I’m looking to replace my Cambridge CXN v2 with a streamer that has better SQ. I want a streamer with no extra accoutrements: no DAC, storage capacity, etc., nothing but a streamer. Is this available?
It really sounds wonderful on most tracks. As good as I had hoped. Benchmark seems a very good match. I have high level Morrow interconnects, digital cable and the Audioquest Robin Hood speaker cables
It really sounds wonderful on most tracks. As good as I had hoped.
Glad to hear! I take it this means you’re not in the “all streamers sound the same” camp? Ehem. Look forward to your thoughts on areas of improvement once it’s settled in more.
“I’m trying to sort albums alphabetically.”
@rvpiano
If you’re using Version 4 app, look at top right hand corner, it should say Artist, Album before three dots (mine is sorted by artist and album). Tap on it and you should get all the sort options.
The Conductor App is very good and getting better. It is also pretty easy to use. Are you expecting to learn the app in a day? If so, no problem, then spend an hour reading instructions on how it works. In the world of software it is very simple… but you need to understand the basics. To get great sound quality out of a streamer you need to use the native software and not something like apple play. Your streamer will sound even better over time and the Conductor app will become second nature like driving a car.
Also, check out the hundreds of internet radio stations.
You may want to try USB to your DAC3. The N200 really focuses on the purity of the USB output. In addition the DAC3 will use it's internal clock to further eliminate jitter when running asynchronous via USB.
RV…N200 is optimized for USB. I tried coax and it sounded good. But USB sounded even better. I would encourage you to try. Use the included USB cable. As I mentioned, it’s decent.
@rvpiano the Aurender will sound much better after break in.
@ghdprentice are there instructions somewhere to learn the Conductor app? The instruction manual has one page about playing albums. Right now I'm only playing my files from the internal Samsung 4tb ssd. I haven't figured out how to play an album and stop when finished. It always jumps to another song. Sometimes the volume differential is extreme and I have to reduce volume quickly.
Turn off Auto Play in menu and it will end with the last track in the queue. Also I turned " consume mode" off so it won't erase songs in Playlist as they play
RV…please make sure both the dac and streamer are powered off before you connect the streamer to dac with usb. After the DAC is on bootup the aurender.
Even the airplay sound quality should improve.
keep cooking it…you should be set in about 200hrs just run USB to make sure it all settles, streamer and DAC that you haven’t used with USB (my assumption).
As to exorbitant price…yes the N200 is not cheap. But the build quality, components they used to build it and finally the sound quality it produces, I’m with you…I think it’s worth it.
“I still haven’t found a way to sort my favorites alphabetically. ” @rvpiano
Where is the dealer support in your struggles to get acclimated with new app?
It’s so important to buy from a dealer that is intimately familiar with products they sell.
@rvpianoInteresting that you find Coax to be brighter than USB. In general, it’s been the opposite with me across the board with any Aurender unit that I’ve tried. But it is absolutely cable/model dependent. In my case if I compare the same brand cables, with their coax vs USB, USB is always brighter / more brittle. There are some excellent USB cables, though!
And I should also of course mention that USB is using the DAC’s clock, whereas coax also takes advantage of the clock in the Aurender.
RV…the app is actually pretty good. Once you get thru the learning curve and get used to it, it’ll be fine. Your observation about the sound quality and tome is spot on.
@rvpiano, I see that the Aurender N200 is Roon Ready. I also listen to predominantly classical music with a focus on opera and I’ve found that for me Roon has the best OS out there right now. Maybe think about giving it a try.
@rvpianoyes I know. I would just recommend saving albums into favorites and you can either browse thru them or use search ti find a specific album. Depending on a use case, it might not be ideal but it’s serviceable.
As to the Roon recommendation above by @adasdad…definitely something to consider as Roon UI is simply the best there is in the streaming space. However, Roon does not sound as good as the native Aurender processing. For non critical listening, totally fine and as stated UI is just awesome. But when it comes to sonics, it falls slightly short. It’s enough of a step down for me to consider canceling Roon subscription.
At last, all components are in perfect sync. Can’t imagine set sounding sweeter.
Congrats! And Goodonya for sticking it out despite all the naysayers. Given all the back and forth that went on with @mdalton@mikhailark@lanx0003and others that streamers don’t make a difference or that you were wasting your $$$ I think it would be useful and appropriate if you shared what improvements, and the overall level of improvement, you’ve experienced so far over your Cambridge streamer (and realizing the Aurender isn’t fully broken in yet). And then there’s the bottom line — will you be returning the N200?
@mdalton So your contention is the OP is just fooling himself, is that it? It’s really sad that you’re unable to hear differences between streamers, but that you keep trying to tell others there’s no difference is tiresome and remains utterly pointless and counterproductive here, but keep on fighting that bad fight if you must Don Quixote.
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