Aurender's "Sound"


Just picked up an Aurender N100H. Great unit. However it's a bit on the warm and dark side, which doesn't sit well with my Pass class A amp. It's like a double whammy of warmth. Great for vocals, but hard to rock out on. But I like the unit and am trying to keep it.

Would love it if I could find a simple way to address this, like with a different USB cable to lighten things up a bit. 

If it comes to it, I might give up the Pass for something more neutral, as nice as this amp is it's not the best for music on the more lively side, or rock. (My tastes and opinions.) Even considering a class D amp like Nord, which is pretty much dead neutral which could peel back some of that warmth and darkness.

So is this a digital question, amp question or cable question? Yes to all.

Has anybody else encountered this double whammy of warmth, and what was the fix. Thanks all.
jaybe

Showing 3 responses by three_easy_payments

what preamp are you using? I've had good success tweaking tubes on my preamp to dial in that perfect tone.
I have never viewed upsampling as a fix for anything...it can however mask underlying problems with your gear that sound poorly in native.  
@erik_squires  

I've been thinking about the whole upsampling thing.

While it does not provide more data, it does change the behavior of the upper octave's filter, sometimes by a couple of dB. A significant, audible amount.

Native, bit perfect is far superior if you have a quality DAC.  I think you will start seeing upsampling disappearing from products over the next few years.  No one will want it while DACs improve.