The "Official" Aurender Discussion Thread

[rwwjr44]

I only see Tidal and Spotify on my N10. I live in the U.S.A. so that may be why.

[coot]

Ditto on my N100H w up-to date Conductor.

[bmichels]

I am still hesitating between an Aurender and a ROON based server. I not a ROON super-fan, and therefore ready to accept that Aurender's Conductor app is a very vialable alternative. 

IMO, The ONLY MISSING FEATURE of the Conductor app, compared to ROON (and Deezer), is the ability to READ THE LYRICS of the songs played. 

If this was implemented in the Conductor app, then I will be 100% sold to Aurender.

--> are there any rumors/news about Aurender implementing "lyrics" in a futur Firmware or Conductor' version ?

[michaelD]

1 hour ago, bmichels said:

I am still hesitating between an Aurender and a ROON based server. I not a ROON super-fan, and therefore ready to accept that Aurender's Conductor app is a very vialable alternative. 

IMO, The ONLY MISSING FEATURE of the Conductor app, compared to ROON (and Deezer), is the ability to READ THE LYRICS of the songs played. 

If this was implemented in the Conductor app, then I will be 100% sold to Aurender.

--> are there any rumors/news about Aurender implementing "lyrics" in a futur Firmware or Conductor' version ?

I’m not a big Roon fan either tried it and just liked the Aurender Conductor.   Also don’t be fooled not all tracks have lyrics as they don’t.   I don’t remember anymore but it came up often that there were none.   Maybe they have improved not sure. 

 

 

[rwwjr44]

I read somewhere in this thread that there is a "trick" to get the Conductor app to display the lyrics.

[rwwjr44]

On 2/8/2016 at 9:46 AM, Cycleman said:

The Aurender Composer app has what seems to me like a hidden feature: lyrics.

I say "hidden," because when I search the app's PDF guide for the term "lyric" nothing comes up.

 

Here's how it works:

 

• When a track is playing, tap the track's cover (small, on the upper left side) to make it full-screen on your iPad.
• Then tap the full-screen cover.
• If there are lyrics in the track's metadata, they will then appear over the full-screen cover image.

 

Pretty simple, yes?

 

And to get the lyrics into any track's metadata is a question of using your tagging-and-editing application to insert them.

For me, that's iTunes (which works well all the time for me for PCM music tagging and editing, but that's another post).

 

And I simply have searched for lyrics online, and then I do a copy-and-paste into the track's Lyrics field.

 

If you have more questions about this, just post them and I'll be glad to, will try to, help.

 

Smiles,

 

Dave, who has now given himself more music library editing work and will likely next add lyrics to his pretty much complete collection of Natalie Merchant songs since her website has the full lyrics and so that means they're easy to get

 

Here is the post about lyrics. I haven't tried it recently so YMMV.

[michaelD]

34 minutes ago, rwwjr44 said:

 

Here is the post about lyrics. I haven't tried it recently so YMMV.

That seems like a lot of work.  To insert them manually.  At least with Roon what is there I think are just grabbed from the internet its just many I guess don’t have lyrics as some Roon does not display.  Not sure why some do and others don’t but many do not.  I used Roon last about a year ago so many more are available now. 

 

To have the lyrics would be nice and I think Aurender should consider to add this to the Conductor app just do a much better job then Roon.  Aurender is pretty particular in doing a great job when they put their mind to it maybe they found out like Roon all are not available so they just decided not to do. 

[russellbobby]

On 7/30/2018 at 11:19 AM, The Computer Audiophile said:

 

I've had a W20 for a while and I recently moved it due to re-cabling my system. I forgot how heavy it is! It's a solid piece of craftsmanship.

Never understood the complaints of the Conductors app's looks. Seems ok to me. Great album btw

[Quadiffusor HK]

I'm an audiophile based in Hong Kong.  I've owned a W20 for about five years, and during that time it's performed flawlessly, even through an upgrade to a higher-capacity HD.  However, with the acquisition of a USB-input capable high end DAC, I tried connecting the dedicated USB 2.0 output of the W20 for the first time about a year ago, and discovered that there was no signal.  After many intermittent communications back/forth between Aurender HQ, including remote servicing, it was finally determined that there was a hardware failure.  I thought that this was very strange, particularly I had never used the dedicated USB 2.0 output before and that the chances of accidentally damaging it was zero.  After speaking with dealers and audiophiles familiar with the Aurender products, stories began to surface that a "dead" USB 2.0 output was quite common, requiring a hardware fix.  How many Aurender owners on this Forum have experienced a similar fate with their new units?

[markrubin]

37 minutes ago, Quadiffusor HK said:

After speaking with dealers and audiophiles familiar with the Aurender products, stories began to surface that a "dead" USB 2.0 output was quite common, requiring a hardware fix.  How many Aurender owners on this Forum have experienced a similar fate with their new units?

