Aurender Model Choices

Wow, great write up and excellent gear choices, that will be quite the system. 

Congratulations. You will be very happy. The N20 is an outstanding sounding streamer. 

Thanks. 
 

One other thing I forgot to mention. They offered me discount on an expensive Cardas Ethernet cable. I declined. I want to start with the CAT 6 certified un shielded cable from Blue Jeans. Plus they were running plain RJ45 cable all over so that’s what I auditioned. I did order an Uptone Ethernet Switch. So I’m thinking that should give me a noise free connection. 
 

Also today I think demonstrated  subjectively for me that more expensive equipment doesn’t always lead to better sound. Again subjectively. . Those very expensive Excelon speakers really overwhelmed the N30 and higher end MSB. Poor synergy can be a problem. This recreation of the live music experience in our home is truly an art and a science. 

@jfrmusic 

That’s a pretty darn good digital front, congratulations! With MSB clock, you will elevate N20 performance to another level. Start scouting for high quality BNC - 50 ohm and AES cables. I found SoTM dcBL BNC50 as one of the best cable for this application under $1K. 

@jfrmusic my recommends would be to start with a baseline level Ethernet cable like the bluejeans you had mentioned or even the Amazon Linkup cable. Don’t invest in switches or any other network tweaks. The MSB Discrete has a built in preamp section correct? So I would try that in place of the benchmark preamp. You have a digital front end that’s a good few levels above your amplification chain. See how the MSB volume control sounds vs the benchmark pre and layout a plan to upgrade the amplification next. Put the cable upgrades and tweaks on back burner for now. Just my $0.2.

@audphile1 

Yes that’s the plan. Starting with good quality tested cables from Blue Jeans to be used as a baseline before investing in anything else. I did buy the Ethergen switch because when I spoke to MSB they recommended it. They also said don’t go crazy on cables. 

@lalitk 

That BNC cable you referenced is $750. The BNC connection from the MSB to the Aurender is transmitting clocking. Not audio. So do I need an expensive cable?

“do i need an expensive cable”

@jfrmusic 

Simple answer is NO. Keep in mind, you are dealing with a sine wave that is easily susceptible to noise and jitter. Start with a generic 75 ohms cable and you may or may not appreciate any improvements over a very fine N20’s OCXO internal clock.

The impedance and shielding characteristics of a clock cable are of utmost importance in maintaining the integrity of sine wave signal between the two devices being clocked. A better cable will allow you to appreciate the enhanced realism and transparency typically realized from a superior clocking system. BTW, you need 75ohm cable not 50ohm as I previously stated since Discrete DAC only has word clock output. 

As @audphile1 pointed out, settle in with your gear and address cabling at later stages of your journey. You can refer to my system when you’re ready to experiment with better cabling. 

@willywonka 

Very interesting! So I have a A 20 which is similar to the n200. I have it hooked via USB to an Esoteric K01 XD with a superior clock. To clarify Aurender says that it is then using the DAC clock correct? 
 

That would make the upgrade to N20 benefit only the power supply.

Ooh. I would have taken the Cardas offer. That is a good cable.

I tried Blue Jeans a couple times just to see if they were any better than other common cheap interconnects and cables… they were not.

@jfrmusic, I suggest you ask Vince from MSB what word clock cable you should use between the Aurender N20 and the MSB DAC (highly recommended). Change the Conductor App word clock setting for the N20 to use the word clock option.

I also suggest you ask your Retailer what hard drives (including sizing for your albums) they recommend for your Aurender N20 to include explaining the Aurender N20 Conductor App hard drive format instructions. Your Aurender Conductor App includes a Remote Internet Technical Support if you have any issues. This allows Aurender to connect to your unit, if needed.

Please discuss with your retailer and read the on line Aurender instructions for transferring music files to your Aurender Music Server to include how to handle the album cover art. Aurender Music servers scan locally stored files for embedded artwork. If there is no embedded cover art for the file, then the scanner checks the folder the files are located in for a "folder.jpg","cover.jpg", or "front.jpg" (".png" files work too) image associated with the files to indicate a front album cover. When neither of these criteria are met, the software will display a generic image as album cover art. Unfortunately, some media software programs such as iTunes handle cover art much differently. Instead of using embedded album artwork tags, iTunes uses "sidecar" files containing album cover art and other metadata. Unfortunately, this data is not relevant or viewable outside of iTunes. This process is a little complicated so please confirm everything before you start the actual transfer. I suggest a test of loading 10 albums before you transfer everything.

Click here for handling album cover art

Click link for transferring albums to Aurender

I suggest you connect to QoBuz first to ensure everything works and sounds great. After this, you can deal with setting up your hard drives and loading them with content. Please scan the Conductor App settings to ensure your settings are correct for your application. I hope this helps.

More info:

The SSD Disk installation means you loosen the screws on the back of the unit, pull out the slot, insert the SSD, push in and tighten the screws (top slot is Music1). After I installed the SSD, I went to the Conductor App, settings, disk information tab to format the SSD. If, for some reason, the format command does not appear, please power down (turn electrical power off) and restart manually. Restarting takes time since the N20has UPS circuitry inside.

