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The "Official" Aurender Discussion Thread


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2 hours ago, biosailor said:

So, despite all controversies being discussed about MQA on CA, how does an MQA file streamed via Tidal compare to a wav file played from the local HDD?

 

If I stream files, I stream them via Qobuz, that offers up to 24/192 FLAC files. I guess this depends on the recording in question, but would there be a noticeable difference between a high-resolution FLAC compared to an MQA file? I guess no definitive answer can be given.

I think you are right that there's no real definitive answer to that, as indeed it depends on the specific recording. Gaucho from Steely Dan for instance sounds better as an SACD rip (or indeed on vinyl!) than in MQA, but MQA still sounds very impressive in general (spacious, subtle, tonally very rich) and certainly way better than non-MQA Redbook streaming FLAC. I think more gains can be achieved when playing MQA files locally from the internal HDD, but haven't tried that yet. 

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1 hour ago, Mazza said:

 

I don’t wish to open up the whole MQA debate but as a general rule anything I stream from Tidal or Qobuz, whether MQA or not, Hirez or not, has a much much  lesser SQ than the equivalent rip or Hirez download played from my HDD (W20).

 

Depends on the album version of course and when there are multiple copies to stream, typically one will sound  better than the others much. The amount of variety in SQ continuously surprises me

 

so I tend to use the streaming for sampling to decide if I want to buy the download

As you said: it all depends on the albums you listen to and also on the quality of your Ethernet cabling and connection. In general I'm pretty impressed with MQA through my W20, especially with classical music.

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13 minutes ago, mjb said:

Well, this is a worrying development - I’ve religiously ripped everything to FLAC, now I learn WAV sounds better. And with no scientific basis.  Will simply transcoding magically lift my experience?

Well, I think I offered an explanation earlier on. FLAC needs more processing than WAV, which in general does not help SQ. Furthermore, why would you need a 'scientific basis'? I would suggest to simply listen to some of your most beloved albums in FLAC and WAV. Then decide if it's worth your while to convert more FLAC's to WAV's. For Windows there's a fine, free program called Audacity to easily convert FLAC to WAV.

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36 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Be vary careful not to rush to judgement and accept this as fact. I highly recommend listening for yourself and doing some research.

I couldn't agree more. No matter what any objectivist at CA is measuring, I do hear differences between FLAC and WAV files. Just use your own system and your own ears and decide based on that. No more, no less.

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11 minutes ago, russellbobby said:

Aurender debuted a Cd-ripper storage piece for 6400.00 Really shaking my head on this one. You would think they would work on a stand-alone DAC but they have no future plans for that.

Maybe the rest of the world thinks differently.

Hmm.. wouldn't be my first choice either.. 

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  • 2 weeks later...
1 hour ago, mabe said:

...I couldn`t resist .....just bought a N10.

 

After comparing my X100 extensively with a N10 in my changed setup again the overall N10 presentation was much better than expected.

No blind test was necessary, the improvements (blackness, neutrality, micro details, quietness at low level signals etc) have been realized within seconds.

 

Setup:

1.      X100 à Devialet 220pro (USB input)    à Piega Coax 90.2

2.      N10   à Devialet 220pro (SPDIF input) à Piega Coax 90.2

3.      N10   à Devialet 220pro (USB input)     à Piega Coax 90.2

 

All output levels have been adjusted to ~ 0.1 dB (at 1 kHz)

 

Setup 2 was slightly better than 3. It seems the reclocking technic involved provides cleaner “signal purity”. But who knows?

 

Is the upgrade worth the extra amount of many?  For me and even for my “very old” ears, yes.

 

Now, looking forward to the installation by end of next week…..

 

Manfred

Congratulations! I'm not really surprised by your findings as I made the same jump in the past. Enjoy! ?

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  • 2 weeks later...
3 hours ago, AudioDoctor said:

I see I am not alone in my travels from the X100 to the N10.  I agree with the statements above, the difference is obvious and clear.

