Aurender N100 to a N10?
 

Just curious as to how much of an improvement upgrading from the N100 to the N10 would be ?

I've been stunned at the improvement from my Mac Mini to the Aurender N100C.

Has anyone made the above mentioned (N100 toN10 ) upgrade...if you have, what are your thoughts?

Thanks in advance.

krelldog

Expect a similar increase again N100 —> N10 and again N10 —> W20SE... each is substantial and profound, absolutely nothing subtle about the improvements between these. I own a N100, auditioned a N10... and have been so thankful I just closed my eyes and bought a W20SE. It is the most profoundly game changing piece of equipment I have ever owned. It brought audiophile streaming into parallel with vinyl. The vinyl in my system has a very small and not significant better detail. I listen to streaming over 90% of the time and listen to music two or three times more than I used to. And importantly, I only listened to local content a couple times (on the internal drive) when you have cd or better quality streaming why would you? Well, I don’t any more.

I would agree, but you don't have to make the big jump from N10 to W20SE. You could get the N20, instead.

I just had an N20 here for a month, and....it's killer. It's really, really, good. REALLY good. And...almost half the cost of an W20SE.

I went to my dealer to purchase the N100 since I was new to streaming, but my wife wanted to hear the N10 to compare. We purchased the N10. I have since moved up to the W20SE which I love but at a significant expense over the N10.

I didn't directly compare the N10 and N100, but I did a pretty long audition with the N10/A10, and I did hear enough of a difference to justify going up to the N10(Plus cost of external Dac) . When I did the comparison I used both the internal Dac in the A10 and then a direct comparison using digital out of both to the same DAC. I would imagine the difference between the N100/N10 would be comparable if not slightly more noticeable. By the way I think my N10 sounds incredible.

What can I say... you said it all. My story isn’t much different... I got the N100 for my headphone system and went to listen to a N10 and ended up with a W20SE... took streaming from ok just behind spinning a CD to audiophile level.

I had a N10 in house for an extended demo and really liked it, so I took the plunge and bought the W20SE sight unseen. A big step up from the N10. Listening now, really crystal clear. Haven’t heard a N20 or 30.

Congradulations! Honestly this unit completely changed my perspective on digital and streaming… finally streaming is satisfying. It was others here on AA who’s posts convinced me to take the plunge unheard as well.

I went from an N100H to an N10 a couple of years ago. To me, in my system, there was a small increase in sound quality but nothing close to a big jump.

If you have a highly resolving system than I’m sure there could be a big jump but there wasn’t in my system so I sold the N10. Again, in my system, and to my ears the N10 was too much money for too little gain.

I read the same in another forum - directly from Aurender - especially if you use USB output. However my understanding is that the newer N200 uses different USB modules and sounds better. I own a N100H and was contemplating an upgrade to the N10, but since my sole connection is USB, I will plan to get a N200 soon.
Cheers,
Sid

I use an Aurender N10 with my dCS Bartok. I too have found USB out to be a less effective performer compared to the SPIDIF & AES/EBU out.

Using an Ideon Audio USB reclocker with the Aurender has proven to be an effective work around for me for USB.

I also did audition the N100 but found a dramatic improvement with the N10. One additional consideration is storage. With the N10 I am able to hold 8TB of music files.

I have a brand new test N200 test unit a home to compare with my N100H.

Brand new out of the box performance is quite poor I’m afraid as it sounded flat, boring and missing drive. So, I have internet radio on repeat now to burnin the N200 but it has to improve quite a lot to get me interested. Now after 15 hours of burnin it is already a bit better but … I have the impression the new Aurender puts more focus on resolution and openess and by doing that some of the charm of the N100H organic sound is a bit lost. The new sound is more clean and pure but looses on the natural organic flow. I was not expecting that and I hope it improves after 50+ hours of burnin.

I have no opportunity to audition where I am located, so I will proceed slowly then, will try to audition first.
Cheers,
Sid

I have a N30SA coming to compare it to N200 and my current W20SE unit should be epic

Any update?

You are not going to like this but if you heard little different with the N10 it’s your DAC is the weak link. Ran into a similar situation with another person once they got a better DAC they started to hear a lot of things they did not before. Sorry in advance.

I have the N10 now hooked up to my D1100 DAC and I never thought Digital could sound this good. Now I'm thinking about moving up to the N20 if I can get one on loan and give it a whirl.

