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The "Official" Aurender Discussion Thread


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Hi Jesse, 

I remember you being very helpful with some issues I had back then with my first Aurender, it was also a case of some functionalities no longer available in newer firmwares.. I also remember that any support message stopped for a very long time. Only after six months or so someone replied to my email telling me that you were no longer working for Aurender and if they can be of any help. The first Aurender was long sold by then while I took the custom build pc route.

Some of those functionalities were added back only when Ari took over some of my complaints only last year in September when I bought again an Aurender due to my limited knowledge with software and pc and the poor results I had with RPI, NUC's and various software solutions.

Even if I appreciate my Aurender server and could not think of a better alternative for the price (if someone is asking me for advice for a streaming solution, I cannot think of any other advice to give except Aurender), I cannot look over the attitude of Aurender towards oddball DACs that used to work perfectly with older software and no longer work with newer Aurender firmwares.

When they are trying to advertise and sell their servers, they are  big company with  big R&D and support teams, with extensive knowledge and state of the art tech behind. When a customer is trying to regain his DAC compatibility back, Aurender is a small company with limited time and resources to be allocated to a single DAC not working (even if it worked before). At least, this is what they replied to me last year, I guess they should be making up their minds and let actual and potential users know what they are getting into. Of course, chances are, that for the vast majority of the users, especially those with newer and mainstream DACs, support will never be needed.

Also, chances are, that in the future, when new DACs will form a new majority, some of the older DACs that are working fine today, will not work anymore and those that didn't feel the need to upgrade to newer her will be served the small company speech.

 

 

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Hi Jesse

 

i respect your sincerity but get ready for ad hominem attacks by many here.

personally I agree with you and the moment I realized that N10 was so overpriced yet full of problems, I sold it.

 

during the sale period I was surprised to see how poor value performance this brand has.

 

My current server doesn’t have any of the N10 issues, the performance is in par with N10,  and comes at less than half the price. Additionally I can upgrade every single component 

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11 hours ago, Jesse Locken said:

This is my first post ever on Audiophile Style/Computer Audiophile; actually, this is my first post on any well known audio community website or forum with the exception of the now-defunct Linn forums which used to be hosted by Linn years ago.

 

I mention this because I want the record to show that until today, I do not spend my time commenting on audio related forums, nor have I ever really wished to spend time doing so. 

 

I served in the role of Technical Support Manager for Aurender America from May 2016 until December 2017. If anyone doubts this, they can ask Chris himself as I’ve had dinner with Chris and the Aurender team, and have met him numerous times both prior to working for Aurender and during my tenure there. One is also welcome to search Stereophile for my name in an associated review of the A10, and check past Axpona and RMAF video footage of me being interviewed on behalf of Aurender during those respective events. On top of that, I’m certain I have communicated with many of the members of this forum about their Aurender music server.

 

My initial reason for commenting is to state - Chris, before you make broad statements with the intent to justify why a company expects the prices they command for their products, perhaps you should consider whether those statements are factual or not.

 

In other words, if you decide to shill for a brand, be aware that there can be repercussions for bending the truth to serve your advertiser’s interests.

 

Your comment -

 

I know that you don’t know much about any of this, in actual fact, and are just parroting it in the interest of an advertiser from whom you extract revenue.

 

A journalistic approach and proper evaluation and investigation into this brand and company would have perhaps led you to a much different conclusion. 

 

I don't think you know at all what you are talking about, so it's probably a better idea for you not to say anything about it.

 

Chris wasn't shilling for Aurender. He was simple stating facts for a very broad spectrum of audiophile brands. I have been associated with a few dealers and know that there is most often a healthy markup of these products. Companies need to make some profit above their expenses AND dealers need to make some profit to continue to exist. Hopefully the final price is fair. If it isn't fair (or deemed as such to the buyers), the companies tend not to survive. Since Aurender is a Korean company, few of us are privy to internal business/manufacturing affairs. If you want to explain them to us, do so factually and without innuendo. If you have a complaint with Chris, PM him. 