 

What is this I see about purchasing a software upgrade to enable MQA decoding in software?

If you want your Aurender to do the first MQA unfold you need to buy that option. You can do that straight from the Conductor app.

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19 minutes ago, AudioDoctor said:

 

All the music I have downloaded is in FLAC and then converted to AIFF, so yes.

Nothing wrong with using AIFF, but as mentioned here before: WAV also supports metadata for years already and your Aurender will show them perfectly.

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51 minutes ago, Platek said:

In order to get Tidal to sound nearer to my stored music on my N10 I've done tweaks such as isolating the router from the Ethernet cable and upgrading that cable to an audiophile level.  But while the sound has gotten significantly better it  still seems to lack the "body" of played stored music.  I'm seeking and open to all suggestions.

I think you've taken the right measures. I did the same and Tidal sounds almost equally good as local files now. However, I think there will always be some differences between streaming from Tidal and local files. Have you considered the fact that Tidal is FLAC-based? When you compare the same CD album through Tidal with a proper local WAV rip of the same album, the latter will sound slightly better just because of the format.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Even IF Tidal would stop, which I highly doubt, there will be other companies/investors that are very interested to jump on the streaming bandwagon. Considering the traction MQA has gained in the last few years I also do not doubt that in such case MQA will be cooperating with other streaming services too. Streaming cannot be stopped just by Tidal's mismanagement.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...
29 minutes ago, biosailor said:

Yes, very happy N100H user, so much that I forgot about upgrading to the N10 ?

One thing though: I'd still love to see Roon integration at one point! Can't we make Aurender talking talking to Roon?

Roon integration would be great indeed. Apparently (from what I've read earlier) they already spoke, but no agreement was reached. It's all about money, no doubt..

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5 hours ago, TubeLover said:

There were comments quite some time back indicating that the Aurender processors didn't have the necessary horsepower for Roon.

 

JC

A Roon endpoint doesn't need much processing power at all. The Roon core does, but that's another story and it will never run on the Aurender (and there's no need either; many fine alternatives for that). Even Sonos can be run as a Roon endpoint. So I highly doubt there's an issue there. Especially since all Aurenders can now do the first MQA decoding too, even the smaller ones.

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6 hours ago, mjb said:

... Despite the err brown iPad interface ?

I would also like to see a refreshed look for the Conductor app, but functionally it's fine.

There can only be one reason for the fact that we still cannot change the color scheme. It must be hard-coded into the Conductor app, which is not a good thing and means that they need to change each and every coding line that refers to the brown colors. Such bad coding habit takes an incredible effort to get it changed now..

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41 minutes ago, mjb said:

Search and replace! Point taken, but I think Aurender could do it if they wanted. I‘m sure many here  would agree a couple of „themes“ would be most welcome. But having used Roons dark mode, I’m now rather liking the brown ?

Sure they could, and they should.. ? It just takes a lot of programming effort, which shouldn't have been needed in the first place. I was told they bought the initial Conductor app from another party. But now they are stuck to this setup.

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1 hour ago, bmichels said:

Thanks. 

 

- I am happy that you like the Rossini + W20.  I still need to make a new audition of the Rossini before purchase. Indeed, few years ago I listened carefully to the Rossini and found it too analytical to my taste and much less musical than the NAGRA HD DAC, but this was with a Firmware that has I guess has been improved since, and without the clock. -->  has the Rossini gained musicality since ?  

 

- I think you also will soon review the ACS10...which is a strange animal to my eyes ? is it correct ? 

I'm also using the W20 with Rossini + clock. Great combination! However I'm not using the clock output to connect the W20. Instead I'm using an ultra high-end USB cable between W20 and Rossini. An audio buddy used to connect both through dual AES (also using top-notch cables) including a top quality clock connection to the W20 for synching. But he told me that there was no discernable difference with my current setup. And mine is obviously much less expensive. So do try both ways of connection before you decide. In case you want to use (dual) AES and connect the W20 to the clock output you will also need a USB cable + dCS dongle. That's a lot of stuff compared to one single USB cable!

