The "Official" Aurender Discussion Thread

[Mazza]

57 minutes ago, Emm said:

 

Imagine what you would say if I would also report that the right display of this N10 is not properly centered with the result that the left fonts are half shown 

 

 

I’d be surprised if a faulty display would be fixed through a firmware update by Aurender.

 

Sounds like you have a faulty unit and should be replaced under warranty! What does your dealer have to say about it?

[Mazza]

2 hours ago, AriMargolis said:

By using the ACS10 as the workhorse/utility player, W20 has less computing responsibility. With fewer demands on the system, it should perform that much better. Also, the 2X isolated LAN port effectively isolates the downstream W20 from the noisy-ass network! Ethernet picks up a lot of noise which can be introduced into the system without proper isolation.

 

ok, please explain how this is working? I presume the router is connected to the ACS10 via the network and the W20 to the ACS10 by a usb cable .... ie:

router ---->[ethernet cable] --->ACS10--->[USB cable]--->W20---->[USB or Spdif or XLR] ----> DAC

 

If so, isn't the ACS20 doing the rendering? It's the one receiving the router commands? 

 

If not, and the W20 is somehow doing the rendering as the post suggests, then isn't the W20 treating the ACS10 effectively as an external USB drive? If so, I struggle to understand why the benefit of galvanic isolation of the W20 from the network is going to compensate for:

• network induced noise into the ACS10
• introduced noise from the ACS10 circuitry itself
• the potential injection of RFI & EMF noise from another USB cable
• the likelihood that transferring data from an 'external' drive [the ACS10] gives scope for introducing jitter because there is no clock info between ACS10 and W20
• On top of that, the 'computing demands' on the W20, are hardly going to be reduced....all you are eliminating is the very small computing demands of watching the network for a command to load/render/play the next chunk of data from the HDD to the SDD buffers.

what am I missing?

[Mazza]

@AriMargolis Thank you for the explanation

[Mazza]

@JS21There is a definite bug with certain albums. Some just will not delete, not all, but some.

 

I raised the subject with support some months ago and they admitted as such and said the bug would be sorted in a subsequent software update. Well we have had numerous updates since then and still no bug fix. 

 

I have tried the usual like database rebuild and looking for hidden files but that hasn’t yielded any hint as to how to sort it out. 

 

We are in the hands of Aurender ?

 

[Mazza]

@AriMargolis thankyou. I’ll try support again. The last time I tried they couldn’t delete the albums themselves. But that was a couple of updates ago

 

[Mazza]

Welcome back from the Darkside!

[Mazza]

11 hours ago, sfseay said:

..or Aurender could change their philosophy and update their software to be Roon compatible.

 

AFAIK the existing Aurenders' don't have enough CPU-horsepower to run Roon; secondly Aurender have been on record many times to say that they don't want to service customer's through a 3rd-party AND lose their control over determining the sound-quality of their equipment through that 3rd-party

 

If you want Roon, then vote with your feet as you have done. Personally, I respect a Company who stick by their philosophy and strive to keep their own identity and raison d'être and I have bought into it.

[Mazza]

24 minutes ago, AriMargolis said:

@Quadiffusor HK this is a feature that we can probably add soon after releasing Conductor 3.0, 

 

Hah! The elusive ver 3.0 release! "All things come to him who waits - provided he knows what he is waiting for." Woodrow T. Wilson

[Mazza]

@Booster MPS you raise some valid points. However there must be something else going on in the background because the promised update is taking sooo long to appear. It can’t just be about resources, a major update of a piece of software, especially on a closed system like the Aurender is relatively simple and is capable of being done in a matter of months by a pretty small team. Much of the original software should be able to be reused if written and documented properly. I wonder this is part of the problem or if it is truly about lack of resource and or low priority 

[Mazza]

14 minutes ago, Vincent1234 said:

Relax guys, all will end well. Beta software is being tested already.

 

"All things come to him who waits - provided he knows what he is waiting for." Woodrow T. Wilson

[Mazza]

21 minutes ago, sfseay said:

If Aurender wouldn't be so stubborn and would starting supporting Roon issues like future compatibility would be eliminated.  I moved on from Aurender after purchasing Roon.  Having said that I realize that Roon isn't for everyone and many people don't like it or won't be purchasing it.  Still, Aurender's reasons for not supporting Roon don't make sense.

 

Please refer the earlier threads, this is discussed many times and it does make sense. ......

 

Aurenders do not have the processing power to support Roon, period. Further, Aurender's stated business philosophy is not to rely on 3rd party support for their products nor to relinquish control on how they strive for the BEST SQ. Running Roon, they would just, in effect, be yet another re-badged NUC box-shifter rather than a bespoke manufacturer. 

 

Please give them credit for keeping pure to their business objectives and their strive for the best sound quality and control of their products. I applaud them for it

[Mazza]

43 minutes ago, JimK said:

thinking of upgrading my Auralic Aries G2 to an Aurender W20.  Would I find that a meaningful upgrade?

I went from 1st gen Auralic Aries to W20: I know the G2 is an improvement over 1st gen, but the Aries was absolutely no competition to the W20.  You need to try it! 

[Mazza]

2 hours ago, bmichels said:

 

 Aurender's support agreed that it is a bug that they need to fix, and in the mean time they were  very profesionnal and helpful to remove those titles remotly on my W20.  Thanks Aurender.

 

It’s just the same with Tidal and I have raised it several times with Support.  They recognise it as a bug and keep promising to fix it with a SW update.  But over a year now and still waiting. Don’t hold your breath!!!

