The "Official" Aurender Discussion Thread

[Vincent1234]

49 minutes ago, biosailor said:

 

I‘m aware that proper advice is hard to give. I did some careful comparison between the Aries Mini, Aurender N100H and the Mac Book Pro feeding my DAC. Aries Mini and Mac Book used Roon, while, naturally, the Aurender was using the Conductor app. All in all, the Aurender gave the most balanced SQ, meaning that bass and highs were best represented, while I still preferred a bit more extended highs from the N100H. But to me it was the winner.

The Aries Mini sometimes had an unpleasantly ringing sound in the highs, whereas the Mac Book straight into my DAC was really well extended in the highs, but bass was nowhere.

So, maybe thinking about the N10 for an upgrade is not a bad idea, particularly since everyone raves about it and telling me that it plays in a different league!

I also recognize the emphasis to the highs that Roon seems to be giving via Roon/Ethernet compared to the Aurender via USB (currently using a W20 with dCS Rossini). The latter might be somewhat 'darker' sounding than MQA over Roon/Ethernet, but it does have more ease, naturalness and a more 'analogue' sound to it. Although I am really impressed by many MQA tracks via Roon/Tidal, the authoritative sound of the W20 remains a very special thing indeed. Bass is also superior via the W20, no doubt about that. Maybe it's a characteristic of Ethernet, Roon and/or the RAAT protocol. Not sure..

And yes, the N10 is absolutely in another league than the 100 series! And the step up from N10 to W20 is another very big one..

[russellbobby]

6 minutes ago, gintree44 said:

How do I use the TOSLINK input on the A10?

Just run an optical digital cable from whatever source you want. The App has input selection down on the bottom.

I have an Oppo 103 hooked up to mine. Run the cable box into the Oppo and it takes care of all the switching. I enjoy You Tube and all the other streaming services thru the A10 dac.  Sounds great. The Oppo is wireless so still stream Tidal on  the A10 with no switches in the signal path. 

Russ

 

 

[gintree44]

Thanks!  That was easy!

[eganz]

On 1/2/2018 at 10:08 AM, biosailor said:

 

Yes, this is indeed a good review, glad for Aurender. As a matter of fact, this review made me thinking: I am using a N100H and till recently, I did like it. The only thing that for me to nag was the lack of Roon integration. So I switched back and forth between Roon running on my Mac Book Pro and feeding straight into my DAC (Aqua Hifi La Voce S2). I thought the sound from Roon was a bit more revealing, particularly in the highs. Si I went ahead and, maybe not quite logical, bought the small Auralic Aries Mini and set it up as a Roon endpoint. Not bad this little thingy! The highs are better on the Aries Mini (not so much, but still) but the bass response of the N100H is so much better and overall I do not hear so much improvement with the Roon/Aries Mini combo.

 

So I am totally torn: should I stay with my N100H that I basically like, despite it's somewhat shallow and unrevealing highs or is an upgrade to the much praised but very expensive N10 worth the money? Is the N10 so much more superior to the N100H? What I truly like with Aurender is the all-in-one package, whereas the Roon-Aries combo is a bit clumsy requiring Roon running on a core!

 

So, N10/N100H owners, what should I do? Thanks for input!

I would start by trying to optimize the N100H  which  you already own.  This has been discussed extensively earlier in the thread.

 

E

 

you didn’t really say if you wanted to spend a lot of money… 

 

[russellbobby]

1 hour ago, biosailor said:

 

I‘m aware that proper advice is hard to give. I did some careful comparison between the Aries Mini, Aurender N100H and the Mac Book Pro feeding my DAC. Aries Mini and Mac Book used Roon, while, naturally, the Aurender was using the Conductor app. All in all, the Aurender gave the most balanced SQ, meaning that bass and highs were best represented, while I still preferred a bit more extended highs from the N100H. But to me it was the winner.

The Aries Mini sometimes had an unpleasantly ringing sound in the highs, whereas the Mac Book straight into my DAC was really well extended in the highs, but bass was nowhere.

So, maybe thinking about the N10 for an upgrade is not a bad idea, particularly since everyone raves about it and telling me that it plays in a different league!

As a former owner of a N110S ( solid state drive) and a Auralic Aries( Femto,seperate power supply) I think you will like the highs on the Aurender over extended time. The Aries is very upfront with the stage where the Aurender is pushed back and much more holographic.

