The "Official" Aurender Discussion Thread

[Anonamemouse]

On 9/8/2023 at 11:26 AM, AurenderAmerica said:

@steveoat at the moment, producing a Windows version lies somewhere between our "wish list" and "to-do list"

Makes sense, windows is only the most used operating system in the world. 

[Anonamemouse]

10 hours ago, Quadiffusor HK said:

Where can I find the help desk telephone number? 

It's in the "contact" section on the Aurender website.

[Anonamemouse]

9 hours ago, kilroy said:

Coming in late on the Conductor 4 conversation. I have brought the topic of tags up before but it never went anywhere. Why doesn't Conductor have even this basic ability to read tags? I tag the hell out of my music with all kinds of info- cat. no., release date, label, DR range, provenance, etc. In Conductor, this is all lost. As a former user of JRiver when I came to Conductor a few years ago, this seemed a major flaw. Bringing it up in the past some users liked the idea, others said why complicate Conductor. That's not complication, it's a basic function of any music app. So, let's hear it, Aurender.

 

I FULLY agree with this! I tag everything in my collection hoping that Aurender will one day realize that tags are there for a reason and it doesn't take a million lines of code to extract additional information.
 

[Anonamemouse]

I kept an eye on the changes for V4 of the app, and decided to give it a go again, mostly because of Vtuner finally being active.

 

MAJOR issue:

How do I change the language to English?

The Dutch translation is probably done by google translate and horrible.

[Anonamemouse]

7 minutes ago, stefano_mbp said:

Most of the apps (iOS/iPadOS) use the same system language … 

I checked a few, and they all gave me an option to choose the language.

Also, my iPad is set to English...

[Anonamemouse]

5 hours ago, Hans-Ingo said:

In my opinion absolutely not. To me, it still appears like a beta release. I absolutely prefer V3 on my iPAD. Compared to Aurender standards I recognize V4 as a misstep.

A "misstep"... No. But it DEFINITELY needs work. In my opinion it should not have been released the way it is now.

[Anonamemouse]

When you have waaay too much money...

(Spot the Aurenders!)

 

[Anonamemouse]

 

15 hours ago, Blakcloud said:

This is a rant, so read at your own discretion.

 

TLDR: Aurender I am finished with your product and I am going back to CD's.

 

I have owned my N100C for quite a few years and I am more than happy with it. My problem is the Conductor software that connects the player to the network. Yes, the updates are quite nice but problem after problem arise after an update. I dread the next update because something that worked before will stop working. My biggest problem is the Conductor app drops the music server every time I open the software. I have to go into settings, choose my server, let it do it's thing and it still doesn't work. I always have to do this twice and then it works. This has been going on for months.

 

Listen to a few songs and want to pause it, guess what, not connected to the server and I go through the double process of choosing my server from the list. I just get up and use the front buttons. Speaking of the front buttons, they stopped working for two months last year but magically work after a software update.

 

Yes, I have contacted the help desk but no solutions except for wait for the next update. I have contacted support ten times so far. That is far too many times for a piece of audio equipment.

 

There are good things about my N100C, it is built well, sounds great and their support is one of the best I have ever interacted with. The interface for the Conductor app is perfect. When the whole system works, I am more than happy and I just get to listen to music.

 

Now, using this music server just makes me frustrated and unfortunately it is my only music source and for this reason I am done with Aurender. I am going back to CD's. Jay's Audio, here I come.

 

 

 

3 hours ago, krass said:

 

unlikely to be the same software that works flawlessly for almost everybody. More likely to be something unusual in your setup, or network problems maybe ? Still not a nice situation for you….

 

@krass Not really, I have had LOTS of issues with my N100SC. It took the death of my player to finally fix things.

 

@Blakcloud , I'd definitely install an SSD. It will make your life easier.

[Anonamemouse]

59 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Tidal Max now available. 
 

But... Does it actually inform you what the source of the music is?

Do they tell you if you are listening to the Mobile Fidelity remaster which generally is the best a recording will ever sound, or is it the DR4 remaster which will give you a headache after 4 songs?

Unfortunately, it's usually the second. Because many audiophools only look at numbers and don't actually do some research or even just sit in the dark and *listen*.

 

[Anonamemouse]

YAY!!!

I just discovered that a feature request I made actually was implemented in the new version of V4!

@AurenderAmerica and the Aurender tech team; Thank you very much! This was a major trigger for my OCD!

🤩🥳

[Anonamemouse]

13 hours ago, FLA10 said:

After the last update version 4 is getting disconnected from the A10. This has not happened before and V3 is solid. Nothing else has moved or changed. Any ideas?

