The "Official" Aurender Discussion Thread

[SirAtilla]

4 hours ago, GJo said:

I used dbPoweramp to convert my AIFF files to FLAC a couple of years ago.

 

When I try to fix a few album artwork files, I get the following error message whether I try the automatic Fix, or try to replace manually with a .jpg downloaded onto my Mac.

 

Even though PerfectTUNES shows artwork for the album in question, the artwork does not appear in Conductor4.

 

 

 

Hmm I have never seen that error.  Before we ask Illustrate to look at log files can you click the ellipsis button to the right of fix button and choose "Reveal Album in Finder" and ensure files are in expected location and you can manipulate files in whatever location is shown via computer?  Computer side of me would read this pretty literal as in PerfectTUNES does not have permission to alter files.

 

 

[GJo]

12 minutes ago, SirAtilla said:

 

Hmm I have never seen that error.  Before we ask Illustrate to look at log files can you click the ellipsis button to the right of fix button and choose "Reveal Album in Finder" and ensure files are in expected location and you can manipulate files in whatever location is shown via computer?  Computer side of me would read this pretty literal as in PerfectTUNES does not have permission to alter files.

 

 

PerfectTUNES now shows 0 albums when I click Album Art (see below).

 

This despite all the album art now being correct in Conductor4, and PerfectTUNES recognizing the music files if I click ID Tags.

 

Really unimpressed with PerfectTUNES. Using it has been unpleasant, and I honestly don't want to spend another minute using the application. This may be user error, but I don't care to debrief further.

 

Using dbPoweramp, I have re-converted the handful of albums that had suddenly become split apart, and I have deleted the old files.

 

Everything (well 98%) is good.

 

I'm moving on.

 

Thank you all for your help.

 

[SirAtilla]

3 hours ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

I’ve been using an ACS10 very heavily for the last several days. This includes using the ACS Manager app that has built-in metadata editing. While not PerfectTunes or Yate, it is nice for quick fixes that one notices while browsing / listening. 

 

I had an ACS100 and wrote an extensive blog article on how it works.  I shared with Aurender as well.  What was the oddest part, to me at least, of the research and evaluation is I discovered changes made using the ACS manager were not written to the files themselves so my conclusion is they were being updated in the Conductor database only. 

 

It's in the blog article link attached under the section "One More Thing...."

 

https://www.sound-lab.com/blog/acs100-rip

[SirAtilla]

6 minutes ago, GJo said:

PerfectTUNES now shows 0 albums when I click Album Art (see below).

 

This despite all the album art now being correct in Conductor4, and PerfectTUNES recognizing the music files if I click ID Tags.

 

Really unimpressed with PerfectTUNES. Using it has been unpleasant, and I honestly don't want to spend another minute using the application. This may be user error, but I don't care to debrief further.

 

Using dbPoweramp, I have re-converted the handful of albums that had suddenly become split apart, and I have deleted the old files.

 

Everything (well 98%) is good.

 

I'm moving on.

 

Thank you all for your help.

 

 

Always happy to help and sounds like you are ready to put down computer and just listen to your music!  The community is always here for the future.

[SirAtilla]

4 hours ago, jrsub said:

Just a heads up that Conductor 4.8 is now available and so far for me has resolved issues I had with the app constantly having to reconnect.    Seems quite stable now.   Thanks Aurender!

 

Agreed much better - I have been running the TestFlight 4.6, 4.7 series of betas that became 4.8.  We need to get the sorting regression they introduced in 4.X fixed. Took almost a personal crusade to fix/address it back in 3.X.  One of my audiophile buddies refuses to use 4.X until this is fixed - drives him nuts lol.

 

Worst case will talk to owner about at AXPONA.

[The Computer Audiophile]

29 minutes ago, SirAtilla said:

changes made using the ACS manager were not written to the files themselves

Correct. Thats how it currently works. 

[DancingSea]

I've had this persistent peculiarity with the Aurender's hard drive.  I'm not sure if it's the HD's fault or choice, but I experience this weirdness when I've mounted the Aurender's HD on my Mac.

 

The Aurender has declared my Boston Symphony Chamber's Player's box set as untouchable, saying I do not have permission.  It can't be copied or backed up to another hard drive.  It can't be deleted.  And it's not possible to change the permissions.

