The "Official" Aurender Discussion Thread

[Blakcloud]

Just got an answer from Aurender and yes it can be done with a small modification but if you do it yourself it voids the warranty which makes perfect sense. You have to love how quick Aurender is in addressing queries and giving full  and understandable answers. Still love my N100C.

[Quadiffusor HK]

On ‎7‎/‎21‎/‎2019 at 10:22 PM, Quadiffusor HK said:

@AriMargolis, yes I'm afraid I don't understand.  I would appreciate your patience, to explain once again how to tag single albums without birthing zillions of unrelated stars ratings (for individual tracks inside that one album) in the process, as this would cause great harm in destroying and diluting my carefully-curated star rating database on individual tracks I had already built separately.  Essentially, I'm interested in tagging a couple of restaurants out of the thousands I've visited over my lifetime without having to star rank every single entrée on each restaurant's menu.  I hope you understand this analogy, so you can help direct your software team to develop this software feature in the Aurender Conductor App.  Thank you!

 

@AriMargolis, congrats on your team for (finally) getting the Aurender Conductor 3.0 released !

 

Spoiler alert - I'm going to resume my request (rant?) to you and the Aurender software team to add a very simple feature, which I've been asking for several years (already).  It seems you haven't yet grasped my analogy in my previous email (above) using restaurants and the contents inside menus, so let me turn to a visual aid (see attachment).

 

Please add a feature in the Aurender Conductor which allows the user to mark/tag an album in the library (stored on the HDs) with a Favorite "star", so that the album can be grouped within a folder of "liked" albums for easy recall and playback.  The attached photo shows just such as feature which is already available in the TIDAL app.  Why can't the Aurender Conductor App be elevated above the Stone Age, regarding this very simple feature?  I still do not understand just what the holdup is.

 

I want to reiterate that this requested feature is separate from the "zero-to-five star" rating for individual songs/tracks, which still does NOT allow the user to file, select, and playback *entire* albums on command.  The procedure which you described to me in recent exchanges to "star" rate all of the songs on an album simultaneously does NOT achieve the objective I'm asking for, as it spawns zillions of unnecessary and unwelcome  star ratings on individual songs.  The two lists can (and should) be mutually exclusive - do you understand this distinction I'm making between star ratings on albums vs. individual songs?

 

Thank you again for passing along this request to your software team; fingers crossed that this feature will be incorporated ASAP!  :-)

[The Computer Audiophile]

@AriMargolis Any idea why Conductor strips out the part of the track title in parentheses?

 

The first screenshot is Conductor, the second is Qobuz from which the album originates, and the third is Roon. Only Conductor removes the information in parentheses. 

 

 

 

[blugosi]

Quick question.

When I am using the Tidal app on my iPad to stream music on my A10  over AirPlay, I’m getting two options beside iPad. One is named exactly as my A10 unit, and the other one is named like the first one with “-USB” appended in the end.

What is the difference between these two options?

Is there a difference in sound quality between them , or between them and Conductor?

[Booster MPS]

@The Computer Audiophile I would be curious if a parenthesis "(" has a different implementation than a bracket "[" with the metadata.  Aurender seems to use bracket to prioritize music folders on the conductor app when the [folder name] is used.  Wonder if that carries some property down to the file name level.

[hellrider77]

I am glad that Aurender finally released a somewhat functional app for Android, I bought an iPad  only to be used with my Aurender but I can't wait to get rid of it.

 

Unfortunately the Android version is still lacking functionalities found in the iOS version:

 

1. In album view, it always defaults to album name sorting, normally it should be able to remember the user setting, in my case I prefer sort by artist and then by album year...I just cannot seem to find any use to sort a large library by album name alone

2. No option to save an favorite online radio station or add a custom radio station that is not included in the Shoutcast directory (it works on iOS)

3. Unable to delete playlists (I couldn't do it on iOS either). Playlist management is a PITA

 

There are still unsolved problems that are not related to Conductor app:

 

1. Inconsistency in compatibility across FW's.  I have an Yamaha CD-S3000. With the latest firmware (5.17.15) Aurender plays up to 192/24 but no DSD. The worst thing is that Aurender hangs when CD-S3000 powers down or goes into stand-by The only way to make it work again is to hard power off and restart of the Aurender. I ran some more tests and downgraded Aurender to factory firmware (5.9.27). In this case CD-S3000 is able to play up to DS64 and Aurender does not hang anymore when I power off or put the Yamaha in Stand-By. This means that somewhere along the firmware development of Aurender something went wrong in supporting odd DAC's, this also means that Aurender software development is not consistent which makes me really skeptic about  the future.

