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The "Official" Aurender Discussion Thread


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1 hour ago, lubos64 said:

Hello ladies and gentlemen,

I have the Accuphase kit (PS1230, DP750, A47 and C2420) I would like to add Aurender.
I have the option to buy an older S10 with 6TB or a new X100L 12TB.
What plays better.
I have the Cardas - USB and Coax cables.

Thank you very much for any advice.

Accuphase gear can reveal anything that can go wrong in the signal and power chain quite well particularly with digital audio. The DP750 can accept a coaxial in with no major issues other than correct conversion of DSD to PCM, be sure to enquire with Aurender & Accuphase whether their Linux driver can work with the USB input of the DP-750, this would apply to the S10 and the X100L. Perhaps the N10 maybe more suited. Was it at Axpona last year where every 2nd source was an Aurender, this time at RMAF, turntables, and less computing gear was evident. Does that say something, or the room acoustics were that bad, a poor source material made the sound worse? A lot of variables to apply no doubt.

 

BTW, I have yet to find a digital-analog source that equals my now superseded DP-720. So have given up that quest and playback computer audio from modest components.

AS Profile Equipment List        Say NO to MQA

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17 hours ago, lubos64 said:

Hello ladies and gentlemen,

I have the Accuphase kit (PS1230, DP750, A47 and C2420) I would like to add Aurender.
I have the option to buy an older S10 with 6TB or a new X100L 12TB.
What plays better.
I have the Cardas - USB and Coax cables.

Thank you very much for any advice.

Hard to tell. The S10 is an older design, but was higher priced than the X100. I would expect the S10 to be more similar to its successor the N10 than to the X100. I had both the X100 (switching PS) and the N10 (linear PS) and the improvement brought by the N10 was very big. I really think you should try both in your own system - at home - to be able to make the right choice.

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On 10/12/2018 at 4:57 AM, Ponzi said:

I think I am going to take the plunge on an ASC-10.  Any cable recommendations would by much appreciated.  I now have Kubala Sosna throughout my system.  MMC

 

Very tempting prospect.....

 

http://34.227.103.167:8000/acs10/

Jon

Innuos Zen Mk 3, Shunyata alpha usb cable, Esoteric N-05 dac/network player, MBL N11 preamp, Bryston 28B SST2 monoblocks, Vienna Acoustics The Music speakers, Kimber Select 1126/1130 ic's, Kimber Select 6063 sc, Shunyata Triton, Shunyata/PS Audio pc's, Shunyata Dark Field Suspension System, Harmonix by Combak footers, Shun Mook Pendulum stand

Industry Affiliation : None

 

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10 hours ago, jon2020 said:

 

Very tempting prospect.....

 

http://34.227.103.167:8000/acs10/ 

 

I wonder what CPU aurender is using. The never specify it, and recently started to specify the system memory in case of the ACS10.

e.g. the N100 series have 4 GB of ram and a 32 bit linux OS & kernel, but this is nowhere specified - only the SSD and HDD are specified

Designer of the 432 EVO music server and Linux specialist

Discoverer of the independent open source sox based mqa playback method with optional one cycle postringing.

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8 minutes ago, FredericV said:

 

I wonder what CPU aurender is using. The never specify it, and recently started to specify the system memory in case of the ACS10.

e.g. the N100 series have 4 GB of ram and a 32 bit linux OS & kernel, but this is nowhere specified - only the SSD and HDD are specified

 

Curious as to why you ask about this. Would the choice of CPU make much difference for SQ?

 

It is quite likely, the processing power would have been optimised by Aurender in its selection of CPU. 

Jon

Innuos Zen Mk 3, Shunyata alpha usb cable, Esoteric N-05 dac/network player, MBL N11 preamp, Bryston 28B SST2 monoblocks, Vienna Acoustics The Music speakers, Kimber Select 1126/1130 ic's, Kimber Select 6063 sc, Shunyata Triton, Shunyata/PS Audio pc's, Shunyata Dark Field Suspension System, Harmonix by Combak footers, Shun Mook Pendulum stand

Industry Affiliation : None

 

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8 minutes ago, jon2020 said:

 

Curious as to why you ask about this. Would the choice of CPU make much difference for SQ?

 

It is quite likely, the processing power would have been optimised by Aurender in its selection of CPU. 


