Aurender n200, talk me out of signing on the dotted line

Also, vTuner shows artist and song on both app and N200 display. App can show bitrate, codec etc. on some stations in a small window format. Still without artwork, Darn. Hoping.

For those who must have Roon, the latest software update has added Roon! Tapping the Roon icon asks to download Roon and takes me to the App Store.

AZ Absolute Copper are great interconnects! I had these in my system for a while. Amazing bass and mids with excellent top end.
It should solve the hard treble. 

So I tossed the Ruby for AZ Absolute Copper.  Nice upgrade.  Much smoother and tamed the top a bit.  Will share with the tt for now.

@wlutke sounds like you’re on the right track within the set boundaries. In your case I would highly recommend the AZ Matrix Ref II as a starting point. They’re smooth and natural sounding cables, slightly on a warm side. Should be a good match. Good luck!

It' a family room so acoustics and set up are what they are -suboptimal.  OK, dismal.  And that's that.  WAF 

I have cables, tubes and sources (as in recordings) to work with.  Some music works, some doesn't. High pitched electric guitar or female lead can be steely - maybe acoustics, maybe a hot recording.  No sibilance problems.    No instrument problems.  In fact, instrumentals are fantastic.  I have tinnitus and am getting on in years (70) so there's that too.  I suspect it's all of the above.  I'll take it from here, one small step at a time.  Thanks for all the help!

My vinyl is fine so maybe the cable or break in? 

A treated room can be useful, but given that you like your vinyl, something else might be at work.

Another issue with any of our suggestions is that we all have different taste, differing levels of hearing loss and so on.  So, one persons not bright might be another’s irritant.

You might check with @blisshifi (Juan) regarding USB vs SPDIF.  Juan sold me my Aurender and pretty much sorted my system, short of future upgrades.   I suspect that USB would be preferred.  If so, then you need to do cable rental, or purchase from a vendor with a good return policy.  If SPDIF same process.

Good power will improve both analog and digital.  Great room acoustics will improve everything.

@wlutke I have absolutely zero brightness in my system with N200 and I used it with 2 different DACs. Your Pass amp and the AZ speakers aren’t bright. The AZ Satori is a warm sounding cable. You have a revealing high resolution system.
So here’s my take on the hot top end that you have experienced now with two streamers…

1. Look into room acoustics - area rug between listener and speakers if you don’t have a carpet, first reflection points (side walls, ceiling if possible), speaker positioning and toe in

2. I would replace the AQ Ruby interconnects with AZ Matrix Ref MkII

3. Power cables, especially the one on your DAC - look into upgrading to a cable that works well with digital. Doesn’t have to be expensive. Again, AZ have El Nino power cord that works well with digital. The AZ Krakatoa should be good on the Pass amp (it’s a smooth sounding cable).

The higher the resolution the more critical things like room acoustics and cabling become. Tube rolling won’t help much if the room acoustics aren’t in order.

I'll let the n200 gather some hours.  Spdif is my connection of choice.  It does fun things with the music.  Usb is better at technical things.  Cables on the analog side are tried and true.  AZ Satori shotgun speaker and (please don't laugh) AQ Ruby from the DAC.  The Ruby tames hot digital like no other.  I'll find a quality alternate some day.  

Late to the thread so didn't read it all. You said Spotify and internet radio which are both lossy, compressed sources. It is a fool's errand to think that any streamer is going to turn them into something they are not

Save your $6000 and subscribe to a streaming service like Qobuz that provides high resolution music. At least start with that.

I ordered from an authorized dealer who then had it drop shipped from Aurender.

wlutke and Curiousjim,

I noticed that both of you reference having bought your Aurenders directly from Korea and had them drop shipped to you. Can you explain why that is advantageous over buying locally, is it price mostly? If it is, where did you buy them from. Thank you in advance.

@wlutke

After cabling…I would dive into grounding and fuse. I finally got my Aurender fully broken-in and going to replace the fuse tomorrow. My reference for all things digital is HiFi Tuning Supreme Cu.

https://www.vhaudio.com/hifi-tuning-supreme-cu.html

@wlutke after the break in I would look into trying different cables. What’s connecting the AM DAC to the Pass amp? What speaker cables and power cords are you using?

@wlutke takes 200hrs to run the N200 in. It did go thru a rough patch at some point but eventually settled. 
For tubes why not try EH or Gold Lion? The NOS stuff is hit or miss. Been there, done that. 

Next day:

The n200 and DAC ran on repeat overnight. Still hot so I dug up a few Amperex:

1 Orange label PQ etch 436

2 Orange globe 7308 etch 100 and 728

2 7308 JAN Orange globe etch 714 723

1 6dj8 Bugle Boy Holland etch GA40L1

also has 6433 inked on glass

Insight anyone? White label PQ they’re not.

Thanks

I’m loving my N200! I signed on the dotted line and 37 hours later DHL dropped it off on my doorstep!  South Korea-Indianapolis-customs-Missouri-my doorstep in 37 hours.  I was blown away!

