Aurender vs CD

You purchased a nice streamer! Are you running it through your preamp or directly to your amp? 
 

Please post your system, including cables under your profile. I have an Aurender N20 that sounds very musical and approaches the performance of the analog side of my system. My system is posted under my profile. The analog is very good to my defective ears. All of my CDs are ripped to the Aurender’s  SSD and rival high resolution streams from Qobuz.

Not surprised, streaming is far more complex than playing cd's, so many variables impact sound quality. 

Try different filter settings.  I have an A20 and prefer the “Super Slow Roll-off 1” digital filter. Also prefer “Critical listening mode”. 

Thanks All for the replies! @designsfx - perfect suggestion, thank you! I tried both connection options in the beginning, when I just received the Aurender and before it broke in. I couldn't hear the difference back then and left Aurender on the Aux of the pre-amp. I tried now connecting it directly to the amp, and that worked - the SQ is identical to the CD, if not a bit more transparent! 

Thanks @rockrider! CLM does improve the SQ - a bit more clear top and focused bass, at least to me

@evernv 

Great to hear- enjoy the music!

@evernv I agree on playing with the DAC filters as well. 

The A15 benefits from some break in time, so it will sound more full and open as the DAC breaks in. Also, most Aurender you units including the A15 will benefit from a quality cabling. You can reach a much higher level of performance if you find a power cable with very good shielding and 10-12AWG copper or silver plated copper conductors. Quality Ethernet cables can also reduce fatigue. 

@blisshifi Thanks, fully agreed on break-in. It took about 3 weeks of almost daily listening for A15 to fully open up.

Cables are definitely in the plans. My Nakamichi amp has only RCAs, and I'm planning to upgrade it to Mac MC275 that has XLRs. Hence the wait. Good power management system with power cables is also in the plan. What ICs & power would you recommend? I've been looking into Nordost family. 

BTW, I know speaker cables are off-topic in this discussion, but wondering everyones opinion. I tried AQ Rocket 33 first and was not impressed, then got Nordost SuperFlatline and was impressed by it's musicality. I missed the bass though, and the highs were a bit too underscored and not super clean. Recently, I got AQ Rocket 88. They are still breaking in, but definitely higher quality, quiet, and with better bass. Maybe it's my bias toward Nordost, but I'm missing emotions a bit with AQ Rocket 88 and now considering Nordost Red Dawn. I looked at others at this price range but some designs are not my cup of tea, eg Cardas bright blue color with cheap looking heat-shrink tubing. Any thoughts and recommendations? Re the system, I'll be keeping A15 as my main source for a while, maybe adding analog source at some point, will be upgrading digital Nakamichi PA-7 to Mac MC275, and possibly upgrading Sonus Faber Sonneto VIII to higher level speakers but most likely staying with the SF family. Again, apologies for off-topic.

@evernv I am a dealer for both Aurender and DH Labs, so consider that despite me attempting to respond without bias towards sale.

If spending less than $1K on any pair of cables or interconnects, I wholeheartedly recommend DH Labs. They made reference grade cabling widely utilized across pro recording/mastering studios, audiophiles, and even internal OEM wiring for speakers and electronics. Most of their cables are completely designed and assembled in the USA. Given that they do not spend money to advertise heavily, their cables simply outperform cables that cost 2-3x more.

In their lineup, I highly recommend their Air Matrix Cryo interconnects, Reunion Cat 8 Ethernet, and Red Wave (with 10awg silver plated copper conductors) or Power Plus Cryo (with 12awg Copper) power cables. The Red Wave will bring more slam and transparency and the power plus will be a bit less revealing. The Air Matrix Cryo has a non-cryo version that has been around a long time and is their most popular interconnect. It is really good for the money, but for the extra $100 or so, it’s worth stepping up to the Cryo for the added warmth, detail and refinement it brings. I do like it even more than their pure silver interconnects which cost more.

I have compared DH Labs to some offerings against Nordost, Kimber, Synergistic Research, Cerious Technologies, and Teo Cables. For price points, DH Labs and Cerious come out ahead by a long run. There are a few threads on them across the AGon forums, so feel free to do some research.

Happy to chat and answer any questions if you have interest.

@blisshifi thanks for your feedback. I haven't looked at DH Labs, will do some research