Aurender Conductor app reliability and user experience

@robertkpax Hi, personally I would get the N200 and a separate DAC. This will add a few more $1k to the price but it’ll be worth it in the long run. Enabling you to switch DACs.

The Conductor App is a closed loop, something like Apple iOS, whereas Roon is open source and has to work with ALL Roon devices, this obviously creates limitations and compromises.

Conductor can be run showing all your album covers of your ripped CDs or in Folder Mode where everything is listed as a file. Much better if you have a large library.

Integration with Tidal, Spotify and Qobuz is seamless.

Conductor is slightly biased to Apple devices although I use an Android tablet. The only issue I ever get is after I’ve been outside with my Tablet very occasionally (once a month) my Tablet won’t find my Aurender immediately so I have to restart the Tablet once or twice.

When a new update comes out it’s best to delete your Conductor App and re-install the new one.

BTW an new update is available for Android, it automatically scans for new ripped files, no need anymore to scan manually.

The bad reviews on Google Play seem to date to 2020 and before.

Conductor is an excellent app which provides full control over your machine not just choosing music.

@robertkpax Robert, The A200 and N200 are both fine machines and the cost savings on the A200 are not insignificant, especially when you figure in an additional power cord and USB and or SPDIF cables too.

Aurender is one of the very few companies (can't think of another now) that has manufactured their own propitiatory software or app. Even Taiko hasn't done this, they use a stripped down version of Windows. Also being Linux based means it's based on Unix server software and doesn't need supplementary USB drivers etc.

I can't say that Aurender is the very best in the World when you compare to some exotic brands but at their price they offer maximum SQ and reliability.

I have owned my N20 for almost two years now, it's constantly switched on and surprises me everyday with what it can do, reliably and without fuss.

@mazian Anyone with even a glancing contact with computers knows that people delete files and folders, not computers.

However please note that Aurender does not have a recycle bin or restore feature, so if you're playing about, connected remotely to your SSDs with your computer, be extra careful because mistakes cannot be rectified unless you've kept an external backup. The latest Aurenders have two disc slots, except N30 which only has one. You can back up here or use an external SSD to backup, preferably both.

Good news for the Conductor Challenged is that Aurenders will soon have ROON.

You asked you got!

@lalitk +1

Some people have mentioned using Conductor to tag files. Well TBH this should have been done when you ripped your CDs.

However you can always change your tags by using a computer to access your Aurender's HDDs/SSDs via it's IP address.

My CD collection was ripped using an Aurender ACS 10, it did a great job ripping, but it could only tag a few bootlegs and zero Japanese CDs.

This only applies of course if want to show the correct release pics in the Aurender's display.

At least half my CD collection are bootlegs and Japanese issues. There's no tagging program that can do this with accuracy.

The only way I know is to use MP3 Tag to tag the CD then enter it's Discogs ID. Discogs is the greatest resource  to ID music and both MP3 Tag and Discogs are free.