Aurender N10, Esoteric F-05 Integrated Amplifier, Synergistic Active USB, Oppo 203, Synergistic Atmosphere Level 3 UEF Speaker cables, Legacy Audio Focus SE, Rega Planar 10 turntable with Aphelion 2 cartridge.

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On 4/9/2015 at 1:06 AM, Mr. Big said:

When leaving the Aurender is standby mode, does it go to sleep or does it stay on (front panel lights, etc.). If it does go to sleep, will the iPad app wake it up or do you have to push a button on the unit?This is from Aurender about this issue:

This is from an e-mail that I got from Aurender:

 

“Actually it is not really a "standby" mode, per se. When it is idle, the screen just goes dark to conserve system resources, but it is still online.”
 

Once one selects the Aurender app on on their iPad, sees their music there,  and then selects a disk or a song, then the screen comes back on.

Aurender N10 music server, Ayre QX-5 & PS Audio DirectStream DACs, PS Audio DMP transport, Ayre KX-R 20 preamp, Ayre MX-R 20mono blocks, Sonus Faber Stradivari speakers, Shunyata Denali 6000S v2/Typhon QR power distributor, Shunyata Research Sigma & Synergistic Research Galileo  cables and power cords. DH Labs digital XLR, BNC, USB, optical cables 

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Good news for Chord DAC owners - Aurender seems to have achieved Native DSD compatibility with Chord's current line of DACs including Dave, Hugo2, HugoTT2, Qutest and Mojo. This functionality will be added to a forthcoming System Software update, but if you have a Chord DAC and want to try Native DSD in advance of a universal update, please send a remote support request via the Conductor app by going to Settings>Help>Send Remote Support Email.

 

Big thanks to Matt Bartlett at Chord Electronics and their software team for their help with this. They graciously provided a loaner DAC to Aurender Korea and dug really deep to get us the info we needed to make this happen. It is a joyous and harmonious Native DSD party. 

 

I'll also take this opportunity to request again that any customers with DACs that support Native DSD should please reach out to [email protected] to see if we can make it work. There's no one-size-fits-all patch for Native DSD compatibility, so we have to do it this way. It's kind of fun...each new DAC is like fresh meat. Eric and his team are hungry...

 

Any Linux-based audio manufacturers: please email us at [email protected] and Aurender will be more than happy to collaborate by sharing source codes including confirmed stable patches they've written for various Native DSD DACs. This information may or may not be mutually beneficial depending on which Linux kernel version your machine uses. 

 

 

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Amen I am going to drop out as well as this is meaningless.  If you dont value the equipment dont buy it. If you do then get it.  I have no regrets with mine.  Peace and out...

 

and as for DSD support that is great.  I have not had an issue with LKS and MSB as it always has worked.

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Does the PS Audio Directstream have native DSD capability?

 

Another question.  The new W20 se has external clock functionality and thus, it appears, works well MSB DACs and I suppose with standalone external clocks paired up with less august DACs.  The price of admission is high with MSB.  What good standalone external clock options are available and is this even worth pursuing?  Is this an option with us N10 owners?

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6 minutes ago, Ponzi said:

Does the PS Audio Directstream have native DSD capability?

 

Another question.  The new W20 se has external clock functionality and thus, it appears, works well MSB DACs and I suppose with standalone external clocks paired up with less august DACs.  The price of admission is high with MSB.  What good standalone external clock options are available and is this even worth pursuing?  Is this an option with us N10 owners?

Not sure what application you are thinking of exactly. The clock-in of the W20/W20 SE can/should be used if you are using a isosynchronous connection such as SPDIF or AES-EBU (single or double) to a DAC that's using the same clock input. This is required to keep both DAC and W20 in sync. When using a W20 (SE) with a USB connection to your DAC you will not need to connect the W20 to the clock, as USB is asynchronous. The N10 does not have a clock input. So an external clock using an N10 would only make sense to improve the sound quality of the DAC you are using (provided of course that it has an external clock input).

