(17-Mar-2015, 10:45)Eddye Wrote: [ -> ]I've had the Aurender N100 on audition this past weekend. I picked it up at my local dealer last Friday. At that time the AMM app wasn't available for download, but stubborn as I am, I connected the N100 and switched it on. There really was no setup to do. It just connected to my network and within the Aurender Conductor app I could connect to my NAS and browse the folders and select the music files to play.
So that afternoon I started listening and was not impressed. It was bad, it really sounded a lot worse than my Macbook Pro with Audirvana.
Realizing the unit was brand-new I stuck with it for a few hours and after a short time it started to sound better. Pretty soon it was on par with my MBP/Audirvana setup and on Saturday it really sounded better than the MBP. The sound quality was still going up and down, but that is to be expected after only 10 hours or so playing. Saturday evening I really started comparing the MBP with the N100. It's not in the details or micro details that the N100 performes better, they are about the same, but the N100 is so very much better musically. Instruments sound more real and alive, there is a natural flow to the music that is very beautiful. This really is an audio component, not just a small computer that can play music files.
Sunday afternoon an Audio friend came over with some different power cables to try, and it was quite noticeable that the unit is still not played in properly. After switching power cables the S and F sounds were really obvious. Thinking this was the power cable we switch back, but the pronounced S's and F's were still there, only to disappear after about an hour or so. Throughout the Sunday the N100 kept playing very naturally, musically and really quite beautiful.
Friday evening I mailed Aurender the link to their Aurender Music Manager app wasn't working, and this was restored Saturday. So I installed AMM, selected the N100, selected the music share on my NAS and 5 minutes later the app was finished and the library was uploaded to the Aurender. That really makes controlling the N100 a pleasure with the Conductor iPad app. It as a lot of features and small things to work quickly. I find it very easy to use.
So, to finish this Audition, I just called my Dealer and told him I wouldn't be bringing this unit back.
Happy for you Eddye. And your observations are very consistent with many other Aurender owners here in the forum. Very glad to hear that the N100 seems to have the same sound signature as the rest of the Aurender family (musicality, natural warmth, relaxed without losing details).
Now those who are happy with their NAS can settle for the N100 instead of other options with built in storage (as it will be redundant in their case)
Tell us if you notice even more improvement with longer set in period
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
(17-Mar-2015, 10:45)Eddye Wrote: [ -> ]I've had the Aurender N100 on audition this past weekend. I picked it up at my local dealer last Friday. At that time the AMM app wasn't available for download, but stubborn as I am, I connected the N100 and switched it on. There really was no setup to do. It just connected to my network and within the Aurender Conductor app I could connect to my NAS and browse the folders and select the music files to play.
So that afternoon I started listening and was not impressed. It was bad, it really sounded a lot worse than my Macbook Pro with Audirvana.
Realizing the unit was brand-new I stuck with it for a few hours and after a short time it started to sound better. Pretty soon it was on par with my MBP/Audirvana setup and on Saturday it really sounded better than the MBP. The sound quality was still going up and down, but that is to be expected after only 10 hours or so playing. Saturday evening I really started comparing the MBP with the N100. It's not in the details or micro details that the N100 performes better, they are about the same, but the N100 is so very much better musically. Instruments sound more real and alive, there is a natural flow to the music that is very beautiful. This really is an audio component, not just a small computer that can play music files.
Sunday afternoon an Audio friend came over with some different power cables to try, and it was quite noticeable that the unit is still not played in properly. After switching power cables the S and F sounds were really obvious. Thinking this was the power cable we switch back, but the pronounced S's and F's were still there, only to disappear after about an hour or so. Throughout the Sunday the N100 kept playing very naturally, musically and really quite beautiful.
Friday evening I mailed Aurender the link to their Aurender Music Manager app wasn't working, and this was restored Saturday. So I installed AMM, selected the N100, selected the music share on my NAS and 5 minutes later the app was finished and the library was uploaded to the Aurender. That really makes controlling the N100 a pleasure with the Conductor iPad app. It as a lot of features and small things to work quickly. I find it very easy to use.
So, to finish this Audition, I just called my Dealer and told him I wouldn't be bringing this unit back.
Excellent post,the N100 is one of the options I am considering, so very helpful.
As anyone gone through a firmware or software update on their Aurender X100 unit? If so, how well did that go?