I noticed your DAC does DSD but all the inputs are limited to 24/192. I am sure I am missing something.  I believe most N10 owners are using anything but the USB connection. AES I assume.  

Good luck with your decision. The N100 are easy to sell and sure you can find a good deal on a lightly used N10   

[Vincent1234]

30 minutes ago, russellbobby said:

 I believe most N10 owners are using anything but the USB connection. AES I assume.  

I always used USB with the N10 and still am using it with the W20. Sounds great, but using an excellent USB cable makes a big difference. 

[russellbobby]

4 minutes ago, Vincent1234 said:

I always used USB with the N10 and still am using it with the W20. Sounds great, but using an excellent USB cable makes a big difference. 

That's great to hear Vince, usually I hear of all the inherent problems with USB. I had been using the W4S reclocker and a sbooster with my N100s. Curious cabling etc, separate power supply for the add ons. Was glad to get rid of all that when I switched to the A10.

[agladstone]

3 hours ago, eganz said:

I would start by trying to optimize the N100H  which  you already own.  This has been discussed extensively earlier in the thread.

 

E

 

you didn’t really say if you wanted to spend a lot of money… 

 

What optimization’s are you referring to? (I’m being lazy and don’t feel like paving through the entire thread, lol)? 

I would love to squeeze any extra percentage I can out of my N100H’s performance!

I’m thinking about trying an Audiophile fuse replacement in it like the Synergistic Research Blue or the Tuning Fuses? 

[russellbobby]

Try Stillpoints or some form of vibration control, SR Black fuse was a nice upgrade in my N100, Good quality power cord.   You will notice a measurable improvement with each tweak

[eganz]

15 hours ago, agladstone said:

What optimization’s are you referring to? (I’m being lazy and don’t feel like paving through the entire thread, lol)? 

I would love to squeeze any extra percentage I can out of my N100H’s performance!

I’m thinking about trying an Audiophile fuse replacement in it like the Synergistic Research Blue or the Tuning Fuses? 

W4S  or alternative USB reclocker with Linear  power supplies, And consider isolation of your Internet… fuses and such will not make a noticeable difference to this device.  You may also benefit from AC power filtering or regeneration for your whole system.

Certainly, there is a simplicity to a more expensive one box solution, but  these may have substantial additional cost.

 

E

[russellbobby]

3 minutes ago, eganz said:

W4S  or alternative USB reclocker with Linear  power supplies, And consider isolation of your Internet… fuses and such will not make a noticeable difference to this device.  You may also benefit from AC power filtering or regeneration for your whole system.

Certainly, there is a simplicity to a more expensive one box solution, but  these may have substantial additional cost.

 

E

Yep had all these hanging from My N100. The Stillpoints made a bigger improvement than all the re-clockers, LPS,ETC. The SR Black fuses probably made the least improvement. Power cords  have a huge impact also. I guess the results will vary on the rest of the chain.

[Vincent1234]

1 hour ago, eganz said:

W4S  or alternative USB reclocker with Linear  power supplies, And consider isolation of your Internet… fuses and such will not make a noticeable difference to this device.  You may also benefit from AC power filtering or regeneration for your whole system.

Certainly, there is a simplicity to a more expensive one box solution, but  these may have substantial additional cost.

 

E

Of course it's very useful to check out these 'external' improvements, but truth be told that these will also improve the sound quality of an N10 or W20 and maybe the gains are even higher then. It's just a matter of how much you are willing and able to spend on your system as a whole. One of the most effective and significant improvements I have gained over the years was buying a dedicated high-quality audio rack. It didn't just improve the SQ of the server, but of the whole system, including DAC/CD, amplifiers and turntable. I would always start here as it improves your whole system in one go. Same goes for AC filtering, by the way.

[classeaddict]

14 minutes ago, Vincent1234 said:

Of course it's very useful to check out these 'external' improvements, but truth be told that these will also improve the sound quality of an N10 or W20 and maybe the gains are even higher then. It's just a matter of how much you are willing and able to spend on your system as a whole. One of the most effective and significant improvements I have gained over the years was buying a dedicated high-quality audio rack. It didn't just improve the SQ of the server, but of the whole system, including DAC/CD, amplifiers and turntable. I would always start here as it improves your whole system in one go. Same goes for AC filtering, by the way.