 

2. Few years back, I believe it was 5.5.76,  when I would play an online stream (online radio) I would get  the artist and track names displayed on the Aurender's display and in the Conductor app, it was really useful as it was a nice way to discover new artists or albums I didn't know of.  After one upgrade (i believe it was 5.10.16 but as well may be somewhere in between 5.5.76 and 5.10.16) only SHOUTCAST or ONLINE RADIO is displayed. Of course I checked and my favorite station is still sending artist name and track info (together with album cover but I do not expect Aurender to display that, even in the Conductor app). I sent this issue to Aurender support since November 2017, it is almost two years now and still no resolution. I mean how hard can it be to check what was lost from one SW version to the next and solve the darn thing?

 

Great machines flawed by software.

 

 

 

[JS21]

16 hours ago, hellrider77 said:

 

2. Few years back, I believe it was 5.5.76,  when I would play an online stream (online radio) I would get  the artist and track names displayed on the Aurender's display and in the Conductor app, it was really useful as it was a nice way to discover new artists or albums I didn't know of.  After one upgrade (i believe it was 5.10.16 but as well may be somewhere in between 5.5.76 and 5.10.16) only SHOUTCAST or ONLINE RADIO is displayed. Of course I checked and my favorite station is still sending artist name and track info (together with album cover but I do not expect Aurender to display that, even in the Conductor app). I sent this issue to Aurender support since November 2017, it is almost two years now and still no resolution. I mean how hard can it be to check what was lost from one SW version to the next and solve the darn thing?

 

 

 

I remember that. I agree that it would be very useful if Aurender can add this option again as I listen to online radio about 40% of the time.

i seem to remember asking aurender about this a year or 2 ago but never received a definitive answer. 

[AurenderAmerica]

On 8/31/2019 at 8:02 PM, The Computer Audiophile said:

@AriMargolis Any idea why Conductor strips out the part of the track title in parentheses?

 

The first screenshot is Conductor, the second is Qobuz from which the album originates, and the third is Roon. Only Conductor removes the information in parentheses. 

 

 

 

Hi @The Computer Audiophile  - I'm not sure. I'll ask Eric. 

[blugosi]

On 9/1/2019 at 11:51 AM, blugosi said:

Quick question.

When I am using the Tidal app on my iPad to stream music on my A10  over AirPlay, I’m getting two options beside iPad. One is named exactly as my A10 unit, and the other one is named like the first one with “-USB” appended in the end.

What is the difference between these two options?

Is there a difference in sound quality between them , or between them and Conductor?

 

So, nobody has any idea on this one?

[AurenderAmerica]

@The Computer Audiophile Extra information (stuff in parenthesis) problem identified and fixed for next update.

 

 

[AurenderAmerica]

On 9/1/2019 at 2:51 AM, blugosi said:

When I am using the Tidal app on my iPad to stream music on my A10  over AirPlay, I’m getting two options beside iPad. One is named exactly as my A10 unit, and the other one is named like the first one with “-USB” appended in the end.

What is the difference between these two options?

@blugosi The “USB” appended AirPlay endpoint is for the A10 USB audio output. THe non-USB endpoint is for A10 analog outputs.

 

...But...why are you using AirPlay to stream Tidal through your A10? You’ll get much better sound quality and performance from Tidal native streaming from within Conductor.

[blugosi]

7 hours ago, AriMargolis said:

@blugosi The “USB” appended AirPlay endpoint is for the A10 USB audio output. THe non-USB endpoint is for A10 analog outputs.

 

...But...why are you using AirPlay to stream Tidal through your A10? You’ll get much better sound quality and performance from Tidal native streaming from within Conductor.

 

Thank you for the clarification on the USB option.

In fact, I am always using Conductor.

Sometimes my wife and kids want to play their own Tidal playlists and they prefer the Tidal app. 

To be honest, for playing music from Tidal alone I also prefer the Tidal app over Conductor.

 

In any case, why should streaming via AirPlay sound inferior? Isn't my iPad sending CD quality at 16/44.1?

I understand that Hires / MQA tracks are expected to sound better through conductor as they contain more information, but for normal Hifi streaming there should not be any difference I guess....

[justubes]

It has been a few years satting that when implemented, Tidal and streaming services will be cached to the SSD instead of RAM.

 

Does anyone have information on this especially after the recent updates and the major overhaul of the Conductor app?

 

Is this a work in progress or it will never happen?

[AurenderAmerica]

On 9/6/2019 at 10:46 PM, blugosi said:

 

Thank you for the clarification on the USB option.

In fact, I am always using Conductor.

Sometimes my wife and kids want to play their own Tidal playlists and they prefer the Tidal app. 

To be honest, for playing music from Tidal alone I also prefer the Tidal app over Conductor.

 

In any case, why should streaming via AirPlay sound inferior? Isn't my iPad sending CD quality at 16/44.1?

I understand that Hires / MQA tracks are expected to sound better through conductor as they contain more information, but for normal Hifi streaming there should not be any difference I guess....

@blugosi actually when you use the Conductor app to browse and control playback, the Aurender streams directly from Tidal/Qobuz/internet radio servers. the iPad is not doing any playback - it is nothing more than a remote control. 

