The "Official" Aurender Discussion Thread

[Vincent1234]

29 minutes ago, Noushy said:

Doubtful it is N10 quality given both the construction and power supply in both units. My dealer has one and he has had a N10 for some time as well. With a solid DAC like a MSB the N10 is sonically better as it should be. The ACS10 is a great unit but much more like a N100h with larger storage and the ability to rip CDs as well as a backup server function for other Aurender units on the network.

 

Noushy

Haven't heard the ACS10, but I'm having the exact same doubts. I would be very surprised if the ACS10 has a similar SQ as an N10. Aurender would be cannibalizing their own products.

When the N10 arrived (replacing the S10) people had high hopes it would come close to the W20, being a few years newer than the flagship model. Having had both I can attest it didn't come close at all. Better SQ simply requires higher costs.

[Vincent1234]

8 hours ago, Emm said:

Is this the expected W20 successor?

I wouldn't think so as this is an all-in-one solution including DAC, CD ripper and headphone amp. The W20 is a server only.

[Vincent1234]

10 hours ago, sfseay said:

I don’t care how expensive something is, it doesn’t always adequate to better sound.

The other way around however seems to me pretty often the case. Cheap stuff mostly simply doesn't come close to the higher-end stuff, provided you have the right quality system to hear the differences. I regularly read stories about turning an N100 'into nearly the SQ of a W20' by adding noise filters, suspending feet, changing the PS etc. Besides the fact that most of these upgrades can also be applied to the W20 with similar effect, unfortunately things just don't work that way. A W20 is a totally different beast than all the other Aurenders, including the N10 which I owned myself for 1,5 years. This is just an example and this will not only apply to Aurender. I've been in this hobby for over 40 years and I strongly believe that really excellent sound unfortunately will never be cheap. System synergy however indeed is key - in every price bracket.

[Vincent1234]

5 minutes ago, Mazza said:

 

👍+1, but with the law-of-diminishing-returns

Obviously yes. However even the law of diminishing returns is a relative thing. On an ultra high-end system (which I'm very lucky to have after over 40 years of saving and upgrading) the differences between an N10 and a W20 were stunningly clear after literally 5 seconds. I'm convinced those differences would be much less clear on a lesser system. Therefore system synergy is absolutely key to be able to clearly hear such differences and each component should be on a similar level too.

[Vincent1234]

4 minutes ago, Emm said:

So we are still waiting for the W30

We will never know until it's there, I guess. 😉

[Vincent1234]

1 hour ago, Noushy said:

The W20 successor will have the word clock option and dual AES digital as well as possibly an I2S connection. Hard to really improve much more than that on probably the world’s best digital music server.

Just to clarify, the current W20 already has word clock input and dual AES-EBU. So only I2S would be a new feature which is very rarely accepted by DAC's. My dCS doesn't support it so it wouldn't mean anything to me, but hopefully to others. 😉

In general I agree that it would be hard to significantly improve the W20 sound quality. Probably that's why it's still the flagship product since many years.

[Vincent1234]

On 2/17/2019 at 4:58 PM, Emm said:

This was the reason I went for N10 and not for the W20.

The agreement was to trade in the N10 with the W20 successor

By the way: what information do you have on a maybe soon-to-come successor of the W20? Is it just speculation or more than that? It would be logical that a successor will come but I haven't seen or heard anything about it yet.

[Vincent1234]

49 minutes ago, Noushy said:

My point is the A30 does not have these and thus no way a successor to the W20

 

 

Noushy

Aah, understood. 👍

[Vincent1234]

21 minutes ago, Noushy said:

Welcome Vincent. For some reason this thread has turned snippy with people attacking others immediately. Not a good thing especially with so few Aurender owners and everyone may have something to contribute. I personally own three units and could easily have had a W20 but until I got my new DAC there was no sense. Now I am waiting for the replacement if I am going to spend that kind of money. (MSB Premiere DAC)

 

Noushy

Nothing was meant as snippy. Sorry if it came across like that. I only responded because I thought Noushy was referring to the 'next W20' and its additional features, but instead he was referring to the A30 - which as he correctly stated omits clock-in and dual AES.

I don't think I belong in the 'snippy category'. 😉

[Vincent1234]

2 minutes ago, Noushy said:

I do plan on going to Axpona since it is only a few hours drive. Will post the findings.

Would love to go, but from Europe it would be way too expensive. 😔

Curious about your findings.

[Vincent1234]

On 2/20/2019 at 8:06 PM, Ponzi said:

I apologize if this subject has been cover already, but I have a question about converting DSD to PCM, with either the N10 or W20.  The articles I have read suggest that conversions of this type do more harm than good.  There is there agreement about that?