I agree these external improvements can make a big difference.    The single biggest improvement I've experience is dedicated circuit to my audio room.  I use some very high power amps that can crank out 1000 watts each at 4 ohms.  I also have 3 subs. Therefore I ran 2 dedicated 20 amp circuits to my audio room.  Only my audio system uses these circuits.  I also use PS Audio P10 power regenerator for W20, and all other components other than the amps and subs.  I've been amazed at the graphing the P10 shows on voltage fluctuation, specially during peak demand hours, plus add in the amp draw a high end audio system puts on your homes electrical panel, having a voltage regenerator for the components makes sense to me.  Good power cables help, good outlets themselves help.  Not necessarily the outlets that cost $75-$100 a pop, but heavy duty outlets rated for 20amps instead of standard 15 amp outlets.  I also use the PS Audio LanRover USB Transporter than enhances USB audio into the W20.

I bought my W20 as a used demo and it had over 6TB of high end music downloads on it.  Thats about $4k-$5k worth of music!

 

I also agree the a solid audio ran is important.  I use a totally separate piece of furniture that my turntable sits on to avoid any vibration, and the turntable sits on its own stand on the furniture.

 

Steve

[russellbobby]

1 minute ago, classeaddict said:

I agree these external improvements can make a big difference.    The single biggest improvement I've experience is dedicated circuit to my audio room.  I use some very high power amps that can crank out 1000 watts each at 4 ohms.  I also have 3 subs. Therefore I ran 2 dedicated 20 amp circuits to my audio room.  Only my audio system uses these circuits.  I also use PS Audio P10 power regenerator for W20, and all other components other than the amps and subs.  I've been amazed at the graphing the P10 shows on voltage fluctuation, specially during peak demand hours, plus add in the amp draw a high end audio system puts on your homes electrical panel, having a voltage regenerator for the components makes sense to me.  Good power cables help, good outlets themselves help.  Not necessarily the outlets that cost $75-$100 a pop, but heavy duty outlets rated for 20amps instead of standard 15 amp outlets.  I also use the PS Audio LanRover USB Transporter than enhances USB audio into the W20.

I bought my W20 as a used demo and it had over 6TB of high end music downloads on it.  Thats about $4k-$5k worth of music!

 

I also agree the a solid audio ran is important.  I use a totally separate piece of furniture that my turntable sits on to avoid any vibration, and the turntable sits on its own stand on the furniture.

 

Steve

I was under the impression the W20 runs off batteries. How does the P10 improve on that?

[classeaddict]

10 minutes ago, russellbobby said:

I was under the impression the W20 runs off batteries. How does the P10 improve on that?

W20 does run on batteries, but my preamp, router, rest of my components do not.

 

Steve

[CroBoo]

Hi.

has anyone an idea why aurender.com website is out of order?

Thanks, CrobOO

[CroBoo]

Ok, it's working again.

[russellbobby]

  I received this fro Eric at Aurender regarding the A10 filter settings. Eric said it came from engineering. From the spec of the AK4490 DAC chipset

[Yippedidou]

Hi. Can you tell me where I can access the filters please. I dont seem to find them on the Conductor app. 

[russellbobby]

12 minutes ago, Yippedidou said:

Hi. Can you tell me where I can access the filters please. I dont seem to find them on the Conductor app. 

 

Go to the advanced tab in the App. Down at the bottom are the Analog and digital filter settings.

 

[Yippedidou]

40 minutes ago, russellbobby said:

 

Go to the advanced tab in the App. Down at the bottom are the Analog and digital filter settings.

 

I see... lol. I just forgot to scroll when I 1st looked at it.

Thanks Russ : o)

[russellbobby]

Your welcome. I still don't notice much of a difference between the natural and traditional filter. Please let me know your thoughts

[edje]

Am I the only one who does not have the filter options anymore? They were there, but somewhere the filters dissapeared with a software update. I have the A10 with software version 5.10.34

[Yippedidou]

51 minutes ago, edje said:

Am I the only one who does not have the filter options anymore? They were there, but somewhere the filters dissapeared with a software update. I have the A10 with software version 5.10.34

I see mine aren't active as well even if I have the most recent update of the app. I've opened a ticket with Aurender. We'll see what they say...

[jon2020]

3 hours ago, Yippedidou said:

I see mine aren't active as well even if I have the most recent update of the app. I've opened a ticket with Aurender. We'll see what they say...

This appears to confirm a previous post by CA that filters are not compatible with any MQA component.

MQA may just have reminded Aurender of their conditions for certification.