Club Aurender

[docmd2010]

Kyle, congrats on your upgrade! I run an N10 and a D02X at home (your DAC will be slightly better) and the sound is pretty stunning. It's as close as you can get to vinyl, without it actually being vinyl. You will be thrilled. Remember that both the N10 and the esoteric unit take time to open up, let them run for about 200-300 hours before making any decisions on the performance. But, they sound great right out of the box!

[phishphan]

Originally Posted by docmd2010

Kyle, congrats on your upgrade! I run an N10 and a D02X at home (your DAC will be slightly better) and the sound is pretty stunning. It's as close as you can get to vinyl, without it actually being vinyl. You will be thrilled. Remember that both the N10 and the esoteric unit take time to open up, let them run for about 200-300 hours before making any decisions on the performance. But, they sound great right out of the box!

Thanks! Looking forward to it.

I’ve never put much money into the analog side of my set up. I have an old Technics 1200 mk5 (no throwing tomatoes please) but it’s not even hooked up.

I was in this room the other day spinning vinyl. (Picture below) While it sounded good, I went home and listened to my digital set up and preferred it. Not to mention I can stay sitting on my couch and change songs.. and albums, from my iPad. I’m attempting to reach close to the pinnacle of digital with this new combo.







IMG_0791.JPG

[docmd2010]

Haha, no i understand. I'm probably 90 percent digital too. I am very picky about the LP's i buy. I only use my turntable when i find an album that i really like, and there is a high quality pressing out there for that album. That's why my vinyl collection is way smaller (about 380 Lp's) than my digital collection (about 11K albums). However, all my LP's sound incredible.

One other thing, make sure you get yourself a coax cable (it doesn't look like the K01 supports aes/ebu) as usb only doesn't take advantage of the awesome clock in the N10 (it goes through a different circuitry). I believe the clock in the esoteric is a good bit inferior to the one in the N10.

[chessman]

Kyle, HUGE congrats! What an epic upgrade!

[PMCH]

Kyle, congrats and welcome to the Aurender/Esoteric club.

[phishphan]

Took 27 hours to transfer all my music over. I’m glad I went with the 8tb version. With a little over 3TB of music, I would’ve been pushing it. The 8TB model is really 7TB, so I’m assuming the 4TB is closer to 3.

It has a temporary pairing with the the Bryston BDA3 until the K1 arrives early next month.

“Out of the box”... after 27 hours of music transfer... I can say that there is a noticeable change is bass management vs the BDP2. Childish Gambino’s Redbone was extremely bass heavy on the BDP. The N10 seems to have relaxed the bass, the sound stage expanded, and there’s a liquid flow to the sound. It’s so smooth.

Next up is Melissa from The Allman Bros. This is a DSD rip. This, as well as other DSD seemed cloudy on the BDP. I seemed to revert to all my high res FLAC because of that. Don’t get me wrong, the BDP did a fantastic job with high res FLAC. I just did a back to back FLAC vs DSD on the N10. The DSD sounds way better. It’s interesting this player made such a difference.

Donald Fagan’s Ruby Baby (24bit FLAC) sounds remarkable. The soundstage is far wider than the BDP2. The woman’s sigh at 25 seconds sounded like it was coming from behind my left sub, 3 feet behind and to the left of my main. It’s pretty incredible. There is a crispness to the high-hat I’ve never heard before.

Hendrix Machine Gun: Live at The Fillmore - Hear My Train A Comin’ (24/96 FLAC) gave me chills. The rattle of the snare when Jimi starts playing was always “there”.. now I’ve got Mitch Michell perfectly placed left of center and just behind Hendrix.Hendrix is more forward in the mix as he should be. The slam of the kick drum through my Kef Reference 5’s has never been this good. The shimmer of the crash is more lifelike. The end of the song audience noise had me looking over thinking one of my kids came into the room next to me.

Lou Reed’s Walk On The Wile Side is a go to when I audition speakers. It made me fall in love with Kef Reference. The vibration of the bass strings is crystal clear. The strings are perfectly placed. All of this is even more prevalent Witt the N10.

Last but not least LCD Sound system’s Dance Yrself Clean (FLAC) is a downright assault on any system. It can be a blur of instruments that can mud up quickly. It’s always sounded good in my room. But again the N10 defines a soundstage and placement of all of the instruments better than I’ve ever heard.


This may have gotten long winded, but I’m very impressed with this player. It’s well worth the price. If you need a media player/streamer this is the one to buy. I can only imagine how good it will sound a few weeks from now.






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[jdandy]

Kyle.......I am very pleased for you. The Aurender N10 is a fabulous music server in every respect. Once you feed the N10's digital output to your new Esoteric K1 you'll need your meals served to you because you won't be able to move from in front of the speakers. Happy listening.

[Blueoak]

Originally Posted by phishphan

Thanks! Looking forward to it.

I’ve never put much money into the analog side of my set up. I have an old Technics 1200 mk5 (no throwing tomatoes please) but it’s not even hooked up.

I was in this room the other day spinning vinyl. (Picture below) While it sounded good, I went home and listened to my digital set up and preferred it. Not to mention I can stay sitting on my couch and change songs.. and albums, from my iPad. I’m attempting to reach close to the pinnacle of digital with this new combo.







Attachment 51852

Welcome to the N10 club.

[phishphan]

Originally Posted by Blueoak

Welcome to the N10 club.

Thanks BlueOak. That pic was from a local shop in Minneapolis.

This is my room. [emoji16]

IMG_0772.JPG

[Blueoak]

Originally Posted by phishphan

Thanks BlueOak. That pic was from a local shop in Minneapolis.

This is my room. [emoji16]

Attachment 51914

Awesome setup! I really like the ceiling.