Looking at the machine we have in the lab, the design is based on 2 boards: a bottom plate with the IO and psu, and a separate board with the CPU, which they probably use in other models. The top plate gets quite hot, so I'm wondering what the TPD of the cpu is. I've seen and used other designs with 6 ~ 17 Watt TPD CPU's and they never run hot. I also have a lot of old atom boxes which run hot.

image.thumb.png.47bbc16f860e8672e9e88b6516c4934f.png


For me thermal properties and TPD matter a lot (as a designer).
 

Designer of the 432 EVO music server and Linux specialist

Discoverer of the independent open source sox based mqa playback method with optional one cycle postringing.

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6 minutes ago, FredericV said:


For me thermal properties and TPD matter a lot (as a designer).
 

 

Got it. Thanks. 

Jon

Innuos Zen Mk 3, Shunyata alpha usb cable, Esoteric N-05 dac/network player, MBL N11 preamp, Bryston 28B SST2 monoblocks, Vienna Acoustics The Music speakers, Kimber Select 1126/1130 ic's, Kimber Select 6063 sc, Shunyata Triton, Shunyata/PS Audio pc's, Shunyata Dark Field Suspension System, Harmonix by Combak footers, Shun Mook Pendulum stand

Industry Affiliation : None

 

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2 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Frederic- You’re a competitor of Aurender. Your behavior here is highly suspect. 

 

They are just technical questions. e.g. if you buy a Roon Nucleus, you know what's inside.

And yes I never hid my affiliation with the industry, so what's the problem?

Designer of the 432 EVO music server and Linux specialist

Discoverer of the independent open source sox based mqa playback method with optional one cycle postringing.

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13 hours ago, FredericV said:


Looking at the machine we have in the lab, the design is based on 2 boards: a bottom plate with the IO and psu, and a separate board with the CPU, which they probably use in other models. The top plate gets quite hot, so I'm wondering what the TPD of the cpu is. I've seen and used other designs with 6 ~ 17 Watt TPD CPU's and they never run hot. I also have a lot of old atom boxes which run hot.


For me thermal properties and TPD matter a lot (as a designer).
 

 

It's a fan-less design in a hefty metal box: the top gets hot because its dissipating heat. I'm quite sure there's no need to be concerned about the N100's TPD, and the processor (whatever it is) is obviously more than capable of running the task at hand.

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  • 2 weeks later...
OK, I have completed my tests for best connexion between my Aurender W20 and my Denafrips Terminator R2R DAC.
 
- First I compared the 3 connections ( AES, Coax and USB) with 3 cables from the same manufacturer (HifiCables.fr) using the same topology/technology.
 
attachThumb2571657
 
Against all odds, the USB was the winner !  sound stage was wider than with coax nor AES.  This is un-expected since Aurender recommend AES rather than USB (the result can be very different with another Source/DAC combinaison) 
 
 
 
- Then, since USB was apparently the best connection (for my set-up) I tested 3 different USB cables :  the "Aucharm" a low cost very good Chineese cable (50$), the HifiCable's  "Super Ultimate USB" (290 €), and a very expensive Synergetic research Galileo LE USB ( 2500 $) that use a separate transformer and other (marketing ??) gimics.
 
attachThumb2571658  attachThumb2571659  attachThumb2571660
 
Again, the results were quite surprising:  I found that the HifiCable lacked some musicality (it was precise, but something was missing reducing the possibility to "get lost into the music") while the 2 others provided a very engaging experience and... I had a very hard time to differentiate them.  I guess that with a HP system the difference will have been obvious but with headphone the 50€ is super close to the 2500€ cable !  this may be due because a « headphone  » system do not offer the « spatial » criteria that can make the difference between a good cable and a very good cable.  So, I returned the 2500 € cable and... kept the 50 € cable.  
 
 
 
- next step:  I will test soon the "Curious cable" and also I will have made for me a specific Coax cable to give the SPDIF Coax connection a second chance against USB.
 
attachThumb2571662
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6 minutes ago, bmichels said:

So... I was quite disapointed by what was supposed to be a super-TOL USB cable... !  May be someone can suggest another Super-TOL USB cable that will really bring a substantial sound improvement over a good 50€ cable ? 