I myself am using a Rossini Player + clock with a W20 connected through USB - so no clock connection to the W20 needed. Works fantastic provided you use a top quality USB cable. We have tested this against double AES-EBU with dCS clock connection + USB dongle to automatically change the clock frequencies. The latter solution is MUCH more expensive but didn't sound better than USB.

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14 minutes ago, Vincent1234 said:

Not sure what application you are thinking of exactly. The clock-in of the W20/W20 SE can/should be used if you are using a isosynchronous connection such as SPDIF or AES-EBU (single or double) to a DAC that's using the same clock input. This is required to keep both DAC and W20 in sync. When using a W20 (SE) with a USB connection to your DAC you will not need to connect the W20 to the clock, as USB is asynchronous. The N10 does not have a clock input. So an external clock using an N10 would only make sense to improve the sound quality of the DAC you are using (provided of course that it has an external clock input).

I myself am using a Rossini Player + clock with a W20 connected through USB - so no clock connection to the W20 needed. Works fantastic provided you use a top quality USB cable. We have tested this against double AES-EBU with dCS clock connection + USB dongle to automatically change the clock frequencies. The latter solution is MUCH more expensive but didn't sound better than USB.

If using a DAC with clock output and AES I highly recommend using that to send click to the W20’s clock input. 

Founder of Audiophile Style | My Audio Systems AudiophileStyleStickerWhite2.0.png AudiophileStyleStickerWhite7.1.4.png

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29 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

If using a DAC with clock output and AES I highly recommend using that to send click to the W20’s clock input. 

I agree. In that case the clock out of the DAC can/should be regarded as an external clock signal for the W20 that you will need for AES.

Recently I used an AES-EBU connection for one day (my dealer was lending my USB cable for a demo) and without the clock signal going to the W20 there were regular pops indeed. Luckily you don't have that when using USB. Much simpler. 😉

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54 minutes ago, Ponzi said:

I am using a rather pricy AES-EBU between my N10 and PS Audio Directstream.  Are you suggesting that a good USB would possibly be a better way to skin the cat?

Impossible for me to tell.. It all depends. Which quality of cable is used in each case, which quality of implementation of USB and AES-EBU at either side of the Aurender and DAC..? All these things have an impact. I wouldn't worry too much though. If all is fine now I don't see a compelling reason to change.. 👍🏻

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1 hour ago, Vincent1234 said:If all is fine now I don't see a compelling reason to change.. 👍🏻


+1.....

 

but then it wouldn’t be a hobby, would it ! 🤪

Aurender W20 Music Server, Kii Three Active Speakers, Kii Digital Controller

Audioquest Diamond USB, Audioquest Niagara 7000 conditioner, Audioquest NRG-1000 HC mains leads

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On 7/1/2020 at 8:05 AM, Ponzi said:

I am using a rather pricy AES-EBU between my N10 and PS Audio Directstream.  Are you suggesting that a good USB would possibly be a better way to skin the cat?

The only way to know is to it home audition  both in your system and trust your ears as to which one is best.

Aurender N10 music server, Ayre QX-5 & PS Audio DirectStream DACs, PS Audio DMP transport, Ayre KX-R 20 preamp, Ayre MX-R 20mono blocks, Sonus Faber Stradivari speakers, Shunyata Denali 6000S v2/Typhon QR power distributor, Shunyata Research Sigma & Synergistic Research Galileo  cables and power cords. DH Labs digital XLR, BNC, USB, optical cables 

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I lost exact count on the burn-in time of my N100H but probably approaching 400 hours. Around the 100-200 hour I still hadn't noticed much of a change and swapped in new all silver USB cables (two, one from the server to a reclocker, another from there to the DAC). The sound went bad right away but I kept the burn-in going. About a week later there was a quite obvious improvement in the sound. In fact I was shocked at just how much it changed. The too warm-too dark sound had morphed into something much more palatable, less boomy, more defined and refined, the top end opened up as well, much more air. So the original downward tonal shift lightened up and I'm much happier now.