A friend of mine has the Linn Akurate DS player and a few times, he's had grief with upgrades where it would either fail or the control point software would stop functioning after the unit was upgraded. I've also read about firmware upgrades sometimes failing on the Bryston digital players (the reason I still haven't attempted it yet on mine).
(13-Mar-2015, 23:01)thumb5 Wrote: [ -> ] (13-Mar-2015, 22:43)Confused Wrote: [ -> ]This being the Aurender thread leads to the question of why Aurender on many of it's models chooses to use exclusive USB 2 output, rather than SPDIF or AES/EBU. Is USB technically superior if implimented properly? Of is USB used to achieve maximum compatibility with DACs which are primarily designed for use with computers, hence USB compatible?
As I understand it, asynchronous USB should in principle be superior to AES/EBU from a clocking point of view, because the DAC can use its own, highly stable clock rather than having to recover it from the input stream (e.g. with a phase-locked loop). Also USB provides much more robust error detection capabilities, although for isochronous transfers used by audio devices there is no automatic re-transmission mechanism to support error recovery.
Against that, you might argue that USB could be more prone to injecting noise into sensitive analog circuits, if not dealt with carefully.
So USB should perhaps give both better sound quality and wider compatibility than AES/EBU. In practice it'll still depend on good engineering (like the obsessive attention to detail in the totalDAC devices), so I'd hesitate to generalise...
I am keenly intereseted in sorting out this optimal digital bridge interface. I asked Devialet which digital input port should be superior and they responded that they should be equivalent (for typical short cable runs). I have an Aurender S10 which offers AES, USB and SPDIF outputs. Given all the bad press concerning the poor USB audio kluge processing needed, I assumed that my AES digital connection should be superior. It does sound great, but I really didn't invest anytime comparing a USB vs AES digital interface connections to confirm all this.
Your discussions regarding clocking have me back to scratching my head again considering the USB connection. Can anyone comment on the specification caliber of the DAC clock in the D200? The clock in my S10 is an OCXO (12.8 MHz). If that S10 OCXO clock is equal, or superior, to the Devialet clock, should that provide superior, or equivalent sound (through the AES)? Or, does the Devialet DAC asynchronous USB clocking digital stream master control have the potential to be superior (even with a potentially lesser caliber of DAC clock)? i.e. does the DAC asynch USB digital protocols trump a potentially superior clock in the source/client?
Thanks
Kenreau
(17-Mar-2015, 18:34)samurai7595 Wrote: [ -> ]As anyone gone through a firmware or software update on their Aurender X100 unit? If so, how well did that go?
A friend of mine has the Linn Akurate DS player and a few times, he's had grief with upgrades where it would either fail or the control point software would stop functioning after the unit was upgraded. I've also read about firmware upgrades sometimes failing on the Bryston digital players (the reason I still haven't attempted it yet on mine).
I did couple of times and it worked like a charm.
On the conductor app you check for firmware update and if there is one for your Aurender you simply tab update and in a couple of minutes everything is completed without any further intervention from the user.
(17-Mar-2015, 19:17)kenreau Wrote: [ -> ] (13-Mar-2015, 23:01)thumb5 Wrote: [ -> ] (13-Mar-2015, 22:43)Confused Wrote: [ -> ]This being the Aurender thread leads to the question of why Aurender on many of it's models chooses to use exclusive USB 2 output, rather than SPDIF or AES/EBU. Is USB technically superior if implimented properly? Of is USB used to achieve maximum compatibility with DACs which are primarily designed for use with computers, hence USB compatible?
As I understand it, asynchronous USB should in principle be superior to AES/EBU from a clocking point of view, because the DAC can use its own, highly stable clock rather than having to recover it from the input stream (e.g. with a phase-locked loop). Also USB provides much more robust error detection capabilities, although for isochronous transfers used by audio devices there is no automatic re-transmission mechanism to support error recovery.
Against that, you might argue that USB could be more prone to injecting noise into sensitive analog circuits, if not dealt with carefully.
So USB should perhaps give both better sound quality and wider compatibility than AES/EBU. In practice it'll still depend on good engineering (like the obsessive attention to detail in the totalDAC devices), so I'd hesitate to generalise...
I am keenly intereseted in sorting out this optimal digital bridge interface. I asked Devialet which digital input port should be superior and they responded that they should be equivalent (for typical short cable runs). I have an Aurender S10 which offers AES, USB and SPDIF outputs. Given all the bad press concerning the poor USB audio kluge processing needed, I assumed that my AES digital connection should be superior. It does sound great, but I really didn't invest anytime comparing a USB vs AES digital interface connections to confirm all this.
