russellbobby Posted August 1, 2018 Share Posted August 1, 2018 Been loving the A10 for almost 2 years now. Rock solid with excellent SQ. stepped up from a N100S and an Oppo Modwright dac with Regens,seperate power supplies ,etc and the A10 kills it. As mentioned I am sure it has to do with the lack of USB or other interface between the dac and player. Maybe not the absolute best but a pretty darn satisfying piece of equipment. 27x17x10 Golden Ratio room,EtherRegen>Melco N1A EX H60 server/streamer >T+A Dac 200>Coda CsIB > Paradigm Personas 5f, Combak Harmonica Footers, Townshend Podiums, Custom swarm sub system , Iconoclast 4x4 UPOCC XLR cable, Townshend F1 Fractal speaker cables SoTM dBl7 Ethernet cable, Puritan 156, Farad 3 LPS, Synergistic, Audience,and Triode wire labs power cabling ,Stillpoints, SR fuses,GIK Slatfusors Link to comment
The Computer Audiophile Posted August 1, 2018 Share Posted August 1, 2018 1 minute ago, russellbobby said: a pretty darn satisfying piece of equipment. That’s what it’s all about. Founder of Audiophile Style | My Audio Systems Link to comment
biosailor Posted August 1, 2018 Share Posted August 1, 2018 2 hours ago, russellbobby said: Been loving the A10 for almost 2 years now. Rock solid with excellent SQ. stepped up from a N100S and an Oppo Modwright dac with Regens,seperate power supplies ,etc and the A10 kills it. As mentioned I am sure it has to do with the lack of USB or other interface between the dac and player. Maybe not the absolute best but a pretty darn satisfying piece of equipment. Is the A10 good enough to be fed directly into a power amp without going via a pre-amp? Link to comment
Vincent1234 Posted August 1, 2018 Share Posted August 1, 2018 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. Link to comment
russellbobby Posted August 1, 2018 Share Posted August 1, 2018 I am a firm believer in a preamp in the system. I like Tubes somewhere in the chain as I have a MicroZotl 2.0s. I have tried the Aurender as a standalone and it is very good, just not as good as with the preamp. Of course by the time I added the preamp, set of Au24sx interconnects , upgraded power cord and fuse it added 3500 bucks to the system cost so it should sound better the A10 really benefits from isolation and upgraded power cord. I installed a Synergistic Blue fuse but really didn't notice much of a difference 27x17x10 Golden Ratio room,EtherRegen>Melco N1A EX H60 server/streamer >T+A Dac 200>Coda CsIB > Paradigm Personas 5f, Combak Harmonica Footers, Townshend Podiums, Custom swarm sub system , Iconoclast 4x4 UPOCC XLR cable, Townshend F1 Fractal speaker cables SoTM dBl7 Ethernet cable, Puritan 156, Farad 3 LPS, Synergistic, Audience,and Triode wire labs power cabling ,Stillpoints, SR fuses,GIK Slatfusors Link to comment
Mazza Posted August 1, 2018 Share Posted August 1, 2018 36 minutes ago, russellbobby said: I am a firm believer in a preamp in the system. I like Tubes somewhere in the chain as I have a MicroZotl 2.0s. I have tried the Aurender as a standalone and it is very good, just not as good as with the preamp. Adding anything to the audio chain, particularly after the DAC is just adding some coloration of some form or another, tubes are well known for that ..... not as radical as the speakers of course! Aurender W20 Music Server, Kii Three Active Speakers, Kii Digital Controller Audioquest Diamond USB, Audioquest Niagara 7000 conditioner, Audioquest NRG-1000 HC mains leads Link to comment
russellbobby Posted August 1, 2018 Share Posted August 1, 2018 Just not a fan of most volume controls in most dacs. I can leave the Aurender at 100 knowing I am not losing any resolution. 27x17x10 Golden Ratio room,EtherRegen>Melco N1A EX H60 server/streamer >T+A Dac 200>Coda CsIB > Paradigm Personas 5f, Combak Harmonica Footers, Townshend Podiums, Custom swarm sub system , Iconoclast 4x4 UPOCC XLR cable, Townshend F1 Fractal speaker cables SoTM dBl7 Ethernet cable, Puritan 156, Farad 3 LPS, Synergistic, Audience,and Triode wire labs power cabling ,Stillpoints, SR fuses,GIK Slatfusors Link to comment
