Aurender N100 v AIR

[thumb5]

My pleasure. I know what you mean...but it is worth it once you get it all set up and running.

[Hifi_swlon]

I'm also back to a bit of sitting on the fence today. My main dilemma is not wanting to be tied into aurenders iPad interface. I hear it's good, but I'd miss Roon - I know just from the screen grabs I've seen, that's one ugly interface. Aurender are implementing Roon, but when, and how much of the expensive Aurender hardware will be redundant at that point?

The great thing is this area does seem to be exploding, so the waiting might pay dividends. A raspberry Pi with Roon is definitely something I'd like to try but who knows when that will be released/stable.

My real curiosity now is how much better can my system sound with an Aurender (or similar) compared to a slightly optimised Mac. If it wows me I'll know that I can stick with my speakers and wait for the right streamer. If the Facts still aren't tamed in my setup, I'll know I'll have to make a change there.

[Womaz]

I'm also back to a bit of sitting on the fence today. My main dilemma is not wanting to be tied into aurenders iPad interface. I hear it's good, but I'd miss Roon - I know just from the screen grabs I've seen, that's one ugly interface. Aurender are implementing Roon, but when, and how much of the expensive Aurender hardware will be redundant at that point?

The great thing is this area does seem to be exploding, so the waiting might pay dividends. A raspberry Pi with Roon is definitely something I'd like to try but who knows when.

My real curiosity now is how much better can my system sound with an Aurender (or similar) compared to a slightly optimised Mac. If it wows me I'll know that I can stick with my speakers and wait for the right streamer. If the Facts still aren't tamed in my setup, I'll know I'll have to make a change there.

I am thinking along the very same lines. Every time I feel I have reached a decision something else crops up.
The Aurender app looks awful I agree, but is supposed to be very good. I really dont like the fact that it can only be operated horizontally on an I Pad.
After all my reading research and head scratching I still might just go for the cheap option of an Aries Mini for now. The music server market is going to expand massively in the next few years and these will just get better I would imagine. People like Melco wil bring out more user friendly gear.
A big part of me thinks cheap solution for now and sit back and see what develops.

Are your Facts a tad bright at times with the Devialet. I have the 23s and love them but thats my one concern. FACT 8 or 26s was my next aim until Devialet did not do what it advertised

[rwjr44]

The Aurender app works really well and isn't butt ugly.   The background color? Well, what can I say?   The Cyrus models look like old school engineering projects and are not in the same class as the Aurender but are good options. Bryson is also a good option.

[Hifi_swlon]

Are your Facts a tad bright at times with the Devialet. I have the 23s and love them but thats my one concern. FACT 8 or 26s was my next aim until Devialet did not do what it advertised  

I'm not sure I can fully blame PMC as my room is about as far from ideal as you could hope for, and I'm using a Mac as a source which many say isn't quite up to it - the Facts aren't very forgiving. They sounded a lot better when I demod them. And I could never get my Neats sounding as they used to when I moved to this house - driven with Naim or Teddy Pardo.

The treble energy is just too much to my ears. In fact, I've developed slight tinnitus this last year and I'm sure it's down to them and all the listening at different levels to find a sweet spot which I never achieve. I just need more bass and a fuller sound and less fatiguing treble - I do hear the Facts are generally thought of as mid-forward (which I didn't appreciate when buying them). But then some people love them so it could be anything. If the next source enhancement or replacement doesn't fix it they're out though!

As an aside I've been using headphones at work - an 8 year old pair of bottom of the range Grado's straight out of my Macs headphone socket, and to be honest I prefer the sound. Apart from the bottom end the detail all still seems to be there, but with none of the aggressive treble. Ho hum.

One ray of light on the streamer front if you use Roon, there have been a few snippets this past week of actual working 'roonspeakers' (RAAT now) on a Raspberry Pi2. This is what I'm now holding out for before buying something more expensive. I previously tried an RPi2 but with squeezeplug and it was a total faff and only for those that want to mess around with tech. I never got rid of crackles (different to Air, equally annoying), but between them the sound was really good. Better than my Mac from memory. I have no doubt any Roon implementation will be good and easy to setup. They are so cheap (£35!) that with a decent linear supply are probably ideal for a streaming 'endpoint' where really all you want is decent software on a very minimal computer with very little else going on inside.

Perhaps it won't rival the dedicated hardware of Aurender, but if Roon get it work I think they'll really rock the boat in the streaming world since few could compete cost-wise. Of course you'd need still need to buy Roon and have another server so the total cost adds up, but.....

[Womaz]

Yes I love my 23s. Originally it was the plan to maybe go for FACT 8s or the 26s, but I think i may stick with the 23s for now. Will be interesting to see if the Melco tames the treble a tad as opposed to AIR.
Grado headphones on the odd occasion i listen to music in bed I use my Sony portable player and a 20 year old pair of Grado 80s, and you are right they sound great. I have bought two or three different pairs over the years and always end up selling them and keep the Grados. They will be hear till they die I would imagine ...or me as I dont do a lot of listening with my Sony now.
Ive just spent some cash on an Aiuralic Taurus HP amp and my HE1000 are on the way. Ive never heard headphones sound so good.......hey but thats digressing.

[Hifi_swlon]

….. on the odd occasion i listen to music in bed I use my Sony portable player and a 20 year old pair of Grado 80s, and you are right they sound great. ….

Mine are SR80! And in fact probably a to more than 8 years old I was thinking this morning. Maybe I just don't want the perfect 'neutral' sound any more…..or maybe everything allegedly neutral (Facts, Roon, Devialet) can result in a sound that's 'too cold' and 'honest'.

Anyway, sorry, OT from me too.