Oh and I had no problems in installing on two phones and two pads. I’m using my NAS and Qobuz.

All the best.

@blisshifi This is useful, thank you. 

@mediaferret the biggest difference between the N150 and the N200 is a blacker, lower noise floor and a wider/deeper soundstage. Depending on your DAC and the overall resolution of your system, I’ve found the improvements can be minimal to substantial. While the N200 improves upon the N150 from a fidelity perspective, the bigger jump is to the N20, which adds a good amount of harmonics and tonal richness beyond both the N150 and N200. That said, N20 is a big investment and should be made by those who are confident that their systems will be able to properly render everything it is capable of. 

I should clarify SPDIF sounds smoother, but USB does not sound harsher. The smoothness with SPDIF is really rounding off the edges and reducing precision. Not a bad thing in some systems but it restricts the N200. 

@tvad the answer is the clock. N20 and up use high quality OXCO clock for SPDIF. The n200 clock is nit on the same level. The USB out on the N200 is isolated and as long as your DAC clock is up to the task, USB is the way to go…with N150 and N200. 

@wlutke in addition to the points @tvad is making wrt tubes, realize that the USB cable needs break in, the USB out on the N200 needs some run in time and the USB in your DAC was never used. I would switch to USB and let it run overnight while you’re not listening on repeat. SPDIF sounds smoother but it’s not as dynamic and not as open. Soundstage with USB is notably better. Just give it time. As @tvad mentioned the N200 is optimized for USB out. 

I believe mine is a 6922. What shape it’s in is questionable. We shall see. If a no go then maybe a Mullard.  BTW big thanks again for the help.

@tvad

Thank you. I have an Amperex PQ I think is a white label somewhere in a box of tubes. Certainly worth a try. If not I ‘ll try Brent Jesse. Sometimes the simplest solutions are the best. Or I should say the simplest solutions are always the best!  Aurender says they have optimized the usb out on the n200 and downgraded the spdif clock to save on cost.  

@audphile1

I sit here evaluating usb vs spdif. I give the usb a big thumbs up on performance. cleaner, clearer, quieter. Bottom is tighter, midrange is good, top is good but too aggressive. My vinyl is fine so maybe the cable or break in? Possibly a tube? I’ll stick with spdif and let things settle for now. It’s non fatiguing and fun.

👍

Don't know yet.  So much, so new, so fast.  Still catching up.    

I also wanted to mention that Qobuz sounds slightly better in my system than Tidal. I use both though as Tidal has some albums that aren’t available on Qobuz.

How does the USB compare to SPDIF?

@audphile1

It’s been leaps and bounds. The WW Starlight 8 spdif and the Nordost H2 AES were a bad match for the U2 mini and AM DAC 4. The Silver Starlight 8 just plain worked. Then Aurender arrived. Then Tidal. My digital game has finally landed. It’s exciting.

@audphile1  Good points, thanks. I haven’t inquired with Aurender yet.

@wlutke I’m still amazed with the difference the N200 made in my system so I can your excitement 😊

@mediaferret have you emailed Aurender about the differences between the two units? It also depends on the rest of your system how much of an improvement the N200 be over the N150. Probably a good idea to start a new thread to get some more visibility and more thoughts from the N200 owners who moved up from n150.

Not to hijack this thread, but as a current (satisfied) owner of an N150 I'm wondering what replacing it with an N200 would provide. 

I reopened my Tidal account.  Sinead O’Connor has been in my head for a week and I think I may have exorcised her because she was definitely outside my head, in the room, and belting out how nothing compares to me.  Great!

@maholl50

Thanks for the suggestion.

This is the first I’ve heard of Eversolo.  Looking at the DMP-A8’s versatility and style, for the money how can I not be impressed?  Well appointed and well presented.  BUT I’m going to defer to the skeptic in me and ask can a wifi, Bluetooth, pre amp, streamer, DAC under $2k perform at the level of the rest of my system?   It would be too good to be true, as the saying goes.  I think of the A8 as more of a start point than an end point.  No, I haven’t heard one and I hope I won’t have to eat my words.  Not too worried though.  The N200 is impressive for the money as well!

Have you looked at the Eversolo DMP8?

 1/3 the price.

Oh yeah the Critical Listening Mode is legit. I hate glowing displays to begin with (except for the gentle blue glow of my Pass X260.8 monos all displays are turned off) but hearing a nice improvement when you switch the Aurender into CLM is an added bonus.

wlutke OP

694 posts

04-11-2024 at 05:24pm 

…  This thing is amazing!

yep 😂

I just did. Call me crazy but things got relaxed and natural. Unstrained.

Now listening on Spotify.  This thing is amazing!

@tvad

Sure. I reinstalled the V4 app again. I had reinstalled it twice on day one with repeated no connects. Each time it asked for the device address shown in the n200 display. I entered the address and got a message something like "that is not the aurender address" V3 immediately connected. V4 reinstalled still would not.

Today V4 immediately connected. I shut the n200 down a few times, closed and reopened the app a few times, looked around in the app. V4 seems normal and stable.