I must say I've never used the DSD to PCM conversion of the W20 (or N10) myself as for me there's no need to do so (my DAC supporting native DSD). But I do have a lot of experience in converting DSD to PCM using professional software and I can confirm that you will always lose some SQ when converting DSD to PCM. In general native DSD will sound better than a PCM-converted version of the same file. So if you can play native DSD from your Aurender I would advise to do so. The option to convert DSD to PCM is only there to accomodate those that own non-DSD, PCM-only DAC's.

The other way around CAN sound excellent by the way (PCM upsampling to DSD), as dCS proves with their latest DSDx2 mappers. But SQ will always depend on the way it is done and I would always judge by ear before choosing any form of upsampling or conversion. 

Hope this helps.

[Vincent1234]

2 hours ago, russellbobby said:

In the Que it shows the current track as a Tidal MQA stream.   Up top it shows as a Local DSD file being played.  Am I missing something?

You're right. That screenshot must be a mock up. 😊 The UI looks good though. Let's hope this is how it will look like when the long wait is over.

[Vincent1234]

10 hours ago, jon2020 said:

 

Ii is probably not too difficult to even have skins of different colors. 

J River has been featuring skin changes for some time now.

True, at least normally it's pretty easy to implement. But rumor has it that the current brown color is hard-coded in the app, which if true makes it a huge (and tedious) job to change. That would also explain why it has never been changed in all these years.

[Vincent1234]

6 hours ago, Emm said:

Had done it twice yesterday 

Have you asked for remote control by Aurender to let them take a look? Can work wonders!

Simply ask for it through the app.

[Vincent1234]

7 hours ago, Emm said:

I have spent two weeks with Aurender remote assistance,  unfortunately it didn’t work wonders 

I'm sorry to read that!

[Vincent1234]

15 hours ago, tones said:

Ok. Then ACS 10 will sound better. Theoretical. But I wonder to know did someone made a comparison in real life? In this hobby, first of all we have to listen and then compare to believe it.

Maybe this could help. Using Aurender W20 and dCS Rossini Player + clock. When listening to my EAC-ripped CD's played through the W20 to the Rossini DAC/Player (through an ultra high-end USB cable) they sound really excellent, but always SLIGHTLY less transparent and dynamic than played directly from disc in the dCS Rossini Player. As always YMMV.

[Vincent1234]

37 minutes ago, Mgperdices said:

I also think the ACS improves the W20’s SQ quite a bit.

 

Just curious as I also own a W20. What exactly do you mean with 'improves the W20's SQ quite a bit'? Do you mean the CD ripping quality? Other things? Thanks.

[Vincent1234]

53 minutes ago, AriMargolis said:

@fwj my apologies for the teaser! Look out for an ACS System Software update coming in the next few days.

 

@rwwjr44

 

Also, heads up for Conductor v. 2.9.18 - coming in the next 24-48 hours. 😉

 

Can't wait....! 😊

[Vincent1234]

On 3/26/2019 at 1:57 AM, JS21 said:

 

[Vincent1234]

On 3/26/2019 at 1:57 AM, JS21 said:

Same here...😁

Conductor 2.9.18 available now. Must say I'm underwhelmed and for non-ACS10 users changes are very marginal.

@AriMargolis I was hoping for the big visual facelift we are asking for for several years. When do you expect a first update in that direction? Thanks!

[Vincent1234]

1 minute ago, JS21 said:

 

Got excited when I saw the announcement and updated earlier but 😟.

Yep... 😞

[Vincent1234]

20 hours ago, AriMargolis said:

@Foxman50 - yes, confirmed.

 

The screenshots I shared are of the Qobuz landing page of new releases, where titles are not displayed in alphabetical order.

Great! The million dollar question obviously remains: when will this be available...? 😏

[Vincent1234]

1 hour ago, JS21 said:

I’ve asked that myself. 🤷🏻‍♂️

@AriMargolis, a few months ago you indicated on this forum that the update would be there soon. Could you please give us an update on the currently expected timelines? Much appreciated!

[Vincent1234]

59 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

A30 in the house 😁

 

For a formal review, I guess..?

[Vincent1234]

2 hours ago, AriMargolis said:

@Doak - yes, it really just has to do with form factor from a hardware engineering perspective (3.5 inch drives are way bigger, physically), and hard drive capacity that was desired for each respective model.

W20, ACS10 and X100L are the only models that use 3.5 " drives. 

 

FYI - X100L is now out of production. I believe there are plenty of units left for sale, but now that we have ACS10 in the product line-up, there has not been a ton of demand for X100L. 

@AriMargolis, any news on the update including new skins..? It's been very quiet from your side..