Aurender N10 or X100L

@audioabc, I brought 3 albums to my dealer and listened on the Aurender N100h Music Server.  After 20 minutes of listening, I felt it sounded compressed, not natural and I did not like it (my opinion).

I then played the same 3 albums on the Aurender N10 for 30 minutes. The sound quality was amazing. The music was clearer, had more bass, had more air and sounded fuller. It sounded more like music to my ears than the N00h.  I ordered the Aurender N10.

My Aurender N10 Music Server is a welcomed addition to my audio system.  My audio system sounds more open, more natural, clearer, better bass and I am very happy I purchased the unit. The ability to switch back and forth between Tidal music streaming and my stored albums in the Conductor App is now a very easy process (one mouse click).  The Aurender iPad Conductor App is much easier to use than my MAC Book Pro computer.  Album selection is also excellent with several different album selection choices available.  The Aurender N10 Music Sever is highly recommended for its great sound quality and ease of use.

I agree with devereux above.  You should borrow the Aurender N10 from your retailer and listen in your home.   Aurender Customer Service is excellent and their recent upgrade decodes the first layer of MQA Coded Albums.  I hope this helps.  

Even though I am audiophile with Mark Levinson reference gear, I have been using a computer as my only digital source since 2005,  After several years, I finally got all of my 3,400 CDs ripped into 44,000 tracks and I have have carefully annotated them all in iTunes and stored them as ALAC files.  

Last Fall I purchased an Aurender N10 music server and I LOVE it.  As a music server , it is much easier to use than my computer.  There are drawbacks as iTunes is a much more powerful database so I have to keep the library on iTunes to search in the many fields which Aurender's app does not yet support.  But the cover support on the N10 is terrific and I can usually find things quickly and get them playing from my listening chair.

The sound of the N10 is superb.  It was a big step up from my desktop Mac even though my Bricasti M1 SE DAC has excellent rejection of source jitter.  I am using the AES SPDIF interface on the N10, but the USB interface works equally well.

If you can get your dealer to let you take an N10 home on approval, I just about guarantee you won't be bringing it back.

Good Luck,

John

Thank you for sharing your pratical exprience!

"do you think it is "overpriced" to my current audio system?"

Only you can answer this question. You do have a nice system to boot, adding N10 will definitely enhance your listening experience. The overall improvements I heard in the soundstage between N100 and N10 was enough to justify the $8K price tag. 

In my system, N10 sound is transparent, neutral, airy and unforced. Vocals are rich and often seductive. It's a well thoughtout server with amazing build quality. Plus, you are not limited to USB connectivity.  The iPad app is best out there.  

If you already made up your mind to get N10, go for it. However, common sense dictates to check out the competition at this price point. I did audition, Antipodes and Lumin servers...to my ears, Aurender sounded the best. 

Hi lalitk,

Thank you for your advice. I need more than 2TB of storage (up to 4-5TB), that's why I take X100L into consideration instead of N100H. 

Could you please share me your own experiences on N10 which has been praised so much online? I like it very much in spite of its  high price. But do you think it is "overpriced" to my current audio system?

Best Regards

AudioABC

Is there a reason you're not considering N100H? Unless you need more than 2TB of storage, N100H is a better server due to its full linear power supply. 

I owned N100H for 6 months before upgrading to N10.