[Mazza]

6 hours ago, bmichels said:

QUESTION : Is it possible to attach an external USB CD Reader to the W20 to RIP CDs ?  

No, not possible. There might be some convoluted way to set up a usb daisy-chain back to a PC/Mac which would do the ripping, but I don’t see the point. 
 

I use dBpoweramp on a Mac. It rips flac lossless direct to my Mac and then copy to the W20 and my NAS over the network. Ripping to the W20 as a shared drive occasionally falls over. Dbpoweramp doesn’t seem to like it. 

My NAS auto-syncs the W20 and itself every night (I upload hires purchases direct to the W20) and backs up to the cloud every night (along with all my other NAS stored stuff such as photos)

 

it works for me

[Mazza]

2 hours ago, bobfa said:

 

I was wondering if you had tried the AES/EBU interface from the W20 to the Kii’s?

 

@bobfa no, sorry, only ever used USB so can’t help you there.

[Mazza]

4 hours ago, bobfa said:

I have been reading reviews and looking much more closely at Aurender.  I have been stuck in my head thinking about Roon.  Now I have a crazy idea... start out with an ACS10 as my computer replacement.  Try it in the system with both USB and USB to the Berkeley Alpha USB DDC.  THEN see if an N10 is the right thing or go for the W20SE.  

 

I wonder about starting with the ACS100 first...  hmmmmmmm

 

bob

 

 

@bobfa depends what you want out of your system. Do you need the ripping facilities of an ACS10 or 100? That seems to be the first question to answer yourself. If you don’t and you really want aes, then the W20 or the W20se would be the way to go, much better than the N10. As for roon? Well that’s a different story altogether

[Mazza]

+1 to merge03 comments. I never have the same issue streaming off my NAS or using the Aurender's internal HDD

 

With Tidal, it has happened intermittently [weeks/months apart] and TBH, I just shrug, stop using Tidal for a while and try again later. Invariably, it is usually then ok. I get it though, if you are getting a lot of disruption, it can get pretty frustrating

 

Maybe Aurender will find something different for you?

 

[Mazza]

52 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

 

I'd try adjusting DNS settings to 1.1.1.1 and 8.8.8.8

just curious, and I am no expert on this, but I have manually set DNS at 4.4.4.4 and 8.8.8.8 based on previous advice. Is 1.1.1.1 a better one to consider for some reason? 

[Mazza]

Thankyou! I will try that 🤩

 

[Mazza]

@kilroy welcome to the Aurender experience.
 

You are correct, Aurender are about hardware, that’s where they make their money and the software is a support function whereas it’s the total opposite for Jriver. 
 

the control app is a considerable improvement on earlier iterations and filtering is there but limited. You can get to biographies and album info through the app. It uses Wikipedia but you can also branch off into web searches. Not the same I know. But I have the iPad on my lap when using the Aurender so if I want more info I just call up safari and go from there. 
 

hang in there, you will grow to love the Aurender convenience, logical architecture and sound. If you ever need it , the Aurender tech support is very good

 

[Mazza]

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 ! 🤪

[Mazza]

1 hour ago, Vincent1234 said:

Yes, switch and Ethernet cable quality certainly matter (based on my experience with W20).

 

I had the opposite experience with Ethernet cable - tried audioquest vodka and found no improvement whatsoever over cat6a. 

But I don’t stream from NAS, I only use the W20’s HDD so maybe that’s one reason  The Ethernet is only used for control

 

YMMV of course! 

[Mazza]

10 hours ago, Vincent1234 said:

For me personally it matters as much for playback of locally stored files on the W20 HDD's. Common mode noise makes no distinction between those and streaming files from the internet. 😉

But I agree it can certainly be system dependant. However, the W20 seems to me to be really sensitive to the quality of switch and Ethernet cable quality. The Melco S100 works great here, as well as Shunyata Sigma Ethernet cables - better even than AQ Diamond but less expensive.

Also here: YMMV.

@vincent1234 for such situations maybe optical Ethernet might yield better isolation at much cheaper cost.  
 

Not tried it personally

[Mazza]

7 hours ago, lmf22 said:

I'm getting a PS Audio Directstream Junior (DSJ) soon and wondering if anyone compared the sound quality of the Aurender X100L USB output versus streaming via the PS Audio DSJ with the Bridge II network card? That is: 

 

Aurender X100L --> USB --> PS Audio DSJ

   vs. 

Everyday desktop computer with JRiver 25 (not optimized for audio) --> Ethernet --> PS Audio DSJ

   (Cables are Nordost Heimdall 2 USB and Nordost Heimdall 2 Ethernet). 

Cannot comment on your particular hardware combo but recently i have been trying to listen to music with my MacBookpro with Audirvana and Audeze LCD-3 headphones in my Home-office instead of my dedicated listening setup which in another room
 

I have never done this before and cannot believe the amount of noise and crud coming through the headphones from albeit a very busy, everyday workhorse, hardwire networked Macbookpro; to the extent that it is bordering on unlistenable. It’s like having a bad connection or failing component 
 

I know a lot of people will say you can get great sound out of the Mac with some setup care and lots of special usb isolation, mains cleanup, different s/w, minimalist processes running etc etc but my experience is that it is so bad that I am not so sure. So, I am in the process of setting up a stand-alone desktop setup to avoid the Mac altogether. 

I would have thought you might find the same when you compare your dedicated setup . Should be night and day difference  Try and see!

 

 

 

[Mazza]

6 hours ago, lmf22 said:

 

Thanks for sharing your experiences! I will definitely try it out, but I have a feeling the Aurender via USB will beat my unoptimized desktop computer via Ethernet. 

+1 🙂