 

I have a Shunyata Alpha USB on order (backorder? the wait time for it to ship direct from Shunyata is 4 weeks). That cable will go between DAC and reclocker, and the better of the two other silver cables will go between Aurender and reclocker. To start, anyway.

 

One thing I'll say about better cables. The Auralic DAC sometimes had a minor dropout when a song first started when the filter mode was set to Exact. With the silver cables almost no dropouts. Hope the Shunyata can improve it even more. The earlier cables were Curious, TWL and Lush.

 

I had a spare Triode Wire Labs Digital power cable and replaced the stock cable with it. Didn't get much change. So for an AC cable I'm going to look for something better, something on the neutral side, definitely don't want a power cable that's too warm, but don't know what yet.

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On 7/9/2020 at 8:26 PM, kilroy said:

I lost exact count on the burn-in time of my N100H but probably approaching 400 hours. Around the 100-200 hour I still hadn't noticed much of a change and swapped in new all silver USB cables (two, one from the server to a reclocker, another from there to the DAC). The sound went bad right away but I kept the burn-in going. About a week later there was a quite obvious improvement in the sound. In fact I was shocked at just how much it changed. The too warm-too dark sound had morphed into something much more palatable, less boomy, more defined and refined, the top end opened up as well, much more air. So the original downward tonal shift lightened up and I'm much happier now.

 

👍😉

Lyngdorf MP40..Aurender N200..Panasonic UB9000..SimAudio Titan MCH Amp..Emotiva BasX A4..KEF Ref 1 Meta..Dali Phantom IW..SVS Prime Elevation(4)..JL Audio F112..Shunyata Research Ztron Alpha HC/Wireworld Silver Electra PCs..IsoAcoustics Gaia I and II, Orea Bronze..Billy Bags rack.

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Article says there’s an  aurender app for iPhone by the time this article is published??!

 

 

http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/nad-masters-m502-digital-music-player-aurender-a10-music-server/?page=4

 

When Aurender introduced the Conductor App it was compatible only with Android devices and iPads, not iPhones. In other words, if you were a Macintosh user you had to invest in an iPad to use the app. But Lizars tells me that by the time this appears in print Conductor can be installed on iPhones, an upgradable fix downloadable through the app (all Aurender products of any vintage will then work with iPhones)”

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On 7/11/2020 at 6:30 AM, honeymustardsteve said:

Article says there’s an  aurender app for iPhone by the time this article is published??!

 

 

http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/nad-masters-m502-digital-music-player-aurender-a10-music-server/?page=4

 

When Aurender introduced the Conductor App it was compatible only with Android devices and iPads, not iPhones. In other words, if you were a Macintosh user you had to invest in an iPad to use the app. But Lizars tells me that by the time this appears in print Conductor can be installed on iPhones, an upgradable fix downloadable through the app (all Aurender products of any vintage will then work with iPhones)”

 

As far as I know, there is still no iPhone version of Conductor app (checked on Appstore right now). Just for iPad. Maybe it finally is considered, but I have read somewhere, that this option was not even planned. Any new info? AriMargolis?

Synergistic Research Powercell 12UEF > Innuos PhoenixNET > Aurender N100H > Innuos PhoenixUSB > Ferrum audio Wandla + Hypsos DAC > Simaudio Moon 600i / Gato Audio DIA400S > Dynaudio C1 speakers > Siltech, Shunyata & Stealth cabling

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Thanks for info and teaser, geat news! 

Synergistic Research Powercell 12UEF > Innuos PhoenixNET > Aurender N100H > Innuos PhoenixUSB > Ferrum audio Wandla + Hypsos DAC > Simaudio Moon 600i / Gato Audio DIA400S > Dynaudio C1 speakers > Siltech, Shunyata & Stealth cabling

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What is this? (iPad Conductor app update this morning):

--------------------------------------------------------------

"Version 3.7

Changes from 3.6:

-New features

  -Added channel test feature (Requires x.21.175 or later)"

--------------------------------------------------------------

Frank

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