aurender n10 or....?

A few months later and I am listening to a mixed playlist of tidal, DVD-a and red book playing seamlessly from my audiogon purchased n10 to my now ancient Berkeley first gen alpha to some even older audiogon purchased Jeff Rowland moons and out some audiogon sourced audio physic scorpios. This is a great little place we have here.
no to fiddle with aes/ebu cable options...
thx all!

http://www.digitalaudioreview.net/2016/06/reference-grade-roon-with-the-antipodes-dx-gen-2/

I second the Antipodes suggestion.

Here's what the chief audio engineer/designer at Antipodes has to say about usb......

"According (to) our man in New Zealand the argument against Ethernet (and for USB) runs like this: compared to Ethernet, USB has the potential to carry more noise from the server to the DAC but generates less of its own noise inside the DAC (think: receiver chips). Ethernet remains a good strategy with a noisy server. However, it can be bested by USB when a low noise server with a decent clock is present. For more tech info on the why, consult Gordon Rankin’s take on USB audio here."

N10 is a amazing digital player with superb iPad app.  As previous goner suggested, I love the ease of switching between Tidal and music stored on its internal hard drive.  

Antipodes garnered some rave reviews, so I would highly recommend the operator to audition both DX and N10 and decide what sounds best with the Berkeley DAC.  

Mike at Verastarr is a great resource for Antipodes. 

Well, I can’t argue with Loesch.
And I won’t argue with non-audio engineers too. :)

Even with asynchronous usb, even if you run the usb power separately...usb is transmitted by packets;  you want a sream, which is what spdif gives you.  USB is pretty pathetic.  USB is your computers anus.  You don't want your music coming out of that.  

USB is horrible - you don’t want that.

Asynchronous usb has come a long way to date.

Even Thorsten Loesch of AMR/iFi fame, recommends usb over s/pdif despite his newly designed s/pdif Purifier :-

http://www.digitalaudioreview.net/2016/05/ifi-audios-spdif-ipurifier-debuts-at-fujiya-avic-spring-20...

"....... Loesch says this new unit isn’t for everyone. He still recommends end users go with USB should it remain available to them."

abedirov -
Does choice in source material impact your short list? I will be about 70% tidal, 20% redbook and 10% dvd-a.

Not really, all these servers/streamers support Tidal and most common audio formats including DSD, not sure about dvd-a though. I am really curious about the Microrendu.  It got rave reviews everywhere and with the most expensive power supply it is just about $2,000. I've read several posts where it was favorably compared to Aurender N10. I will not believe it till I hear it myself, but still, it must be an amazing little device!

As noted above, the the Aurender N10 Digital audio outputs are 1 coaxial, 1 optical, 1 AES/EBU, 1 BNC, 1 USB Audio Class 2.0.

"The N10 is designed to be matched with high performance digital-to-analog converters, the Aurender N10 is equipped with various SPDIF outputs (BNC, AES/EBU, coaxial, optical) and one dedicated USB Audio Class 2.0 output. For network connectivity and file transfers, the N10 comes with one a Gigabyte Ethernet port and two USB 2.0 data ports".

My Aurender N10 is using the Wireworld Cable Technology's Platinum Starlight 7 USB A to B connection to my Bricasti M1 SE DAC Dual Mono.  

N10 and Melco do not have ars/ebu digital outputs.  USB is horrible - you don't want that.  

abedirov - 
Does choice in source material impact your short list? I will be about 70% tidal, 20% redbook and 10% dvd-a.

I have the same dilemma, thinking about upgrading my current music server (Antipodes DS Reference), which is excellent, but it is an older model and does not support Roon and DSD256. A natural
thing for me would be to move to Antipodes DX, but I want to consider other options: Aurender N10, Lampizator DSD Komputer and Sonore Microrendu. In my opinion these 4 options are the top choices for anyone, who wants to go for a top digital source now. 

Also, I forgot to add that the Antipodes has an optical drive so you can rip your CDs direct to the internal solid state drive. 

You should also consider the Antipodes DX (the newest Roon ready version) with the AES/EBU option. 

Late last year I upgraded from a Mac Mini to an Aurender N100H, that was a huge leap forward in sound quality. I really like the Aurender Conductor iPad app a lot; it's easy to use and has a really polished looking interfaced as well as a nice Tidal integration. The Tidal artists and albums are separate from your physical digital music (on the Aurender or on a NAS on your network), but you can create Playlists that mix Tidal and your digital music together. The build quality of the Aurender is superb. 