Mazza Posted August 1, 2018 Share Posted August 1, 2018 43 minutes ago, russellbobby said: Just not a fan of most volume controls in most dacs. I can leave the Aurender at 100 knowing I am not losing any resolution. ahhhh ...ok ..... didn't realise the A10 had a variable output, the W20 doesn't of course. I agree with your point, quite a few digital volume controls aren't good at low outputs because of the way they achieve this. A good article on this at https://www.soundstageultra.com/index.php/features-menu/general-interest-interviews-menu/311-what-s-wrong-with-digital-volume-controls Aurender W20 Music Server, Kii Three Active Speakers, Kii Digital Controller Audioquest Diamond USB, Audioquest Niagara 7000 conditioner, Audioquest NRG-1000 HC mains leads Link to comment
biosailor Posted August 1, 2018 Share Posted August 1, 2018 Thanks to everyone for the feedback! The reason I asked is that I am thinking of replacing my pre-amp. The idea of reducing my box count with, say, an A10 going straight into a power amp, is an attractive one, for sure! Whichever forum I addressed, the answer is more or less the same: nothing beats a good pre-amp with an elaborate analogue volume control. Obviously, digital volume control needs to go a long way before becoming competitive to analogue control, is that it? So, I‘ll be looking pretty soon into Benchmark‘s new HPA4 headphone/linestage preamp. Will be interesting! Link to comment
agladstone Posted August 2, 2018 Share Posted August 2, 2018 @Mazza - seems like your W20 and Kii Three combo are a perfect match! Ive heard nothing but great things about the Kii Three’s. I suspect an A10 paired with Kef LS50 wireless OR Dynaudio Xcite Series would create a similar simple yet still Audiophile system too. Can you still use an external DAC with the Kii Threes if you want to and bypass the internal? Link to comment
Mazza Posted August 2, 2018 Share Posted August 2, 2018 I’d definitely recommend the Kii’s and the W20 and together they are a match made in heaven. Yes, you can still use a separate external DAC with the Kii’s. but what happens is that the resultant analogue signal that is fed to them is first converted into the digital domain using an ADC and then passed to internal DACS [each speaker has 6 of them!] which service each speaker amp and driver [again, 6 of them]. The idea behind this is that each DAC is tuned for each amp and driver. If you feed it a digital signal instead of analogue the ADC is bypassed but the signal is upsampled before being passed to the individual DACS. Using an external DAC to feed analogue to the Kii’s allegedly keeps the audio ‘signature’ & character of the external DAC through this conversion process but I have not tried it. I auditioned the Kef’s at the same time as the Kii’s and they are a very fine speaker, definitely worth a listen. I hope the above helps Aurender W20 Music Server, Kii Three Active Speakers, Kii Digital Controller Audioquest Diamond USB, Audioquest Niagara 7000 conditioner, Audioquest NRG-1000 HC mains leads Link to comment
marslo Posted August 4, 2018 Share Posted August 4, 2018 Hi guys, Since a few weeks my W20 offers the funcionality of Ravenna software which is necessary to use Merging DAC’s via RJ45 connection. Did anyone try this already? Aurender W20 -> AudioAero La Fontaine, Lampizator Pacific SE->Ayon Crossfire III or Circle Labs A100 >Avantgarde Acoustic Trio LE 26 with 4x REL Carbon Special Link to comment
bmichels Posted August 4, 2018 Share Posted August 4, 2018 Do you plan to change your Big7 for a Merging's DAC ?? Why ? I believe the Lampi should sound better than a Merging DAC ? Link to comment
marslo Posted August 4, 2018 Share Posted August 4, 2018 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. Aurender W20 -> AudioAero La Fontaine, Lampizator Pacific SE->Ayon Crossfire III or Circle Labs A100 >Avantgarde Acoustic Trio LE 26 with 4x REL Carbon Special Link to comment
Vincent1234 Posted August 4, 2018 Share Posted August 4, 2018 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. ? Link to comment
Vincent1234 Posted August 4, 2018 Share Posted August 4, 2018 8 minutes ago, Vincent1234 said: Whoops, double post. Sorry.. ? Link to comment
marslo Posted August 5, 2018 Share Posted August 5, 2018 11 hours ago, Vincent1234 said: 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. ? 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 Vincent1234 1 Aurender W20 -> AudioAero La Fontaine, Lampizator Pacific SE->Ayon Crossfire III or Circle Labs A100 >Avantgarde Acoustic Trio LE 26 with 4x REL Carbon Special Link to comment