Your discussions regarding clocking have me back to scratching my head again considering the USB connection. Can anyone comment on the specification caliber of the DAC clock in the D200? The clock in my S10 is an OCXO (12.8 MHz). If that S10 OCXO clock is equal, or superior, to the Devialet clock, should that provide superior, or equivalent sound (through the AES)? Or, does the Devialet DAC asynchronous USB clocking digital stream master control have the potential to be superior (even with a potentially lesser caliber of DAC clock)? i.e. does the DAC asynch USB digital protocols trump a potentially superior clock in the source/client?
Thanks
Kenreau
Hi Kenreau, I will be keen to hear your opinion on the differences between AES/EBU and USB on S10 to Devialet.
It will be great if you do a head to head comparison and share with us your thoughts
(17-Mar-2015, 20:36)amabrok Wrote: [ -> ] (17-Mar-2015, 18:34)samurai7595 Wrote: [ -> ]As anyone gone through a firmware or software update on their Aurender X100 unit? If so, how well did that go?
A friend of mine has the Linn Akurate DS player and a few times, he's had grief with upgrades where it would either fail or the control point software would stop functioning after the unit was upgraded. I've also read about firmware upgrades sometimes failing on the Bryston digital players (the reason I still haven't attempted it yet on mine).
I did couple of times and it worked like a charm.
On the conductor app you check for firmware update and if there is one for your Aurender you simply tab update and in a couple of minutes everything is completed without any further intervention from the user.
All of the upgrades were completed smoothly.
(17-Mar-2015, 10:58)amabrok Wrote: [ -> ] (17-Mar-2015, 10:45)Eddye Wrote: [ -> ]I've had the Aurender N100 on audition this past weekend. I picked it up at my local dealer last Friday. At that time the AMM app wasn't available for download, but stubborn as I am, I connected the N100 and switched it on. There really was no setup to do. It just connected to my network and within the Aurender Conductor app I could connect to my NAS and browse the folders and select the music files to play.
So that afternoon I started listening and was not impressed. It was bad, it really sounded a lot worse than my Macbook Pro with Audirvana.
Realizing the unit was brand-new I stuck with it for a few hours and after a short time it started to sound better. Pretty soon it was on par with my MBP/Audirvana setup and on Saturday it really sounded better than the MBP. The sound quality was still going up and down, but that is to be expected after only 10 hours or so playing. Saturday evening I really started comparing the MBP with the N100. It's not in the details or micro details that the N100 performes better, they are about the same, but the N100 is so very much better musically. Instruments sound more real and alive, there is a natural flow to the music that is very beautiful. This really is an audio component, not just a small computer that can play music files.
Sunday afternoon an Audio friend came over with some different power cables to try, and it was quite noticeable that the unit is still not played in properly. After switching power cables the S and F sounds were really obvious. Thinking this was the power cable we switch back, but the pronounced S's and F's were still there, only to disappear after about an hour or so. Throughout the Sunday the N100 kept playing very naturally, musically and really quite beautiful.
Friday evening I mailed Aurender the link to their Aurender Music Manager app wasn't working, and this was restored Saturday. So I installed AMM, selected the N100, selected the music share on my NAS and 5 minutes later the app was finished and the library was uploaded to the Aurender. That really makes controlling the N100 a pleasure with the Conductor iPad app. It as a lot of features and small things to work quickly. I find it very easy to use.
So, to finish this Audition, I just called my Dealer and told him I wouldn't be bringing this unit back.
Happy for you Eddye. And your observations are very consistent with many other Aurender owners here in the forum. Very glad to hear that the N100 seems to have the same sound signature as the rest of the Aurender family (musicality, natural warmth, relaxed without losing details).
Now those who are happy with their NAS can settle for the N100 instead of other options with built in storage (as it will be redundant in their case)
Tell us if you notice even more improvement with longer set in period
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Unfortunately, the unit had to go back to the dealer. Turns out it wasn't his to sell and was needed for other demo's
A small miscommunication between my dealer and his. A new unit has been ordered for me which will be shipped from Aurender this friday. With travel and customs and such, I expect a few weeks before delivery. Good thing I still have my turntable.
Oh Eddye, I'm sorry that you had to part this soon with your new found love
Hope your new N100 arrives soon
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!!