 

I had a similar issue with an Aurender X100L: Aurender was very good giving me an advance exchange replacement at no charge: the same issue took out a Mytek Brooklyn DAC and an OPPO 205 BD player

 

I learned that these ports can easily fail, especially if you attempt to hot plug them

[Quadiffusor HK]

OK, so the potential culprit may be an innocent attempt at plugging in a USB cable while the unit or units are powered on.  Does that mean powering down the components are a "must", but only when connecting two components (ie. Aurender and outboard DAC) via USB for the very first time?

[markrubin]

2 minutes ago, Quadiffusor HK said:

OK, so the potential culprit may be an innocent attempt at plugging in a USB cable while the unit or units are powered on.  Does that mean powering down the components are a "must", but only when connecting two components (ie. Aurender and outboard DAC) via USB for the very first time?

I have learned you must power down all components every time you attempt to plug/unplug  USB audio or  HDMI cables: why take the chance of an expensive failure?

[russellbobby]

Yep, hot swapped a Regen with my previous N100S and blew up the Regen. Better safe than sorry

[mjb]

USB is designed to be hot-swappable, and I’ve certainly not had any problems hot switching DACs on my X100 (normal electrostatic precautions obviously apply). I have also not seen anything where Aurender specifically recomend powering down first, but I may have overlooked it. I have heard of some “boutique” USB cables not working correctly before if that applies. 

[markrubin]

well this warning is in the front of every Aurender  streamer user manual:

 

Always turn the power off before connecting or disconnecting any cables.

[Ponzi]

If you have an N10, please be mindful of the shut down procedures, which are counter intuitive. 

[mjb]

53 minutes ago, markrubin said:

well this warning is in the front of every Aurender  streamer user manual:

 

Always turn the power off before connecting or disconnecting any cables.

lol, the capital bold letters must have made me blind to it.

[rwwjr44]

Anyone hear anything about new product and/or Conductor updates? ?

[FredericV]

On 9/10/2018 at 6:25 PM, Quadiffusor HK said:

OK, so the potential culprit may be an innocent attempt at plugging in a USB cable while the unit or units are powered on.  Does that mean powering down the components are a "must", but only when connecting two components (ie. Aurender and outboard DAC) via USB for the very first time?

 

If one device has a SMPS and the other a linear one, you can get a voltage difference between the two devices. Sbooster even wrote some paper about this issue. Also can happen when each side has a SMPS.

If you connect the USB cable from the server to the DAC, and you see a spark when inserting the USB cable in one, you actually risk damaging the USB output of the server if it has not been designed to handle this issue. Some high-end USB implementations are inert for this issue (e.g. sotm, which is what we use), while other vendors can have the USB card's ports blown each by each. We had one brand with dual outputs and one of our resellers blew USB port after port until we were tired of this issue after replacing the dual USB card several times. In his system, the server was powered linear, but his class-d amps had SMPS supplies. This was introducing the issue in his system.

This issue also occurs when you insert a USB powered HDD into a network player like a dune HDI, which in my home cinema always gives a little spark. If you disconnect all power wires and first attach the USB cable, and then the power cables, you don't have this spark issue, so you have no risk in killing the USB port.

Good designs should be inert to this issue, as most PC's when connected to powered USB devices, also have this issue - and survive it.


 

[FredericV]

Can't no longer edit the previous post, so here's the technical explanation of SMPS leakage, killing USB ports under certain conditions:

https://www.sbooster.com/FAQ/
 

Quote

SMPS (switch-mode power supply/-ies) generate a high leakage current with voltage spikes > 300V AC on the output. This is caused by two capacitors that are internally connected between the Hot/Neutral and output of a SMPS.

Some audiophile USB interfaces are inert to this issue, others are not, and most PC gear seems also inert.

[coot]

Kinda kills the practicality of A/B testing usb cables as many CA folks claim to have done. I don't think I could go thru the shut-down/usb wire change/restart quickly enough to make an accurate comparison of usb cables. But the again perhaps my braincells are just too old.  ?

[bmichels]

Aurender used as... a NAS ?

 

I have a question:  while I will have my Aurender connected to my DAC for HiFi listening, can my home SONOS system also use the Aurender to play another music from the Aurender HD ( the SONOS will need to see the Aurender as a NAS and have access to his HD) ?

[Vincent1234]

12 hours ago, bmichels said:

Aurender used as... a NAS ?

 

I have a question:  while I will have my Aurender connected to my DAC for HiFi listening, can my home SONOS system also use the Aurender to play another music from the Aurender HD ( the SONOS will need to see the Aurender as a NAS and have access to his HD) ?

I'm pretty sure this is possible and I seem to remember I've tried it a few times (my Sonos has a defect for a year or two, so it's been some time). But please note that the Aurender will have its harddisk(s) spinning all the time when doing so. That's somewhat of a risk over time. Whereas using the Aurender 'by itself' involves using its SSD as a buffer for your playlist, meaning your harddisks only spin when calling for or creating a new playlist. The SSD will not be used in case you are using your Aurender as a NAS.

[rwwjr44]

Minor Conductor app update is out. Korean language fix.

[jfddoc]

I just bought a New N-10 and noticed there was nothing about High Resolution cover art in the online user guide.  What exactly does selecting this option do?   Thanks.