My "routine" for playing something:

1: grab iPad

2: open cover

3: tap little wheel icon (the app is always open, Aurender is the only reason I have an iPad)

4: go to "connect to Aurender"

5: tap only Aurender device I own

6: wait for app to sort through all of my one Aurender devices and eventually connect

7: wait for database update

8: tap "OK" because database update wants confirmation

9: try to locate band (a challenge, because any band with "a" in the name is at the beginning of the letter and any band with "the" in the name is at the end)

10: play album

11: get confused because file information is incorrect, a CD-rip is not DSF

12: close iPad for 0.3 seconds

13: back to 3 because app is disconnected.

 

[Anonamemouse]

3 hours ago, cat3600 said:

I have a question for the N20 owners, as mine runs significantly hotter than the N10 and the ACS10. Not sure if this is normal, I mean it's amplifier level hot, not very comfortable to keep my hands on the top for long.

 

I dont want to bother Aurender support, if this is normal.

Wowsers... That's toasty!

I have a similar issue with my N100SC, it went into protection once when I installed a new SSD and uploaded my 3 TB of music in one go. It didn't appreciate that...

I bought a 4 inch server fan and connected the powerwires to the power connection of a USB connector which is plugged into my player (the amperage of those fans is minimal and WELL below what a player USB output can handle). Those fans are 12 volts and USB is only 5 volts, so it runs at 40% of it's capacity. If you look for a silent fan, you will never hear it unless you have it blow into your ear directly. Place the fan out of sight behind the player and it will keep your system nice and cool.

[Anonamemouse]

18 minutes ago, amargolis said:

@DancingSea @Koso thank you for the kind words!

 

It has been an absolute pleasure working with you all via Aurender these past 6 years. I left on good terms with no drama or bad blood whatsoever. I look forward to continuing to be a part of the Aurender community.

 

I’m taking a beat to figure out my next career move, and in the meantime, I’ll be rebooting my old CD/SACD ripping service, Golden Ear Digital (new website coming soon). I can take care of ripping large CD collections and extracting high res files from your SACDs/bluray/dvd audio discs (stereo and/or multichannel). When I’m ready to really re-launch that service I’ll make a separate thread here to keep the AS community up to date.

 

Cheers!

 

Aurender should have doubled your remuneration... 😎
You will be missed! I am glad you will stay on this forum. Good luck in your new ventures!

[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.

[Anonamemouse]

18 hours ago, Robifabs said:

Up! Anyone ?

 

....By the way, any clues how easy it is to change HDs on a W20 ? Did it several times in computers but actually never opened an Aurender...

 

Thanks !!

I don't think the HDDs are user serviceable in your W20. 

This might be a question you need to ask the Aurender helpdesk.

[Anonamemouse]

16 minutes ago, DancingSea said:

I've whipped out an email to Korea for an explanation

Someone probably had a beta version. 

[Anonamemouse]

It's weird how nobody here appears to know the difference between caching and buffering. 

 

Every stream is buffered on all playback devices. It is simply how it works. Usually about 30 seconds.

You can test this by listening to a streaming station for at least 10 minutes (so that it can build up a buffer), and then unplug the network cable. The music will continue for a while and eventually stop when the buffer is empty. The buffer is needed to prevent drop outs in the stream from causing a drop out in the music that comes from the loudspeakers.

A streaming station just sends out a continuous stream of data, and not separate songs. It's like reading a book written without any spaces or punctuation.

 

A cache is memory where complete songs/albums are (temporarily) stored so that they are played without causing wear and tear to mechanical HDDs, or to prevent the noise of a spinning disc. In this age of good quality SSDs a cache is kinda redundant, but it's a nice selling gimmick.

[Anonamemouse]

48 minutes ago, NTWrong said:

Actually, we do know the difference between buffering and streaming, which would be clear if you had read the posts earlier in this thread. What I don’t know about is how streaming services work. (I play all my music back from the user-installed SSDs.) 

 

Streaming is not like radio. I can go in and choose the tracks that I want to stream, whereas radio is just a constant stream of data so that you can’t choose a track; you hear whatever song is being played at any given time.
 

In theory, then, when I select Money For Nothing from Qobuz, my N200 could download that track and cache it in the internal SSD. I take it from you and @DancingSea that isn’t what happens.

 

But that makes me wonder what the purpose of the SSD cache is. What’s the point of taking a file that I have stored on an internal SSD and loading it into a different SSD before playback. Either way, it’s playing back from an SSD. 

 

Which is why I figured the SSD cache was primarily beneficial to streaming music. But I accept @DancingSea’s answer, since he’s talking directly to someone who knows. 

