Well, I finally connected everything today - and modest success - I heard the 1st music notes from my first music server!
I know I don't have everything figured out, but wanted to at least take the plunge to get to the next steps - even if I make some mistakes along the way. Thanks for being patient and explaining clearly!
I ripped 2 test CD's to AIFF using dbpoweramp - seems easy enough. I used "secure rips" and think I got AccurateRip verified results. The file sizes, even in uncompressed AIFF are about 10MB per minute of music. My 2TB should be more than enough for my collection (1,000 CD's?) Before I go any further and rip more CD's - I want to confirm AIFF is in fact a good choice vs. FLAC. Also want to make sure the naming conventions and meta data all work properly with the Aurender. Anyone else use AIFF care to comment?
I installed with my new USB cable (WW Silver) and plugged into the K-03 as DAC. Seemed easy enough.
As for the router - I am a little confused.
I just plugged generic cable into my ISP provided router (it's a new one). Seems to work fine. Reading the Aurender manual, I don't understand the purpose of the intermediate Wireless Router (Bridge/Access Point mode) that they illustrate. Asked a different way, why would you not connect directly to your ISP router?
I paired the Aurender to the Conductor app on two separate Android devices - check. I know this is Beta, and an iPad is in my future soon. How soon depends on the answer to the next question:
I was able to read an album from USB stick directly into the Aurender. I was able to navigate the tracks and play it. I was not however able to save the album to the Aurender HD. When clicking 'folder' I could navigate to the USB drive and see all the tracks, but the only options were to add to the queue and/or replace the queue. I was thus able to listen (it works) but not able to save. So... can the limited Android app even be used for this limited functionality of loading/saving music? (I know it does not do streaming).
A couple of ancillary questions - the manual shows an external HD as the basis for USB album uploads. Does the USB stick that I tried even make sense to use? I don't have a 'network' per se - just a PC laptop, and the ISP router. What's the best way to do this with my limited setup?
Finally, I just used some pre-packaged cable to connect the router to the Aurender. Is there a specific quality I should be looking for here? I assume it will make more of a difference when I am streaming from Tidal vs. just using the Conductor app.
Thanks again for the assistance - getting close!
I've shut everything down for now and am spinning some Richard Thompson the old fashioned way. For now...
