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EQ with JRiver/Pure Music vs Aurender/Dedicated servers

After a 7 year hiatus on HiFi purchases, I finally am upgrading with computer audio. Through Audiogon I bought a Lampizator 4 to use with my macbook, and the combo sounds better than my older Meridian CD player. Much better. I am thrilled. 

One of the things i love about using my Mac is Pure Music and JRiver's plugins for tone equalization and other acoustic/room effects.  I always told  "Hi End" was never supposed to used graphic equalizers/tone controls. But I do enjoy tweaking the sound, boosting the lows and highs to taste.

It is clear that the best way to do computer audio is to us a dedicated server, such as Aurender. 
However, in considering a dedicated server such a Aurender I understand there is no way to adjust bass and treble. I understand the sonic improvements to be expected with a dedicated unit, but is there any way to get my EQ back with an Aurender or other such server?

Thanks for any opinions/advice. 
128x128jd57
4 responses Add your response
erik_squires
16,056 posts
 
Yeah, that EQ myth is bunk. The same people who say never use an EQ spend weeks changing cables when a little treble boost or cut would work as well.

The miniDSP line has a nanoDigi which is a purely digital EQ. You put it right before your DAC and it's pretty marvelous.

Best,

Erik
erik_squires
16,056 posts
 
Also, I went with a home built Linux server ($650) for a 2TB server to feed my DAC. I have iPhone and Android apps available as well. :) More info here:

http://inatinear.blogspot.com/2016/08/ubuntu-mytek-brooklyn-dsd-setup-guide.html

Cheaper, and more flexibility if you want to swap DAC's later. Also I use it for HT. Nothing beats SNL through a great sound system. :)

Best,


Erik
audioman58's avatar
audioman58
4,135 posts
 
One thing  not mentioned is the dedicated server is much lower noise 
you font have things switching on and off all the time ,youhave very low 
noise Linear power supplies ,and internal hard drive far less cables and connectors to run . And with a player the dedicated conductor app is 1st rate
al trouble shooting ,as well as upgrades within the programs internally 
and you have a 120 Gigabyte  Solid Stste buffer .this way all music you pick in the Q is loaded and waiting No lag time .
if you want to run Tidal and it's 120million song library just hit the button .
built into the program.the AKM processors and custom Lynix code
is very well thought out with the Aurender 100 H ,and this is the middle 
model there is two  models higher up in performance 
for under $3k this server,player does it all for me .
ther help desk if needed is excellent  when questionsneeded abswering.
icould not be happier. 
rbstehno
1,432 posts
 
I had a Mac mini with either pure music/amarra/pure music/and then audirvana and it sounded very good. I then did some auditioning of music servers like aurender and auralic and ended up with the auralic aries music server. The Aries sounds so much better.  I kept my Mac mini, installed 15 TB of disk storage and created a OS X server running minimserver that is used to rip my music to which the auralic links up too. I also use either the auralic DS Lightning app on my iPad to control the Aries or I sometimes use the Lumin app, its nice to have a choice. 
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