As suggested earlier, the Crystal Cable Dreamline Plus is a ridiculously good sounding USB cable. I use it to connect my W20 to the dCS Rossini. Very expensive, but worth it IMO.

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Synergistic offers a few great USB cables.

Aurender N10, Esoteric F-05 Integrated Amplifier, Synergistic Active USB, Oppo 203, Synergistic Atmosphere Level 3 UEF Speaker cables, Legacy Audio Focus SE, Rega Planar 10 turntable with Aphelion 2 cartridge.

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I am surprised that you are using usb to connect usb to dcs. In my experience, spdif 75 ohm plus separate clock cable gives much better results. Top Shunyata or Furutech Cables give superb results.

 

i have used Siltech signature series usb in the past but I would not recommend using usb connections here.

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3 hours ago, Custodian said:

I am surprised that you are using usb to connect usb to dcs. In my experience, spdif 75 ohm plus separate clock cable gives much better results. Top Shunyata or Furutech Cables give superb results.

 

i have used Siltech signature series usb in the past but I would not recommend using usb connections here.

Not my experience ?

By the way, I think you are using a dCS Scarlatti, am I correct? The latest dCS generation is no doubt using an updated USB implementation.

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i guess that’s what makes this hobby so interesting. In my system, the use of 75 ohm digital cables easily outperform either 110 ohm or USB. Difference is a more dynamic sound. Of course it is important that you have good quality clock cables in use.

 

a good friend who bought my original s10 Aurender had exactly similar experiences with connection to his DCs Paganini.

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2 minutes ago, Custodian said:

i guess that’s what makes this hobby so interesting. In my system, the use of 75 ohm digital cables easily outperform either 110 ohm or USB. Difference is a more dynamic sound. Of course it is important that you have good quality clock cables in use.

 

a good friend who bought my original s10 Aurender had exactly similar experiences with connection to his DCs Paganini.

Yes, absolutely. Depending on your system YMMV. It's called a 'system' for a reason. ?

I have used AQ Wild clock cables for the comparison. These are really great.

But again, both the Scarlatti and Paganini are not the latest dCS generation and so the hardware and interfaces cannot be compared one to one. I owned a Puccini and clock myself before, so I can attest first hand what the latest generation of dCS brings to the table. T.b.h. they are pretty hard to compare. E.g. CD layer replay on the Rossini player is significantly better than SACD layer replay was on the Puccini. I'm not kidding..

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Pardon me for interrupting the cable discussion.  I have a question, which might just turn out to be about my own sanity, although I am hoping not.  I put together a system at a rather a fast pace, or I should say an augmented system.  Within the last several months I added a Luxman C-900u control amp, and an M-900u power amp, Kubala Sosna cables and, just this last week, an ASC-10 to go along with my N10.  I also added Harbeth 40.2 speakers, six months ago or so.  I was all sounding OK but some of my favorite recordings were very glassy in the upper registers and the system seemed overall to magnify all faults in whatever I played.  Got to the point where I was actually plugging one ear at times.  

 

Then, just last night actually, I was listening to a VIA recording of Morevich playing Chopin, and had the volume rather turned up (-16db on the screen), when everything just went terribly right.  The upper registers of the piano lost all glassiness and became marvelously bell-like.  The lower registers became wonderfully meaty and authoritative.  Now I ripped the VIA cd with my new ASC-10, so I switched to something I had down loaded earlier, before I got the ACS-10.  Same result.  Glassiness gone, bass beautiful.  

 

Could it actually be that the Luxman units just suddenly "broke in?"  That on the spot?  I don't know, but it sure was a pleasure.  I spent three lovely hours with Chopin.  

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@Ponzi  Result! Obviously something has happened. I wonder if it could also be one of a couple of things?

 

 Breaking-in is one. Personally I'd favour that the biggest changes tend to happen to mechanical devices so I wonder if it is your speakers. The other is possibly the mains? Listening late at night when there are less voltage peaks, dips and noise is considered by many to be superior to the same during the day. I guess the test for the latter would be to see if that glassiness you mention is gone for good or keeps returning.

Aurender W20 Music Server, Kii Three Active Speakers, Kii Digital Controller

Audioquest Diamond USB, Audioquest Niagara 7000 conditioner, Audioquest NRG-1000 HC mains leads

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