I checked for software updates on the N20 (there were none) and deleted my old Conductor App and installed a new copy from the App Store on my iPad. Once your albums have been loaded to the Aurender Hard Drive, please back them up to an external hard drive. DO NOT FORGET THIS IMPORTANT STEP.

NOTE:  "In the Conductor app, go to Settings>Backup & Restore>Backup to Music1/backup. This will create a small backup file which contains your library database information including playlists, ratings, settings, and streaming "add to library" content. This backup file will be saved to your Aurender's Music1 internal storage drive in a folder named "backup." NOTE: this file does NOT contain any actual music files. It is only the library directory database".  Maybe ask your retailer for more information.  

@hgeifman 

Thanks for all the information. Very much appreciated. Aurender has list of recommended SSD drives on their site. I got one of the Samsung units. I did speak to Vince about the word clock cable he said no specific recommendation. Said to experiment. I asked Vince if there were any strings I needed to make to use the clock. He said no. It will automatically sense it. So you’re saying there is a setting in the app I need to address to use the clock out?

@jfrmusic,

Word Clock Mode (N20/N30/W20/W20SE Only)

Word Clock is automatically turned on when a word clock signal is detected on the BNC input. When Word Clock mode is on, the SPDIF output will synchronize with the word clock signal.

For 44.1, 88.2 and 176.4 kHz sampling rate music, 44.1, 88.2 and 176.4 kHz word clock or a 22.5792 MHz master clock signal are valid.

For 48, 96 and 192 kHz sampling rate music. 48, 96 and 192 kHz word clock or a 24.576 MHz master clock signal are valid.

Click here for Conductor app settings

please see Conductor App settings since I think something has to be turned on. This might be different between V3 and V4.  Please verify by looking at the App’s settings.  

I used an N200 for about a year and then upgraded to the N20 (initially used with AES connection to Chord DAVE DAC).

The first thing I noticed was a larger soundstage-both wider and deeper compared to the N200.  Instruments sound a bit more natural as well.  With the AES connection on the N20, I also noticed that the top end was a bit recessed though-compared to using the USB connection with N200 into Chord DAVE DAC. .

So, based on a recommendation to use the Optical (toslink) connection from the N20 to the DAC, I heard MUCH  more air and top end.   This was a SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE- and sounds much, much better to my ears- better as in an entirely different unit. The kicker is that it was also recommended that using an inexpensive toslink cable (fiber optic cable) from Amazon - less than 10 dollars- would be fine.  And it is!  The N20 sound quality is now excellent.  

I'm still a bit shocked how much of a difference the Optical (toslink) connection makes with the N20 to Chord DAVE DAC compared to using a much more expensive AES cable.   

I highly recommend trying this method of connection if possible. 

@polyrhythm9 

Thanks for the idea.  I just tried toslink from my Innuos Pulse to my MHDT Orchid and it sounds really good.  It’ll take more listening to see if it is indeed better than USB or Coax, but it has some promise for sure.

You're welcome timski! I'll be curious as to your thoughts on this.  

It could be a synergistic thing with the Chord DAVE.  I'm not sure how many DAC's still have an optical connection, but I believe MSB does also.  

Just received My new N20 Replacing a N200. The N20 is connected cardas usb to Holo May KTE. Using My Pass 250, breaking in new TRIANGLE - 40th Anniversary Comete EZ. I had been through a lot of streamers. From all the Eversolo models A6 to A8. I tried the Hi fi Rose 130 transport. It was pretty but it did not sound good in my system. Then I got a good deal on a Aurender N200 and bliss returned. Kept reading the opinions on the Aurender models and decided to try the next level. What a Difference!! The triangles and not suppose to be about bass, and they were not. Just a nice even beautiful midrange. That all change with the N20. They now sound like a sub is on. Really hard to believe the difference. Soundstage is huge and detail is much improved, shockingly so. I still would recommended the N200 to anybody, but the N20 in my system is on a whole different level. 

People think I'm crazy when I tell them in my experience I've heard bigger differences between music server/ streamers than between DACs. 

Finally got my Aurender N20 and MSB Discrete DAC. The MSB took 3 weeks to arrive. I’m running the MSB direct into my AHB2. Tried the HPA4 and direct method was significantly better. So far sounds really good will post more after I give it a break in time. But I can say the soundstage is excellent especially depth and the low end solid and impactful. Highs are smooth. Looking forward to see how it improves over the next week  as it burns in. Already sounds better after 4 hours. How do I post a photo of my setup?

@jfrmusic congrats! Go to system page and you should be able to upload photos there. 

Ok where is System page?

Click on hamburger menu on top right then choose Create System. 

https://www.audiogon.com/systems

Has anyone else had the problem of the updated conductor app crashing on iPhone? Can’t even load it after update to 4.11. Worked fine before