Actually, streaming *is* like radio. The playlist you create is stitched together to one long stream. And the moment you decide you want to interrupt that stream, it is cut off and a new part of the stream is attached. 

 

 

[Anonamemouse]

8 hours ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Perhaps it doesn’t. 
 

Perhaps this discussion is best left to those who care and those who enjoy talking to each other about audio topics, whether they lead somewhere or not. I know I enjoy discussions that don’t always have to revolve around solving the crisis in the Middle East. 

Yeah... 🤔
Unfortunately the discussion about buffering/caching was started and is continued by someone who appears not to have a single clue about what he is talking about. 

[Anonamemouse]

I think that as long as people do not pay attention to the source of their music, it barely matters in what way it comes to you.

 

Good sound quality stands or falls with how the music is recorded, mixed and mastered, and modern mastering (although it really should be called butchering) usually completely kills all dynamics and musicality. There are SO many albums sold as "remasters" which sound like utter excrement. It really doesn't matter what audiogear you have, those modern remasters simply will never sound good. 

 

I do not have ROON and no interest in getting it, but a good friend of mine who has pitch perfect hearing (which is quite scary) has experimented with it about a year ago. He was not impressed sound wise, but kept it because he liked the app. According to him, the sound was "good enough if you don't know any better".

[Anonamemouse]

This guy can PERFECTLY tune a single string just by hearing alone. I trust him blindly. 

[Anonamemouse]

52 minutes ago, GJo said:

 

Regarding your posts on the topic of Roon, you wrote:

 

 

That's the pertinent data point when putting your Roon posts in context. No experience. No interest. 

👍

[Anonamemouse]

1 hour ago, DancingSea said:

 

I've tried USB drive, connecting an external HD to the Aurender, as well as using ChronoSync for incremental additions.

 

The only thing I've found to reliably and quickly work is manually transferring files over the network to the mounted Aurender HD on my Mac desktop.  Incremental backups with Chronosync are spotty, and eventually entered into some sort of permissions purgatory.

 

I'm resigned to this just being how it is, with manual transfers being best.  Not ideal to say the least.

 

 

A mounted drive indeed works the easiest. It also gives you most control over what is copied to your Aurender.

If you download Fileboss you can set filters for everything you copy, so your player won't get cluttered with stuff that has nothing to do with music and only takes up space.

[Anonamemouse]

1 hour ago, mike1127 said:

Have you encountered the issue of the Aurender changing the file modification time on every file you copy? That really damages some of the efficiency of file syncing, as without setting the sync software to read the entire contents of each file (much slower), it doesn't know which files have changed.

Nope. Whatever I copy over to my N100SC (very soon to be replaced with an N200) stays exactly the same as what I have on my NAS. I copy via Win11.

 

[Anonamemouse]

2 hours ago, mike1127 said:

I don't have wired access to my router. I'm using a Wireless -> Ethernet converter. Maybe that's why it's so slow. It says 14 hours to copy 500 GB. I hope I can get the connected USB drive option working at some point. I'm letting it run for now.

 

Sometimes when I update my library I remove files. I ended up with some albums having two copies of each track, say one FLAC and one WAV. I still need to go through the library and clean all those up. I see the conductor app has no option to sync the library by removing files. I'll probably need to do the option to resync the entire library starting from scratch to pick up removed files.

 

The Conductor app sure is a battery hog on my 8" iPad gen 10.

 

The sound is awesome though. Only problem is that I'm getting some shrillness, which I'm guessing is not the Aurender but actually in some downstream component, and the higher extension of the Aurender is bringing it out. Maybe it's my DAC. I'm using a highly tweaked-out Gustard x20pro (bypass caps, damping, ERS fabric). The guy who did the modification for me said it sounded really good in his system, but I've since seen some people who think the Gustard ESS-chip based DACs can have shrillness.

 

I'm seeing some advantages to Windows and Foobar2000 or JRiver at this point... many options to filter the output, even though I think the sound doesn't approach the Aurender or even a Zen Stream (I tested the Zen Stream playing from an attached disk).

A wired connection is a LOT nicer when copying large amounts of data. In a home setting the difference is very noticable. In your case I'd find a long cable and run it through the house until the bulk of the copying is done.

 

Really the easiest is to mount the SSD inside the Aurender. You can access it like a regular HD/partition on your computer and just drag and drop albums. If you are rigid on using sync software (which can go HORRIBLY wrong) you'll have to look into something third party.

 

I would LOVE to see Aurender team up with JRiver and work on a JConductor!