USB quality on N100H and ASC100
 

Hello All,

I’m back to considering an Aurender to mate with my K03X as a DAC. My son’s homemade linux computer with Jriver has been giving me some issues and I’m getting ready to take the leap. My question is if there is any sound quality differences in these two products using usb? The N10 is just out of my reach and I’m down to the N100H and ASC100. If the audio quality is the same, I’d like have a cd ripper in addition. Currently, ripping to Flac with a computer is cumbersome to me. Since Sonics takes precedence over ease of ripping cds, for me, it seems like the N100H wins but I really can’t wrap my head around sonic differences in what appears to be similar products.

The literature on the Aurender website states “Although the ACS100 can operate as a stand-alone music server / streamer, best sound quality is achieved when using an N100H, N100C, N100SC, N10, A100, A10, A30 or W20SE Aurender music server / streamer as the main player”

So by reading this, one could assume there’s an sonic difference between the N100H and ASC100. I guess I’d like to know to what degree or what causes the difference? I.E different circuitry etc...adding a cd ripper changes the quality of the audio from the USB port?

Any light that you can shed on this to aid in my decision is greatly appreciated. Thanks, Pete

I have a 100H and can attest to it’s good sound. Also, once I had a streamer with a Tidal subscription, that was the end of CD ripping for me. I see no reason to ever buy another CD. For the price of a CD per month you have access to a nearly infinite amount of music...including most of what you own. When I compared streaming to CD... not for extended periods of time, the CD and stream of the same album were indistinguishable to me. But this was a quick compare. I noticed we have very similar equipment.

Also the USB connection will be retimed by your DAC so will be inclined to take on the sound of your DAC. The other connection types keep the timing of the steamer. I like my DACs, so am pretty happy with USB connections. I know this is a bit simpleminded, but it fits my general observations.

Hi George
Thanks for your reply. I never got a notice that you replied to my question, so sorry about my delay.

I’m likely going with one of the two. I do like the idea of ripping cds that I might get ahold of. All the ones I have now have been ripped already but on occasion I acquire a cd and it’s a pain to boot the laptop that I use, then copy it to the headless Linux machine. I use Spotify so I’m intrigued to see how I can stream it to my big system instead of all the other Bluetooth devices I have. I can’t wait to replace it with an Aurender product. Maybe by Christmas. Thanks for your help!

Although I have my issues with Aurender, fidelity certainly isn't among them. I've been astounded by the sonics of my N100H, which was my first real streamer. The better the file, the better it sounds ... sometimes it can be spooky-good.

Having owned a aurender N100h you will be happy with either one.