My experience (so far) with N10
 

Now that I have put about 300 -500 hours on the N10 in both COAX and USB, here are some of my observations. To get all of these hours on I loaded various albums and Tidal and just let it play on repeat without the preamp, amps or speakers connected but with my K-01x DAC on. Not sure if this was the best way to break it in but that is what I did. It was much easier for me as a newbie to music files than I thought it would be. The iPad app is great. First I copied a few music files over from a MacBook Pro using dbpoweramp in various formats such as: AIFF, Applelossless, Flac and Wav. For me AIFF sounded the best so I will rip all my CD's in that format.
I am using my Esoteric as the DAC for the N10 with the COAX and USB connections. I found both connections to be very similar with the COAX being slightly better on some recordings. I do have an IFi box between my K01x and N10. I find the IFi makes a big difference over just using my WW Platinum cable alone.
I have been burning my CD's to my NAS and the N10. I much prefer listening to music directly from the N10 than from my NAS to the N10, so I will just use the NAS for backup purposes.
I found the N10 super convenient to use but I prefer the sound of a CD being played directly from the K-01x. For critical listening of music I will use the K-01x to play music and will use the N10 for HiRes music that the K-01x can't play if it is not on a CD or SACD.
As a side note, I still prefer the sound of vinyl over everything else, so please take that into account with my review.
Since I am new to computer music, let me know if I should be doing anything differently.
I do love the N10 for ease of use and HiRes music- it is the only thing I have to play it since I hate connecting a laptop or desktop computer to my system. Now back to ripping more CD's. Still very glad I got the N10 and am looking forward to get more into digital music.

Thank you very much, I am considering to buy an Aurender unit, your information is so valuable!

Thanks for posting Paul!
Do CD's played on your Esoteric sound better than CD's ripped in the AIFF format?
Which IF box are you using?
With over 600 CD's ripped AIFF, I am glad to hear you prefer the AIFF rip. Hate to have to do it again for the third (+) time!

John,
I prefer the sound of CD's played directly from my K-01x. If I didn't do an A&B test at the same time, I may not have noticed a difference. The lazy part of me likes not getting up from my chair to change CD's and songs so I am actually using the N10 more often. I am using an IFi micro USB3.0 with Gemini Dual-Headed cables to the K-01x and a WW Platinum USB into the IFi. I am glad that I found out that I preferred the AIFF format so hopefully this will be my only rip.

I now have over 1000 hours of playing time on the N10. I am still using my K-01x as the DAC. I find I am using the N10 more and more since it is so easy to listen to music on it. Playing ripped music on the N10 is now sounding very close to the sound of playing CDs on my K-01x directly. When using coax, I found I prefer using Acoustic Zen Absolute 75 digital cables over Wireworld Platinum Starlight digital cables. For most listening, I believe I am different from most, as I prefer listing via a Wireworld Platinum USB digtal cable though the IFi micro USB3.0 instead of the coax connection. Just proves that everyone hears things a little differently. The more I use the N10 the more I like it. It was worth the purchase.

Paul.......Sounds like you are really enjoying your new Aurender N10. It is a fantastic music server. Between its ease of use and the intuitive and mature Conductor App, it is the go-to audio component in my studio system. It produces the lion's share of music I play. I am happy for you.

I only have 150 hours on my N10 and seems to get better by the day. I think it is my favorite upgrade thus far.

I don't know if it is a good or bad thing but I find myself switching between albums and songs all the time. I never seem to let an album play all the way through since I can just sit in my chair and not move my butt. I definitely can't do that with my vinyl.

That is one downside. I too sometimes find myself getting a bit anxious to move on to the next song. With vinyl I let it play all the way through.

Paul.......I have learned to put the iPad down when the music begins if it is my intention to listen to the entire album. Another great option is take some time and build a dozen different playlists in different genres of favorite tracks from multiple albums. Then just sit and enjoy and hour or more with each playlist. I have a dozen playlists, each with up to 30 different songs and artists. It is great phone to enjoy my favorite tunes with a touch of my iPad, then put it down and let the music play.