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1 hour ago, bmichels said:

Indeed, few years ago I listened carefully to the Rossini and found it too analytical to my taste and much less musical than the NAGRA HD DAC, but this was with a Firmware that has I guess has been improved since, and without the clock. -->  has the Rossini gained musicality since ?  

Too analytical would not be my description of the Rossini's sound at all. I used to listen to the Puccini before and that one has less tonal quality and less 'meat on the bones'. So more 'analytical' I think compared to the Rossini. I think it's a matter of the right system combination. Firmware has improved, and especially MQA sounds stunning.

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  • 2 weeks later...
32 minutes ago, biosailor said:

Is the A10 good enough to be fed directly into a power amp without going via a pre-amp?

Fully depends on the quality of the preamp you are using, IMO. I myself have rather bad experiences in bypassing a high-end preamp (ARC Ref5 SE) and connecting my DAC straight into the amp (Ayre VX-5 Twenty). But many in these quarters are happy doing it, so YMMV.

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2 hours ago, marslo said:

No , my plan is to change B7 for ... Pacific:)

Mr Lampizator will come in person with his beloved baby next Tuesday to my place.

But there are opinions around that RJ 45 is by its nature better connection than usb audio and if

Aurender offers this option for Nadac gear it would be silly not to compare before  the final decision about Pacific.

 

I've auditioned the Nadac in a great 5.1 surround Ethernet/Ravenna setup using only Spectral amps and Vivid Audio Giya speakers. It was a spectacular demo, especially considering the very reasonable price of the (multi-channel) Nadac. But it does use off-the-shelf ESS chips and it doesn't have the SQ level of e.g. the dCS Rossini, which is way more expensive but pricewise at the same level as your possible new Lampizator Pacific. My experience is that the intrinsic SQ of any musical component is much more important than the type of interface being used (assuming similar level of cabling quality!). My W20 is connected to the Rossini through an ultra high-end USB cable (Crystal Cable Dreamline Plus) which is sounding spectacularly good and its SQ is absolutely on par with dual AES - the latter however is much, much more costly using the same cabling quality. All in all: I bet the Lampizator, although lacking Ethernet will easily beat the Nadac, and actually it should looking at the price difference. ?

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4 hours ago, marslo said:

Thank you very much for this valuable opinion.

I use myself also very good boutique usb Apricity cable grounded to Minimus , it’s an unpowered one and I also switched off the power in usb connection at W20 side.

 

http://6moons.com/audioreviews2/stavessence/2.html

You're welcome!

I have also switched off USB power in the W20. This option has been removed from the Apple Conductor app and I've read that therefore some needed to ask Aurender support to remotely switch off USB power in their W20. However, I think some may not be aware of the Android Aurender app which still offers this specific option. How did you yourself go about switching off USB power? Just curious..

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6 hours ago, Vincent1234 said:

You're welcome!

I have also switched off USB power in the W20. This option has been removed from the Apple Conductor app and I've read that therefore some needed to ask Aurender support to remotely switch off USB power in their W20. However, I think some may not be aware of the Android Aurender app which still offers this specific option. How did you yourself go about switching off USB power? Just curious..

Correction: unfortunately this option seems to have been removed from the Android app now too..

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  • 3 weeks later...
11 hours ago, marslo said:

I recently upgraded my DAC to Lampizator Pacific SE with RJ 45 input.

Does anyone know how to connect Aurender W20 to Pacific with Ethernet cable ?

A few month ago an update of Aurender SW enabled the Ravenna protocol to be used with Merging DAc's , but is there any possibility to connect W20 to Pacific using RJ 45 ?

No, I don't think so. Ravenna I think is specific to Merging currently. Which connection are you using right now? Do you expect any gains from using RJ45?

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