Melco v Aurender

[GuillaumeB]

Guillaume's rather negative comments on Aurender SQ don't tie-in at all with what I heard in my system and what I understand Foxman heard with the same unit (N100 rather than N100H) in his and I guess we're both pretty critical of poor SQ... It will be interesting to hear what people make of the Aurender v Melco comparison that Oxford Audio plan.  Both units will presumably be well run-in by then so no excuses for the loser

Not sure that I meant my comments to be quite so negative! I found the sound of the N100H initially impressive and I loved the control point and the overall package. It was only upon critical listening that I felt we had lost some of the magic of the Melco (as we played some of the same tracks again the differences became more and more noticeable, for e.g. in the bass frequencies, with the Aurender sounding less defined/lighter). Analysing it more I came to the conclusion that perhaps the Aurender sounded more digital and I tried to describe what I meant. It did seem to improve over time which also led to the conclusion that perhaps the unit needed more running in.

We played the Melco for a good hour or so before going to the Aurender, so we got quite used to the Melco sound first. Possibly this coloured my observations of the Aurender; because the Melco was so analogue sounding did that make the Aurender more digital sounding? Certainly going back to the Melco after the Aurender was quite a big improvement. 

Guillaume