Melco v Aurender

[Rufus McDufus]

Yep - we really need to hear the Aurender again. It wasn't fair comparing out of the box. The Melco was pretty new too though - I think about a week old? Could be it just sounds better new compared with the Aurender. I can't say I've noticed my Melco improving much over time so maybe it just sounds good straight away.

[warpeon]

May I beg throwing a PC with AIR in the mix as a baseline. Think over 90% of us could use AIR some way and would be easier for us to relate how well Melco or aurender performs.


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[miro]

Yep - we really need to hear the Aurender again. It wasn't fair comparing out of the box. The Melco was pretty new too though - I think about a week old? Could be it just sounds better new compared with the Aurender.  I can't say I've noticed my Melco improving much over time so maybe it just sounds good straight away.

You owe it to yourselves to also listen to the Bryston BDP-2 with the new sound card (introduced May 15).

I received mine today, and am really impressed with streaming through the AES/EBU.
Very quiet background, wide soundstage, tremendous details.
It elevated the sound of my D400 in a very significant way.

The BDP-2 is just $200 more expensive than the Aurender N100 with the internal hard disk.

[Music or sound]

Yep - we really need to hear the Aurender again. It wasn't fair comparing out of the box. The Melco was pretty new too though - I think about a week old? Could be it just sounds better new compared with the Aurender.  I can't say I've noticed my Melco improving much over time so maybe it just sounds good straight away.

You owe it to yourselves to also listen to the Bryston BDP-2 with the new sound card (introduced May 15).

I received mine today, and am really impressed with streaming through the AES/EBU.
Very quiet background, wide soundstage, tremendous details.
It elevated the sound of my D400 in a very significant way.

The BDP-2 is just $200 more expensive than the Aurender N100 with the internal hard disk.

I wonder how this one is http://www.bryston.com/PDF/brochures/BOT-1_BROCHURE.pdf? It would act as a ripping device but also as a direct CD transport. This would give Bryston more versatility than the other contenders!

[miro]

Yep - we really need to hear the Aurender again. It wasn't fair comparing out of the box. The Melco was pretty new too though - I think about a week old? Could be it just sounds better new compared with the Aurender.  I can't say I've noticed my Melco improving much over time so maybe it just sounds good straight away.

You owe it to yourselves to also listen to the Bryston BDP-2 with the new sound card (introduced May 15).

I received mine today, and am really impressed with streaming through the AES/EBU.
Very quiet background, wide soundstage, tremendous details.
It elevated the sound of my D400 in a very significant way.

The BDP-2 is just $200 more expensive than the Aurender N100 with the internal hard disk.

I wonder how this one is http://www.bryston.com/PDF/brochures/BOT-1_BROCHURE.pdf? It would act as a ripping device but also as a direct CD transport. This would give Bryston more versatility than the other contenders!

The BOT-1 is meant to attach to a BDP-2 via a USB cable that the BOT-1 will come with. The BOT-1 will be released later this month.

It could help people who have extensive collections of CDs. 

(Most of my music is hi-res albums, and so I will not benefit much from a BOT-1, and do not plan to buy it for now.)

[Rufus McDufus]

Quick update - with Nick (cc1) we heard an Aurender X100 against the N100H (I think the same one as we listened to in this test) yesterday at Oxford Audio Consultants. Devialet 200 & Atohm GT1. The N100H has had quite a lot more running since we last listened, into the hundreds of hours.
Well The X100 smoked the N100H. X100 sounded full and rather lovely. N100H was still thin-sounding and lacking in bass. USB cable was definitely in the right output. Something odd going on here. Maybe there's a magic setting, or it needs more running or there's something wrong with it?

Anyhow I can't really judge how the X100 would fare against the Melco N1A but I think it would be pretty close. Without direct comparison I couldn't say which is better.

[AllenB]

Quick update - with Nick (cc1) we heard an Aurender X100 against the N100H (I think the same one as we listened to in this test) yesterday at Oxford Audio Consultants. Devialet 200 & Atohm GT1. The N100H has had quite a lot more running since we last listened, into the hundreds of hours.
Well The X100 smoked the N100H. X100 sounded full and rather lovely. N100H was still thin-sounding and lacking in bass.  USB cable was definitely in the right output. Something odd going on here. Maybe there's a magic setting, or it needs more running or there's something wrong with it?

Anyhow I can't really judge how the X100 would fare against the Melco N1A but I think it would be pretty close. Without direct comparison I couldn't say which is better.

That's interesting, and actually quite annoying from a consumer POV. The X100 was, it seemed, the one if you needed a large amount of storage and other outputs. The N100, as it started out was presumably supposed to be the same, except no disk and only USB. The N100H now gets the disk. But should there be that much disparity (X100 'smoked' the N100H), or is this a duff N100H? Rufus / Nick, I'm sure your on the case and personally I look forward to any more depth to this quandary you can give in the future.

[Confused]

Quick update - with Nick (cc1) we heard an Aurender X100 against the N100H (I think the same one as we listened to in this test) yesterday at Oxford Audio Consultants. Devialet 200 & Atohm GT1. The N100H has had quite a lot more running since we last listened, into the hundreds of hours.
Well The X100 smoked the N100H. X100 sounded full and rather lovely. N100H was still thin-sounding and lacking in bass.  USB cable was definitely in the right output. Something odd going on here. Maybe there's a magic setting, or it needs more running or there's something wrong with it?

Anyhow I can't really judge how the X100 would fare against the Melco N1A but I think it would be pretty close. Without direct comparison I couldn't say which is better.

That's interesting, and actually quite annoying from a consumer POV. The X100 was, it seemed, the one if you needed a large amount of storage and other outputs. The N100, as it started out was presumably supposed to be the same, except no disk and only USB. The N100H now gets the disk. But should there be that much disparity (X100 'smoked' the N100H), or is this a duff N100H? Rufus / Nick, I'm sure your on the case and personally I look forward to any more depth to this quandary you can give in the future.

When I spoke to OAC's Alasdair yesterday, he appeared to be forming the view that there is indeed a problem with this particular N100H, something they planned to investigate further.

[rwjr44]

Please note that the X100 only has the USB output.

[Foxman50]

I have had the weekend with a Melco N1A and Aurender N100 feeding a Hugo TT. Both were set to stream from my NAS drive, Aurender straight file access and the Melco streaming from Minimserver.

For me they are very very similar sounding units, but the Aurender has something extra. Its so hard to pin point it but each time i switched back to the Aurender it just put a smile on my face. One area that stood out was in cymbal decay, with the Aurender it just hangs in the air. It sounds very real, very natural, ultimately it involved me more.

Its more expensive but it pips the Melco, at least for me in my system