other Aurender Music Servers (without included DAC) like the X100, N10, W20 how will they handle MQA files?

 

A - Will they just pass through the files to the DAC which, if MQA enabled, will it be able to decode those files?

 

B - Will they be able to "decode" the MQA files by themselves in Firmware (software)?

How will a non MQA enabled DAC handle those files ?

 

Sorry for all the questions but I've read most MQA/Aurender related posts and it's still a little confusing to me.

 

A. Right now, MQA is just passed through bit perfect like all other FLAC files.

 

B. Nobody knows yet, but if it's possible, Aurender will do it.

[The Computer Audiophile]

So what resolution thru Tidal am I hearing on the A10 with the current firmware? I added the Tidal masters from the desktop.

Thanks,

Russ

 

Right now you are hearing either 44.1 or 48 because it's undecoded.

[The Computer Audiophile]

Hi Guys - I'm finishing up my Aurender A10 review this afternoon, sending it to Aurender for fact checking, then publishing it as soon as I get the OK that the review is factually correct (standard procedure).

 

Given the time differences between Minneapolis and Seoul, I'm guessing it will hit the front page Friday.

[The Computer Audiophile]

The A10 review is up!

 

Computer Audiophile - Aurender A10 Review

[The Computer Audiophile]

Curious as to the version of Conductor you were using as one of the features described has not made it into the current GA version yet.

 

2.8 (1488)

[The Computer Audiophile]

I swore off upgradeitis about 18 months ago. However the A10 looks terribly alluring. I don't expect that anyone here can answer it but, the critical issue is, will the DAC in the A10 best my ARC DAC9?

 

I have both the A10 and the DAC 9 sitting next to each other in my system right now. They are different animals. The A10 connected directly to an amp can give you great results, but so can the DAC 9 connected to a music server and through a preamp.

[The Computer Audiophile]

Chris, w.r.t. your remark: "3. I would love a mobile phone version of the Conductor app. Maybe it's too much to ask for Android while I'm at it."

 

This Android mobile phone version of Conductor actually exists already for several years. It's rather basic however, especially w.r.t. supporting Tidal (it doesn't show the metadata for Tidal tracks), but it performs the basic tasks pretty well. Also the search function for local files is great and very fast.

 

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Please post a link to the app.

[The Computer Audiophile]

Just search for 'Aurender' in the Android Google Play Store. It's still there, just checked. I'm using it myself for years already.

 

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Wow, I learn something every day. Thanks.

[The Computer Audiophile]

Hi Guys - I finally fixed the link to this thread so anyone accessing it using the old link will be redirected here. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

Hi @Ecki Thanks for the post. I've been using this exact backup strategy for years as well. With Synology it's fabulous. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

11 minutes ago, Taxman said:

I don't think the technical reasons are the problem sinne they already support streaming and remote storage. It's probably all about control and reluctance to pay license fees. Sad of course since there really is a niche for high-end endpoints that Aurender could fit in.

 

Nothing to do with license fees. With Roon the end user pays the license fee ($120 /yr or $500 /lifetime).

[The Computer Audiophile]

On 4/2/2017 at 2:08 PM, samurai7595 said:

Which USB cable are you using with your Aurender?

 

I have an Aurender N100H and I just ordered a Wireworld Platinum Starlight USB 2.0 digital audio cable based on online reviews.  I'll should be receiving it in about 1 week. 

 

Did you ever figure out the issue with needing to restart the McIntosh?