Aurrender N100H vs. A10 ?

I brought 3 albums to my retailer and listened on the Aurender N100h Music Server. I then played the same 3 albums on the Aurender N10. The N10 sound quality was amazing. The music was clearer, had more bass, had more air and sounded great so I purchased the Aurender N10. And, Yes, it was very expensive.  

There are huge price differences between these three units. Do you prefer a DAC included in your music server ((like the A10) or do you prefer a separate DAC?

The Aurender A10 decodes MQA albums so you can listen to MQA albums from Tidal. I heard the Aurender A10 at the Newport Audio Show and it sounded excellent. I was very impressed and felt I could be happy with this unit.

The Aurender App is very easy to use and includes many options for selecting your music from your stored CD’s or Tidal streaming.

I suggest you visit a retailer so you can demo all three units. Each unit has plusses and minuses and you have to select the unit that matches your needs and budget. The price and functionality differences between these units mean you really need to demo these units.

I hope this helps. Any more questions?

I found this on the Aurender web site and thought you might be interested:

"The Aurender A10 includes Full Decoder MQA technology, and is a fully compliant MQA end-to-end solution enabling you to play back MQA audio files and streams, delivering the sound of the "original master recording”. This method of decoding delivers the highest possible sound quality available from MQA.

The Aurender Conductor App will indicate that “MQA" or "MQA Studio” content is being played back. A green or blue dot next to the MQA logo indicate that the unit is decoding and playing an MQA stream or file, and denotes provenance to ensure that the sound is identical to that of the source material. The blue dot indicates it is playing an MQA Studio file, which has either been approved in the studio by the artist/producer or has been verified by the copyright owner.

The A10's front panel also uses text indicators to display MQA playback and the respective sampling rate of the file or stream being played. ‘MQA’ or ‘MQA Studio’ indicates that the unit is decoding and playing an MQA stream or file, and denotes provenance to ensure that the sound is identical to that of the source material. ‘‘MQA Studio’ indicates it is playing an MQA Studio file, which has either been approved in the studio by the artist/producer or has been verified by the copyright owner".

Your Schitt Yggy DAC is very good but does not support MQA Albums.  If MQA Coded Albums are important to you, the Aurender A10 Server is a good choice.   If you are not interested in MQA deciding, then maybe one of the other Aurender Music Servers make sense.   

As I said before, I heard the Aurender A10 at the audio show and thought it was an excellent sounding unit.    

I'm really only interested in the N100h. I was just wondering if the A10 is a N100h with a built in DAC?

Thanks

@koestner

I do not know the differences between the Aurender N100h and the Aurender A10.  Since you have not received a response on this forum,  I suggest you call Aurender and ask them to describe these difference. 

@koestner

As I noted above, I continue to recommend you call Aurender for information on the Aurender A10 vs. the Aurender N100h.

I did a Google search on this topic and suggest you review the  results I found below:

"Upping the ante on ease of use is Aurender’s latest offering – their A10 is  a server/streamer with in-built DAC whose twin AKM4490 chips decode to dual mono analogue circuitry.   The A10 is a N100H with a DAC in a full width chassis”says Aurender’s John Paul Lizars".

http://www.digitalaudioreview.net/2016/01/ces-2016-aurender-demo-a10-server-streamer-dac/

http://www.digitalaudioreview.net/2015/09/aurender-n100h-music-serverstreamer-review/

I quickly scanned the above and, while it looks very informative, I continue to believe you should call Aurender, or your local Aurender Retailer, to discuss these two products.   This is an important decision that I believe requires more discussion with Aurender or one of their retailers.   I hope this helps.  Please let us know what you decide. 

Thanks for those links.

As it turns out, after 14 years I needed a new car. So my hi-fi budget will be curtailed for a while. I'm going to keep my eye on the N100h as well as the SOtM SMS 200 Ultra which looks interesting as well.

John