 

With AirPlay, on the other hand, the iPad is the player, and it transmits a lossy audio signal to the Aurender for playback. 

 

It's totally different. 

[AurenderAmerica]

On 9/8/2019 at 6:04 AM, justubes said:

It has been a few years satting that when implemented, Tidal and streaming services will be cached to the SSD instead of RAM.

 

Does anyone have information on this especially after the recent updates and the major overhaul of the Conductor app?

 

Is this a work in progress or it will never happen?

ALL playback, whether it is from local storage, streaming, or IR, occurs from the solid state cache. When you add tracks from a streaming service to the queue, the system immediately caches it to the SSD. It has been this way forever as far as I know. A Conductor app update would not have anything to do that, by the way. See my remote control analogy in the previous post. Changing the batteries or polishing up the buttons on a remote control does not change the way a player plays music. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

14 minutes ago, AriMargolis said:

With AirPlay, on the other hand, the iPad is the player, and it transmits a lossy audio signal to the Aurender for playback. 

Not necessarily. Streaming Tidal via AirPlay to the Aurender will be lossless. It's kind of nonsensical but I'm sure people do it. 

[blugosi]

9 minutes ago, AriMargolis said:

@blugosi 

.....

With AirPlay, on the other hand, the iPad is the player, and it transmits a lossy audio signal to the Aurender for playback. 

 

It's totally different. 

Well, according to everything I’ve read online, AirPlay is lossless, converting music to ALAC lossless format in 16/44.1.

On Roon forums they mention that the Roon applications treat as lossless audio.

Nevertheless, I expect that even on CD quality content , having the Aurender stream from its own TIDAL core to it’s DAC induces less jitter than having the TIDAL stream reach the iPad , convert to ALAC send the new stream to the Aurender through WiFi and an intermediate router.

I have no idea if this will result in real differences on sound quality. 

[AurenderAmerica]

5 minutes ago, blugosi said:

I have no idea if this will result in real differences on sound quality. 

@blugosi definitely encourage you to do a quick comparison if you have a few minutes...it's not hard to hear the difference between direct streaming from Tidal through the Aurender alone vs. AirPlay. 

[justubes]

Ari, thanks for clarifying.

 

It was an article and interview with Aurender few years back and stated Tidal was cached to Ram and Aurender was working to cache to SSD once they had a work around it.

 

I may be wrong, but Tidal did not want the tracks stored in a drive, which presumably could have been extracted back then. Things probably changes sometime ago.

 

Just curious what the Ram is used for being that the new w20se boasts a larger RAM.

 

[AurenderAmerica]

3 hours ago, AriMargolis said:

ALL playback, whether it is from local storage, streaming, or IR,

@justubes actually i lied...IR does not get cached since it is a continuous stream with no end. Everything else does get cached. 

 

I don't know about the article/interview you read, but I suspect that the interviewee was referring to downloading files for offline play - we still don't do that because we haven't gotten permission to do so. We've talked with Qobuz about it quite a lot. Their software team is also small (though about 5 times + the size of Aurender's), so it's one of those things that we hope will happen eventually. In software, "impossible" is not a technical term...it's just a matter of time and talent. 

[Mgperdices]

@AriMargolis is Spotify connect going to be implemented? Wasn’t it pending sometime ago? Thanks!

[justubes]

So the RAM is for the Operating system only?

 

SSD for caching HDD.

 

So where is the Streaming such as Tidal stord track temporarily buffered and stored to? as a single track does continue playing even with no network access.

[mmeeks]

Surprised I’m the first one to ask this.  @AriMargolis - any reaction to Amazon’s announcement about HD and Ultra HD streaming?  A little bit of an unfair question as the announcement was about 12 hours ago, but curious minds... 😀

[agladstone]

2 hours ago, mmeeks said:

Surprised I’m the first one to ask this.  @AriMargolis - any reaction to Amazon’s announcement about HD and Ultra HD streaming?  A little bit of an unfair question as the announcement was about 12 hours ago, but curious minds... 😀

+1 

I’ve also been curious as to whether the new HD and Ultra HD Amazon Music in 24 bit will be available on the Aurender same as Tidal and Qobuz?? 

[AurenderAmerica]

@agladstone @mmeeks I’m going to reach out to Amazon (lol, “reach out to amazon” - what do you think are the chances someone who understands our world will actually receive the message?) and see if they have API’s we could implement into Conductor. It may be some time before they have the software ready, and then it will take us some time to implement it and get it certified. But, obviously we are motivated to do so for our customers.

 

its great that they are launching this service, but what hardware do they expect people to enjoy it on? Echo Dot, now streaming 24/192!!!

 

Qobuz and Tidal are absolutely great to work with and are so cooperative with their hardware partners. I believe Amazon will be too, eventually.

 

I’ll keep you guys in the loop

as we work on this...