The "Official" Aurender Discussion Thread

[bmichels]

I just bought a new DAC that I can deeply recommend: a Denafrips Terminator R2R.  It is super musical and transparent. A bargain !

 

 

So now I need a new server: I am tempted by a W20 but... are there any (serious) infos about a successor to the W20... which is +5 years old now (an eternity in the digital world) ? 

 

I will be very annoyed to buy a W20 and hear few months later that it has been replaced  !  ( I know what you think: this stupid logic brings to always postpone purchase.. :-)

[Vincent1234]

11 hours ago, bmichels said:

I just bought a new DAC that I can deeply recommend: a Denafrips Terminator R2R.  It is super musical and transparent. A bargain !

 

 

So now I need a new server: I am tempted by a W20 but... are there any (serious) infos about a successor to the W20... which is +5 years old now (an eternity in the digital world) ? 

 

I will be very annoyed to buy a W20 and hear few months later that it has been replaced  !  ( I know what you think: this stupid logic brings to always postpone purchase.. :-)

Congratulations on your new DAC. Seems very serious and for a very acceptable price! W.r.t. the W20: you will probably never find out if and when there will be a successor launched - until it's there. ? However, I would suggest to look for a used sample. Owners are very cautious with these and I bought mine in absolutely impeccable like-new state. It saved me € 9.000,-. That's a LOT of money..!

[Custodian]

I agree. Used W20s are not common but they do appear fairly regularly. I bought mine around 2 years ago for £7000 which seems to be the going rate.

 

i remain delighted with it. The clock connection more than justifies the price I had to pay to upgrade from the usb connection on my previous s10.

 

 

[michaelD]

Another point I would like to make is the I have played with power cables to the W20 and just as suspected you can get by with a lot less expensive power cable as the only thing that power does it charge the batteries. So what I'm getting at is there is about a 10k difference at least LP between the N10 and W20 but if you figure in even a modest power cable to feed the N10 that cost difference could be substantially less. I used Nordost cables and initially I had Vahalla 2 power to the N10 but about a year ago upgraded to Odin 1 power. I immediately noticed a difference. Recently I have tried the Odin and a Try 2 with the W20 and I'm hearing no difference at all. I'm thinking you could even go lower in the Nordost line with little impact. I have not tested this but that is my feeling. I'm not saying go with the stock cable but something reasonable. Just something to think about. 

[rwwjr44]

Seems Aurender added two upgrades that I missed:

 

App 2.9.9 (August 26, 2018)

Changes from 2.9.8

Fixed Korean Streaming issue notification doesn’t work

 

System SW 4(5).13.35 / App 2.9.8

Released on August 16 2018

Added notification to report subscription expiry on streaming services.

Restored alphabetical sorting by Artist in Album view.

Fixed bug where rating information was not applied after new database download

Fixed wrong sampling rate is displayed when MQA Unfolding is on.

Improved Japanese and Spanish translation

Fixed other minor issues.

 

[bmichels]

One of the reason I am considering to buy an Aurender W20, is to take advantage of it's Dual-wire AES/EBU mode since my DAC also has 2 AES/EBU connectors.

--> Does someone has already experienced this mode Dual-wire AES/EBU mode ? does it sound better than USB ?

PS : Let me know if you see FS a 2nd Hand Black Aurender W20 ? 

[Custodian]

I used to use dual mode AES/EBU with Siltech signature cables. Recently I replaced these with Furutech spdif cable. The spdif gives a much more detailed and better defined image. I found this surprising but the differences are very clear. Both AES and spdif are much better than usb which has a slight softening of the image (Siltech Royal USB cable)

 

 

[rothosand]

10 hours ago, bmichels said:

One of the reason I am considering to buy an Aurender W20, is to take advantage of it's Dual-wire AES/EBU mode since my DAC also has 2 AES/EBU connectors.

Be careful : it is not because the Terminator has 2 AES/EBU inputs that it supports a Dual-wire connection (with L/R separation) !

 

In fact, I am pretty sure that those two inputs are independant (both L/R combined), and are only used if one has two different balanced sources.

 

Of course, I may be wrong. The best way is to ask Alvin...

[Vincent1234]

1 hour ago, Custodian said:

I used to use dual mode AES/EBU with Siltech signature cables. Recently I replaced these with Furutech spdif cable. The spdif gives a much more detailed and better defined image. I found this surprising but the differences are very clear. Both AES and spdif are much better than usb which has a slight softening of the image (Siltech Royal USB cable)

 

 

I must honestly say I don't agree. My audio buddy tested USB against dual AES extensively with the same ultra-high cabling quality. There was no audible difference and therefore he went back from dual AES to USB. Saved him EUR 4.000,- of cabling in the process.

But the only way of checking this with your own DAC is testing yourself and using the same brand and quality of cabling. The inputs of your DAC may show up differently than in our case. We were and are using dCS Rossini.

[Custodian]

Are you talking about W20?

 

if not, lack of central clocking will decrease AES performance relative to USB.

 

With W20, I was stressing how I found spdif through 75 ohm connection seems better than twin AES.