I have the same, N10 —-> D1100 (via AES). Agree, sounds fantastic. I also use N10 ——> Meridian 808 (USB). Prefer the 808 but the D1100 is just a hair behind, the D1100 is a great dac, crazy good for the money.

Oh man, I can’t wait to read what you have to say. I have been wondering about upgrading N10 to N20 or N30 (big stretch).

I got my N10 after reading Dan's review. Likewise my 601s. All in all a superb steamer, server or whatever it's called. :thumbsup:

Aurender N100 to a N10?
 

Yes, Dan was quite influential. His 601 review lit my fire too. Ultimately, I bought Dan’s pair of 601’s when he moved into the MC2301’s. I am still enjoying his 601’s to this day.

I went from N100 to N10, and the improvement is quite significant. The N10 sound is fuller, richer, and superior in every way. I also upgraded the 2 fuses to SR orange fuse and that's another improvement. Another thing I found out about the N10 is that the better power cord it's hooked up to, the better sounding it becomes.

I have been enjoying a N200 for the past few weeks in my system. I feel it is definite step up from the N100H.
Cheers,
Sid

I know someone outside of here who went from the N10 to the N200 and thought it was an upgrade. Interesting though that Aurender has the N10 above the N200 in their hierarchy.

I believe that the N10 is discontinued now. I think N20 is the replacement.
Cheers,
Sid

The N200 goes for 6 thousand. I saw one last week but the store was really busy so it wasn't a good time for a listening session. . Looks really nice.

That's my understanding as well.

AA Friends:

I just bought a "new to me" Aurender N10, which arrived early yesterday-

I spent the better part of the day listening to it yesterday (AES out into the Lampizator B3) and could see why many, many folks love the N10. It was crystal clear and insane amounts of separation. Bass was thunderous, and highs were sharp.

In fact, everything felt very "sharp" if I can call it that. It very much reminded me of the sound of the dCS Rossini that I auditioned and used as a streamer a couple weeks ago.

I get that sound, but find it fatiguing (could be system synergy, room, or taste).

This made me think I chose wrong to get the N10 with it's upgraded clock etc. or that I perhaps didn't like the Aurender sound-

Then I felt an experiment was in order... I hooked it up with the USB out, into my Berkley Alpha USB, and AES from the Alpha into the Lampizator----

This made a world of difference. It was smoother, and more "musical" to my ears. Bass was still thunderous, there was still separation, but it wasn't as razor sharp as running out the AES directly.

My understanding is going this route, I bypass the internal clock and effectively have the N100H sound with the exception of a better power supply and more robust chassis.

Seems to me I'd be one that would prefer the N100H as that is described as smoother and not as detailed (likely do to the clock implementation)---


Thoughts from all you N10 experts?

It could be the AES/EBU cable were you using between the N10 and the Lampi B3. I'd try a Shunyata Alpha AES/EBU or better if possible.

Another idea is you could try going directly from the Aurender N10 with a Shunyata Delta or better USB cable to the Lampi's USB port, and not use the Berkeley Alpha USB, and try that, as well.

I've found that less "gear": cables, devices, and usually, the power supplies for those devices in the path between the source and the DAC, the better.

My guess is, based on my experience with the N20, it's going to be killer... :thumbsup:

I'm all for doing a final tuning with cables once i land on the sound I am after.

The USB is the Wireworld Silver Starlight, and the AES cable is the Gold Starlight 7.

I suspect cables can do some changes, however, in both cases it is the same AES cable going into the Baltic 3.

I was previously trying out a Roon Nucleus feeding USB into the Berkley and AES to the B3-

With the N10, I've run both ways (same cables) and am surprised how the USB > Alpha > N10 sounds more musical to me-

For what it’s worth, I’ve tried both an Aurender N10, and an Aurender W20SE connected directly to my Berkeley Alpha Reference Series 2 DAC via a Shunyata Sigma V2 AES/EBU cable, and I have also connected both streamers to a Berkeley Alpha USB using a Shunyata Sigma V2 USB cable, then to the Berkeley DAC using the aforementioned Shunyata Sigma AES/EBU cable. To my ears, both Aurender units sounded “more musical” when connected via the Berkeley Alpha USB, as opposed to being connected directly to the Berkeley DAC. I am usually a proponent of less being more, but in this case, I feel having the Berkeley Alpha USB in the chain improved the sound in terms of smoothness and imaging. The W20SE also sounded significantly better than the N10, but that is another topic.

Good feedback. Looks like the "Magic Box" Alpha USB will stay in the chain a while longer ----