 

And then there are the 4 folders in the attached screenshot.  They cannot be deleted from the Aurender because I don't have permission, and it's not possible to change permissions.  They total 8kb and have nothing in them.  Yet they are somehow tied to 3 Dire Strait and one Miles Davis SACD.  No matter which folder on the Aurender those albums are located, they will appear in Conductor only in the folder where these 4 mystery folders reside.

 

Any ideas?

 

It's not a big deal, just one of these Aurender oddities.  The same album files behave perfectly normal in all places not Aurender.

[Anonamemouse]

For anyone missing album art files, the Album Art Exchange has an amazing amount of album covers.

 

https://www.albumartexchange.com/

 

You do have to sign up, but it's free. When you download more than 20 in one day you will be put on hold for 24 hours.

The best resolution is 1000px x 1000px or over.

[The Computer Audiophile]

The AP20 is in my big system!

 

[terry78]

Hi everyone,   does the N150 require a 5v power signal on the USB cable to handshake with the DAC?  
 

I’d like to try an AudioWise SRC-DX USB-to-coax digital converter to input the N150 signal into my Chord MScaler/Qutest combo.  People on a MScaler forum say that eliminating USB chip noise makes an improvement. And at least one of them used an Aurender into the SRC-DX and MScaler but he had a 100h as I recall. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

4 minutes ago, terry78 said:

Hi everyone,   does the N150 require a 5v power signal on the USB cable to handshake with the DAC?  
 

I’d like to try an AudioWise SRC-DX USB-to-coax digital converter to input the N150 signal into my Chord MScaler/Qutest combo.  People on a MScaler forum say that eliminating USB chip noise makes an improvement. And at least one of them used an Aurender into the SRC-DX and MScaler but he had a 100h as I recall. 

The requirement comes from the DAC side. 

[GJo]

How does one fix staticky pops between tracks in a Qobuz playlist?

 

Conductor 4 (4.8.7)

N30SA Firmware 1.23.424

 

 

 

 

[krass]

On 2/17/2024 at 5:23 AM, GJo said:

How does one fix staticky pops between tracks in a Qobuz playlist?

 

Conductor 4 (4.8.7)

N30SA Firmware 1.23.424

 

 

 

 

 

static & pops are more likely to be due to “….Environmental Potentials EP-2050 Whole House AC Filter, Torus TOT Mini Isolation Transformer, Dedicated Audio AC Circuit….” than the Aurender I would have thought ? 🤔 

[GJo]

Here’s another Aurender/Qobuz user observing a pop between tracks. 
 

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/pop-sound-between-tracks

 

I’ve added a 1 second pre-roll delay via Conductor 4 (previously had no delay) and will report back. 
 

I recall a similar issue using Roon which was solved with a pre-roll delay, although Roon has shorter delay options beginning with 50ms. 

 

 

 

[krass]

On 2/18/2024 at 5:01 PM, GJo said:

Here’s another Aurender/Qobuz user observing a pop between tracks. 
 

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/pop-sound-between-tracks

 

I’ve added a 1 second pre-roll delay via Conductor 4 (previously had no delay) and will report back. 
 

I recall a similar issue using Roon which was solved with a pre-roll delay, although Roon has shorter delay options beginning with 50ms. 

 

 

 

 

aah.. not “static” then………

 

do you only get this when switching between different formats ? Then it is indeed the DAC requiring the delay that you mention above.. 

 

You didn’t say, but if it is between ALL tracks, even tracks from the same album, then it is something else.

 

 

[GJo]

Just now, krass said:

do you only get this when switching between different formats ? Then it is indeed the DAC requiring the delay that you mention above.. 

 

You didn’t say, but if it is between ALL tracks, even tracks from the same album, then it is something else.

 

 

All good points. 

 

I will be paying attention to whether or not it occurs only between different sample rates.

 

In fact, I think I will create a short playlist with different sample rate files, then compare to a playlist consisting of files with identical sample rates.

[GJo]

When listening to a playlist with back-to-back tracks with different sample rates there is a tick between tracks.

 

After re-ordering tracks in the playlist so they are grouped together according to sample rate, there is no tick between back-to-back tracks with identical sample rates.

 

 

[Mazza]

1 hour ago, GJo said:

 

After re-ordering tracks in the playlist so they are grouped together according to sample rate, there is no tick between back-to-back tracks with identical sample rates.

 

 

It’s a DAC issue then? Same issue if say streaming from an iPhone or similar source?