 

i was using DCs Scarlatti DAC and Masterclock. DCS masterclock was externally controlled by a 10mhz master clock based on a BVA Oscilloquartz 8607 which is significantly better than DCs clock alone.

 

as you rightly say, individual mileage may vary!

[Vincent1234]

5 hours ago, Custodian said:

Are you talking about W20?

 

if not, lack of central clocking will decrease AES performance relative to USB.

 

With W20, I was stressing how I found spdif through 75 ohm connection seems better than twin AES.

 

i was using DCs Scarlatti DAC and Masterclock. DCS masterclock was externally controlled by a 10mhz master clock based on a BVA Oscilloquartz 8607 which is significantly better than DCs clock alone.

 

as you rightly say, individual mileage may vary!

Yes, using the W20 and also (for dual AES) including feeding the dCS Rossini clock signal into the W20 with very high quality cabling. 

As already suggested I think it will depend on ones own situation, including the specific DAC being used. Also, do make sure to use similar cabling, preferably from the same brand, when testing. All things matter! ?

[Ponzi]

Everyone:

 

My N10has suddenly decided to go completely silent.  The screen displays the track and It appears to be playing as normal but no sound.  My preamp setting are all correct.  Thoughts?

[rwwjr44]

• Check the display on the N10 to see that the track is displayed there.
• Is there a mute switch engaged somewhere in the chain?
• Make sure that all of the "switches" on the Conductor app haven't been inadvertently changed.
• Have any wires been disturbed?
• Restart the entire system (power off)

Sometimes we loose power and have to reboot. You should have a connection since you can see the track on the Conductor app but sometimes strange things occur with computers.

[Ponzi]

I am an idiot.  The power outage for some reason turned to value all the way down on the DAC. 

[russellbobby]

Been there many times  

[NordicBob]

Me too ?

[bmichels]

I was tempted by the W20, but I discovered that the 2 AES connectors of my DAC do not support dual mode AES/EBU. And also my DAC  does not have Clock input.  

 

So, I wonder if, without use of the dual mode AES/EBU and the Clock input, the W20 still offer an advantage over the N10, or if, with my DAC configuration, will the N10 will sound as good as the W20 ? 

 

The N10 is indeed much more recent than the W20 that is quite aging now...

[michaelD]

24 minutes ago, bmichels said:

I was tempted by the W20, but I discovered that the 2 AES connectors of my DAC do not support dual mode AES/EBU. And also my DAC  does not have Clock input.  

 

So, I wonder if, without use of the dual mode AES/EBU and the Clock input, the W20 still offer an advantage over the N10, or if, with my DAC configuration, will the N10 will sound as good as the W20 ? 

 

The N10 is indeed much more recent than the W20 that is quite aging now...

I have a post on page 88 and just above on this page.  However since the page 88 post I have now well over 150 hours on the W20.  What I can say without the dual XLR and no clock is that infact the sound is much better.  Better separation of voice/instruments, much more depth to the sound stage and the bass is just better.  I was in your same camp with having a N10 for a couple of years and really have nothing to say bad about it its just the W20 is so much better.  Also like I say in the post on this page you can get by with a little less on the power side cable.

 

 

[Vincent1234]

2 hours ago, bmichels said:

I was tempted by the W20, but I discovered that the 2 AES connectors of my DAC do not support dual mode AES/EBU. And also my DAC  does not have Clock input.  

 

So, I wonder if, without use of the dual mode AES/EBU and the Clock input, the W20 still offer an advantage over the N10, or if, with my DAC configuration, will the N10 will sound as good as the W20 ? 

 

The N10 is indeed much more recent than the W20 that is quite aging now...

I used to own the N10 for a year or so, which was a huge step up from my previous X100L. Then I was offered a used W20 in perfect condition. And again, that was a huge step up. A much, much bigger one than I expected! Using USB, so no AES or clock connection to the DAC. The W20 is simply in another league, trust me.

[Mazza]

4 hours ago, bmichels said:

So, I wonder if, without use of the dual mode AES/EBU and the Clock input, the W20 still offer an advantage over the N10, or if, with my DAC configuration, will the N10 will sound as good as the W20 ? 

 

The N10 is indeed much more recent than the W20 that is quite aging now...

 

I A-B’d the N10 and the W20 with a Puccini DAC and the SQ of the W20 was notably different in many areas. Wider and deeper soundstage, deeper and firmer bass and airier mids. TBH in a different league. I guess the results could be less noticeable with a less capable DAC and that should be borne in mind. 

 

I bought the W20 but I use a different DAC. I think the W20 is up there with the finest players you can buy. It will be a future classic

 

Id suggest that you don’t get hung up about the age of design ... I still use my Theta CD player .... it’s 15 yrs old and it holds its own against any new kit. It is not necessarily about age of design but about the quality of the design and the build. The W20 has both, in buckets full.

[bmichels]

thanks all of you for comments on the superiority of the W20 over the N10.   

 

Now... I need to find a used W20 in good condition ( preferably Black ?

[coot]

Is Qobuz coming to Aurender?

[bmichels]

Qobuz is already in Aurender App I think.

[Foxman50]

Yes it is

[russellbobby]

It was removed from thE A10 about a year ago and hasn't returned. Is it available on the other models?