Aurender N10 Caching Music Server review

[jdandy]

Originally Posted by docmd2010

Dan, that review was absolutely exemplary. It was straight up poetry. You clearly have a mastery of the english language and have extreme attention to detail. Further, I appreciated your approach to auditioning your components utilizing the "scientific method" to achieve answers by only adjusting one variable.

Bravo, sir, Bravo.

Aditya.......Very kind of you, sir. Thank you very much.

[Cohibaman]

Originally Posted by docmd2010

Dan, that review was absolutely exemplary. It was straight up poetry. You clearly have a mastery of the english language and have extreme attention to detail. Further, I appreciated your approach to auditioning your components utilizing the "scientific method" to achieve answers by only adjusting one variable.

Bravo, sir, Bravo.

+1

[Matt Lan]

Thanks Dan, this is helpful.

I am in fact leaning toward something tested and packaged like the Aurender - just trying to understand the differences.

I take your point about Roon - I am a total newbie, but it looks to be a lot more user friendly than Jriver in terms of interface - but I just want a quality interface and it looks like the Aurender app has that in spades.

I guess it's the price that has me cautious, and trying to compare the N100(h) vs the N10. If it was closer, it would be a no-brainer.

Also hard to compare in person with just 1 local dealer. But I will go that route and see if I can appreciate the difference(s).

Thank again,

Matt

[rottikid]

Matt I have the Aurender N100h with a 4 tb drive. The sound quality is really, really good. I highly recommend it if you can use USB hookup, that is all it has.

[docmd2010]

So I just got a demo at home of the N100H and A/B it vs my laptop. Used the WW USB listed below.

The difference when the N100H was in the system was pretty huge vs usb out from my laptop. The difference was in the soundstage, as Dan pointed out. All musicians were correctly placed in not only the X and Y plane but also the Z plane.

Cymbals and piano were far more vivacious and bass was more commanding and staccato.

the 4Tb one is 3K retail for the N100H and that would be a no brainer for me, as the upgrade in quality was quite drastic.

My dealer was supposed to give me the N10 to demo as well but accidentally gave me the A10 instead. Would have loved to see the differences between these units.

I, for one, would not go for the N10 simply for the clock within it, as I am likely going to upgrade to an esoteric DAC (either the K01x, K03dx, or the D02x) and will likely add a master clock that will be far superior to the one in the aurender n10. Need to hear a significant difference in sound quality to make the leap! If anyone has done A/B on these two units, please comment here!

[jdandy]

Originally Posted by docmd2010

So I just got a demo at home of the N100H and A/B it vs my laptop. Used the WW USB listed below.

The difference when the N100H was in the system was pretty huge vs usb out from my laptop. The difference was in the soundstage, as Dan pointed out. All musicians were correctly placed in not only the X and Y plane but also the Z plane.

Cymbals and piano were far more vivacious and bass was more commanding and staccato.

the 4Tb one is 3K retail for the N100H and that would be a no brainer for me, as the upgrade in quality was quite drastic.

My dealer was supposed to give me the N10 to demo as well but accidentally gave me the A10 instead. Would have loved to see the differences between these units.

I, for one, would not go for the N10 simply for the clock within it, as I am likely going to upgrade to an esoteric DAC (either the K01x, K03dx, or the D02x) and will likely add a master clock that will be far superior to the one in the aurender n10. Need to hear a significant difference in sound quality to make the leap! If anyone has done A/B on these two units, please comment here!

Aditya.......I am pleased to hear that you were impressed with the Aurender N100H home audition. It is one thing to read the words in a review and imagine what is transpiring. It is all together a different thing to personally experience the astonishing improvement in sound with your own ears, especially when directly comparing the N100H to a source component you are familiar with and had previously enjoyed. The Aurender music servers are the real deal and I have no doubt the N100H performs at a not too distant level from the N10. The price to performance ratio of the N100H is very attractive.

I take one exception to your comment with respect to using a "far superior" external clock than is in the N10. The all digital phase-locked loop system incorporating field-programmable gate arrays with the Aurender's oven controlled crystal oscillator clock delivers a precise ± 0.02 ppm accuracy. If you are referencing the Esoteric G-02 clock with its oven controlled crystal oscillator and a precise ± 0.01 ppm accuracy, I would agree it is an improvement over the Aurender's clock. The difference is minute in comparison to the difference between the N10 and G-02 OCXO clocks over the voltage controlled crystal oscillators in the K-01, K-03, K-01X, K-03X and Grandioso K1 which all measure ±0.5 ppm accuracy according to Esoteric's published specifications. Granted, the G-02 clock is far superior to those Esoteric player clocks and should substantially improve the performance of those five player/DAC's, but I think it is a stretch to apply the same descriptor to the difference between the Aurender N10's OCXO clock and the Esoteric G-02's OCXO clock. If, on the other hand, you are referring to a rubidium clock's accuracy compared to the N10's OCXO clock, not to mention the G-02's OCXO clock, then I would agree with your "far superior" phraseology.

[imprezap2]

As far as I can see both N10 and N100 don't have a separate Word clock connection, only the W20 has that connection. Am I missing something ?

[jdandy]

Originally Posted by imprezap2

As far as I can see both N10 and N100 don't have a separate Word clock connection, only the W20 has that connection. Am I missing something ?

Olaf.......You are correct, an external word clock or master clock can only be connected to the Aurender W20. None the less, the OCXO clock in the N10 and W20 are on par with many external master clocks.

[docmd2010]

Ok. just listened to the N10. It was a huge upgrade to the N10, details were pouring out from my digital music collection like I've never heard before. The soundstage became even bigger. My 802D3's suddenly disappeared in thin air and a huge production stage just popped out. Quite sensational.

It only took me about 20 minutes after I listened to the N10 to place an order. Should get it next week!

[docmd2010]

Dan, quick note, should I upgrade the USB cable to a coax to take advantage of the clock?