[musicman1]

I've seen MANY discussions in several forums about the benefits of a fiber connection for isolation on the streamer ethernet connection. I own the Aurender N200 and it has double galvanic isolation on the ethernet. Is there any real benefits to going fiber in light of this. Has anyone actually tried it with this model and made comparisons? Considering this has double galvanic isolation I'm wondering if the diminishing returns would make it worthwhile.

[GJo]

2 hours ago, Mazza said:

It’s a DAC issue then?

Yes. The tick occurs when the new sample rate is detected by the DAC. I’ve heard this on a few DACs.

 

I believe one solution is to convert all sample rates to the sample rate. For example, convert all sample rates to 88.2. Or, upsample all sample rates to 192.

 

This requires software other than Conductor 4 (I believe). Roon has this capability.

[The Computer Audiophile]

38 minutes ago, GJo said:

Yes. The tick occurs when the new sample rate is detected by the DAC. I’ve heard this on a few DACs.

 

I believe one solution is to convert all sample rates to the sample rate. For example, convert all sample rates to 88.2. Or, upsample all sample rates to 192.

 

This requires software other than Conductor 4 (I believe). Roon has this capability.

The option exists on the AP20. 
 

[cat3600]

2 hours ago, musicman1 said:

I've seen MANY discussions in several forums about the benefits of a fiber connection for isolation on the streamer ethernet connection. I own the Aurender N200 and it has double galvanic isolation on the ethernet. Is there any real benefits to going fiber in light of this. Has anyone actually tried it with this model and made comparisons? Considering this has double galvanic isolation I'm wondering if the diminishing returns would make it worthwhile.

Fiber optic media converter are very cheap so no harm in trying, I use a TP Link. My chain: Internet service provider's router > fiber media converter > into SOTM network switch sfp port > To ACS10 via Ethernet cable > ACS10 to N20 via Ethernet cable.

 

Does it help, well this is a deep rabbit hole topic. I am in peace knowing at least I have isolation via fiber and then double galvanic isolation On the ACS10 and N20. Some people are using cascading network switches with all sorts of isolation fiber and normal ethernet. I wanted to isolate at least one point with fiber before it went into my SOTM network switch!

[agladstone]

On 2/4/2024 at 5:09 PM, The Computer Audiophile said:

I’ve been using an ACS10 very heavily for the last several days. This includes using the ACS Manager app that has built-in metadata editing. While not PerfectTunes or Yate, it is nice for quick fixes that one notices while browsing / listening. 

I really wish Aurender would give us this feature in the non ACS version of Conductor, it would be so helpful for when you discover the random error in tagging vs. having to log into your computer, make the fix, then upload the correction, delete/ replace the one with the error, etc etc. 

I'm sure it’s possible and that they’re just trying to differentiate between conductor version features? One can hope ! 🙏

[DancingSea]

23 minutes ago, agladstone said:

I really wish Aurender would give us this feature in the non ACS version of Conductor, it would be so helpful for when you discover the random error in tagging vs. having to log into your computer, make the fix, then upload the correction, delete/ replace the one with the error, etc etc. 

I'm sure it’s possible and that they’re just trying to differentiate between conductor version features? One can hope ! 🙏

 

Yes, being able to edit metadata in app was cutting edge in 2009....  😃

[NTWrong]

8 hours ago, agladstone said:

I really wish Aurender would give us this feature in the non ACS version of Conductor, it would be so helpful for when you discover the random error in tagging vs. having to log into your computer, make the fix, then upload the correction, delete/ replace the one with the error, etc etc. 

I'm sure it’s possible and that they’re just trying to differentiate between conductor version features? One can hope ! 🙏

I’ve been able to access files stored on the Aurender (via Finder on a MacBook), open them on my laptop in Foobar2000, edit the metadata and save it. I tried editing album art that way and that was problematic, but it doesn’t matter so much since Aurender defaults to the folder.jpg image anyway. 
 

Presumably other metadata editors would work in place of Foobar2000 but that’s been my go-to app for a long time. 
 

It still requires the use of a laptop, but at least I don’t have to transfer a new copy of the track to the Aurender’s internal storage and then delete the old file.
 

Personally, I don’t mind using the laptop rather than having the ability to edit metadata via Conductor. Library management is like housecleaning; it’s tedious but it’s one of the tasks we have to carry out in this hobby.