This month I upgraded to an Antipodes DX and it was a quantum leap in sound quality over the N100H (much larger jump in price as well). The newest version of the DX is Roon Ready. The nicest feature about Roon is that your physical digital music library and your Tidal Library are commingled into a single library. 

I can't compare how the Antipodes DX sounds compared to the N10, but they are priced pretty similarly--so I do think both are worth an audition if possible. 

There's a used N10 on Agon now and Mike from Verstarr is a great source for Antipodes (and top flight cables). 

Good luck in your search. 

soundsrealaudio - no problem at all. I am looking for ideas. I need: access to tidal, an ads/ebu output, ease of use and great sound quality. If telco fits the bill let me know. I couldn't figure out much from the review or the distributor's website.

jimmy

I love my new Melco N1. Retail is 2K stores 2 terabytes and accommodates  external storage as well as cloud storage. 

Below is a link to a review on the Melco that goes into much more detail about it please call me if you would like additional information. 

http://positive-feedback.com/reviews/hardware-reviews/melco-ha-n1a-part-1

Hopefully I would get hate mail for bringing up a product that I sell. If you do send hate mail can you address it to my X wife please.

Please remember the Aurender cover art image files MUST BE CODED as Folder.JPG and included in the same folder as the album songs.  Doug's Scripts "Save Album Art as folder.jpg” script ($1.99) handles this for iTunes on the MAC.   Please verify that you are using the correct Doug's Script version that saves the cover art as Folder.JPG. 

Unfortunately, if you are running a PC, some other computer or software other than iTunes,  you need to check your source album files to determine where the album cover art is stored.   If it is stored in the same folder as the album songs AND coded as Folder.JPG, you are okay.  If this is not the case, you need to determine how to convert your album cover art to be stored and coded correctly.   I suggest a phone call to your dealer, and/or Aurender Customer Support, to discuss your options is suggested.  

If someone else has a solution to using a PC, please post your recommendations here.  Thanks. 

My Aurender N10 worked perfectly after I loaded my albums and connected it to Tidal.  I was able to play all my stored albums and albums from Tidal but my stored albums (AIFF format) were MISSING their cover art.

My local dealer sent a Tech to my home to solve the problem.  We discovered that iTunes stores the cover art in an encrypted and hidden file that was NOT COPIED to the Aurender.  We found and ran Doug's Scripts ($1.99) that placed the album cover art in the correct album file location.  We then deleted all files on the Aurender and copied everything over again. Again, the cover art was not displayed.

After the Tech left, I immediately called Aurender Customer Support who said Doug's Scripts has two versions and we selected the wrong script.  I re-ran the correct Doug's Script version that stores the album cover art in the correct file location AND NAMES it "folder.jpg".  I deleted all the files on the Aurender, again, and copied everything over again.  My cover art was included and was displayed correctly on my iPad.  Everything worked perfectly.  Please see:

 http://dougscripts.com/itunes/scripts/ss.php?sp=savealbumartjpeg

I am a huge fan of Tidal and prefer my albums be in artist sequence and they were not.  I emailed Aurender Customer Support and requested they upgrade their software to provide this artist sort sequence capability.  The last Aurender software release included this sort feature and I was very happy.   

My Aurender N10 continues to work perfectly and sounds terrific.  Their customer support is terrific.   As you already know, setting up a computer, like the MAC Book Pro, or the Aurender Music Server, like the N10, sometimes may require some extra work.   In the case of my Aurender N10, I had problems with the missing album cover art but was able to get the problem resolved.   I have had no other problems with my Aurender N10.

As I have stated above, the Aurender N10 is a wonderful music server, easy to use and I highly recommend it.  

Thank athanor hgeifman. I had read your other post. Seems like you had some early bugs with yours. Everything running smoothly now? To me, having the thing "just work" is a high priority. Better sound than my current setup would be a bonus but honestly isn't expected.

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 App is now a very easy process (one mouse click).  The Aurender iPAD 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 the Aurender N10 Music Serve is expensive but its features, ease of use, customer service and sound quality are worth the extra funds. 

I can easily switch back and forth between my stored albums and Tidal Streaming. The Aurender iPAD interface is very easy to use.   My Aurender N10 is connected to a Bricasti M1 SE DAC and Hypex NCore NC400 Bridged Mono Block class D Power Amplifiers.  

The combination of its sound quality and its ease of use using the iPad makes the Aurender N10 an amazing piece.  I also love using Tidal and it is very easy to use on the Aurender.

For more details, please see my other pst on Audiogon:

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/mac-book-pro-computer-vs-aurender-n100h-vs-aurender-n10-music...

I hope this above helps.  Please contact me if you have any more questions.