Vincent1234 Posted August 5, 2018 Share Posted August 5, 2018 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.. Link to comment
Vincent1234 Posted August 5, 2018 Share Posted August 5, 2018 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.. Link to comment
isquirrel Posted August 6, 2018 Share Posted August 6, 2018 New software available for all Aurender users. Upgraded mine just now and the system software to 4.13.31app software is now 2.9.7 (122) will advise of any changes to SQ etc. Music Sever - Taiko Extreme DAC's - MSB Select II + Femto 33 Clock + Dual power supplies + Pro USB Module Amp's - Raal HSA-1b, MSB Reference HP Amp, MSB Select Estat Headphone Amp Woo 234 Mono's Elite, Takatsuki 300B, 274B Headphones - Raal Requisite sr1a, MySphere 3.2, Kennerton Thror's, Stax SR-009 & 009S, Sony MRD-Z1, Abyss Phi TC, Audeze LCD-4, 24 & 4Z, Focal Utopia, HiFiMan Susvara Cables - DHC OPUS HP, Stage III Gorgon XLR's + Xphynx USB Power - Shunyata Triton V3 & Typhon QR + Sigma PC's Isolation - HRS SXR Ref Stand + MX3R Isolation Bases Link to comment
isquirrel Posted August 6, 2018 Share Posted August 6, 2018 See here for changes https://www.aurender.com/blog/new-software-release-note-4/post/system-sw-4-5-13-31-app-2-9-7-122-197 Music Sever - Taiko Extreme DAC's - MSB Select II + Femto 33 Clock + Dual power supplies + Pro USB Module Amp's - Raal HSA-1b, MSB Reference HP Amp, MSB Select Estat Headphone Amp Woo 234 Mono's Elite, Takatsuki 300B, 274B Headphones - Raal Requisite sr1a, MySphere 3.2, Kennerton Thror's, Stax SR-009 & 009S, Sony MRD-Z1, Abyss Phi TC, Audeze LCD-4, 24 & 4Z, Focal Utopia, HiFiMan Susvara Cables - DHC OPUS HP, Stage III Gorgon XLR's + Xphynx USB Power - Shunyata Triton V3 & Typhon QR + Sigma PC's Isolation - HRS SXR Ref Stand + MX3R Isolation Bases Link to comment
isquirrel Posted August 6, 2018 Share Posted August 6, 2018 I can report that finally for me, streaming from Tidal is working with zero issues, beforehand I could not get my W20 + Tidal to stream. Music Sever - Taiko Extreme DAC's - MSB Select II + Femto 33 Clock + Dual power supplies + Pro USB Module Amp's - Raal HSA-1b, MSB Reference HP Amp, MSB Select Estat Headphone Amp Woo 234 Mono's Elite, Takatsuki 300B, 274B Headphones - Raal Requisite sr1a, MySphere 3.2, Kennerton Thror's, Stax SR-009 & 009S, Sony MRD-Z1, Abyss Phi TC, Audeze LCD-4, 24 & 4Z, Focal Utopia, HiFiMan Susvara Cables - DHC OPUS HP, Stage III Gorgon XLR's + Xphynx USB Power - Shunyata Triton V3 & Typhon QR + Sigma PC's Isolation - HRS SXR Ref Stand + MX3R Isolation Bases Link to comment
marslo Posted August 6, 2018 Share Posted August 6, 2018 @Vincent1234, I switched off before the option was removed. Now one has to write to the support, they can do it remotely. Aurender W20 -> AudioAero La Fontaine, Lampizator Pacific SE->Ayon Crossfire III or Circle Labs A100 >Avantgarde Acoustic Trio LE 26 with 4x REL Carbon Special Link to comment
Vincent1234 Posted August 6, 2018 Share Posted August 6, 2018 3 hours ago, marslo said: @Vincent1234, I switched off before the option was removed. Now one has to write to the support, they can do it remotely. Thanks! Link to comment
Hipper Posted August 6, 2018 Share Posted August 6, 2018 I'm investigating the W20. Is it possible to add DSP (Digital Signal Processing) software - something like Acourate (although that is Windows based) - to the W20? In other words, can it act like a computer in that respect, with the appropriate other connections - sound card, microphone pre-amp etc.. Alternatively can I add software that applies filters after I have measured and made filters using other measuring software on a laptop, as I currently do. At the moment I use a CD Transport, which goes through a digital equaliser, then a DAC, but this means I can only use single AES connections. I could avoid the extra box, and connections, and use the dual AES facility on the D/70. An equaliser/DSP is important to me as I use it to complete room sonics after positioning and room treatment. I wouldn't be without it. The DAC, by the way, is a TEAC D/70 which has dual AES connection and a word clock output. Currently I only play CDs and have ripped these to WAV. In the future, perhaps, I might get a more modern DAC Link to comment
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