Solo streamer

I’m beginning to think the exorbitant price is worth it.

I had the similar situation upgraded my Cambridge 851N streamer with DAC 

With just a streamer no DAC  a Aurender W20 SE  ( USED).

That made a big difference!

There IS a big difference between the coax and the USB.

Thanks for the tip!

WOW!

The brightness seems to have disappeared with the USB.

I’m not sure if the DAC was off, but it sounds fine.

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. 

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

@audphile1

Will try to hook up USB. 

YouTube playlist with instructions 
 

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOfIbdWjSaXrZ7TBU_8rYymgYwIkrthsE&si=kGj_EvCfKRJgfOsw

@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. 

Thanks,

aldnorab 

“N200 is optimized for USB”
Agreed with @audphile1. 

+1 oddiofyl

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.

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.

I’m not using a USB cable, just the coaxial hookup.

rv…

Conductor 4 is good. Takes a few days to get used to it just use iPad for best experience.

The sound will mellow out with break in. The stock included USB cable is actually pretty good. I used it for few weeks before I got my AQ Diamond  

Enjoy your new N200! It’s a great streamer!

OP,

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. 

“ I take it this means you’re not in the “all streamers sound the same” camp?”
@soix

Let Sleeping Dogs Lie :-) 

“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.

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. 

@blisshifi,

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

I’m trying to sort albums alphabetically.

Very difficult app to learn!

@rvpiano - Yes, the N200 will take a few weeks to truly settle. It will also benefit greatly from aftermarket digital cables and power cables. What are you using in those areas? Also, I mentioned what you might experience in pairing with your Benchmark DAC in an earlier post.

Sorting capabilities vary by the scope that you're looking at within Conductor, as well as the device you're using (iPad vs mobile phone). What exactly are you looking at when you want to sort alphabetically - songs, albums, or artists?

Is there a way to list the selections alphabetically?

I tried AirPlay again. It isn’t terrible, just inferior to Qobuz.  

So far, Qobuz mostly sounds great.  Perhaps a little bright in some selections, but I guess it has to break in.

I streamed some music from YouTube to N200 via AirPlay and didn’t find it terrible. May be my expectations were low. It’s definitely inferior to Qobuz though. 
I would suggest to give the N200 couple of weeks of non-stop streaming and then re-evaluate. 

rvpiano…

not familiar with Idagio app, but…wouldn’t Qobuz have at least most of what’s available there?

I think that AirPlay on the Cambridge streamer is very good-and Chromecast is excellent-but given the price differential between the Aurender and the CA I would have hoped that they would at least been equivalent in AirPlay

I must say, if I stream Qobuz the sound is quite impressive. However, a probable fatal flaw for me is that i love the classically oriented Idagio app, which can only be accessed through AirPlay on Conductor.  AirPlay on Conductor is far inferior to the sound of AirPlay on my Cambridge streamer.  I guess there’s no way of incorporating Idagio into the Conductor app,   

Well, I actually got my streamer Tuesday night.  
It’s taken me a while to figure it out but finally got most of it.
I haven’t actually heard it in any depth yet, but will so later tonight. Will report my impressions soon.

+1, @blisshifi

My Aurender was shipped directly from Korea through my dealer, straight to my home in 5 days. 

@rvpiano That sounds like it may have been an error with how your dealer provided Aurender with your shipping address. Typically, it is drop shipped directly to you. And interestingly, if it ships via DHL from South Korea, it will get to you faster than when it ships FedEx from California.

I’ve never had Aurender mess up any addressing of any of my orders, and my clients get their units without any shipping issues. Aurender has always confirmed the mailing address with me before shipping, so if there were any errors, I would have had a chance to correct them. So try not to associate this issue with Aurender, but more likely the dealer, who may have made an error in providing the correct info.

Of course, the likelihood of a dealer taking accountability for such a mistake is slim to none!

@rvpiano, I hope your new Aurender N200 arrives soon in one piece so that you can tell us what you think of it. I became aware of the Aurender line through the folks at Upscale Audio out in California. They had nothing but praise for the N200 when it’s properly implemented into a good system.  
 

Hopefully the shipping snafu doesn’t enter into the time you have with the unit before you decide if you want to return it.

  Issues like this always negatively impact my evaluation of a component because my emotions get involved.  Of course it shouldn’t matter but it does 

Ordered my new Aurender N200 from a dealer on Audiogon. It shipped from Korea and arrived here, in Missouri, in about 6 days. Aurender might be experiencing quite an uptick in sales due to their new Room compatibility.

Really like mine. It took 200+ hours to break in. Replaced their USB cable with a Supra 2.0 that is warmer and has more body.

Good luck, hope yours arrives soon.

Thanks,

aldnorab

The N200 seems popular,  mine shipped directly from Aurender California and I live in Boston.   I'm guessing they were out of stock and that was the quickest way, via DHL.   I think it will be worth the wait, hopefully you'll feel the same once you get it 

Latest update. The Aurender was shipped from South Korea to Music Direct via MY mailing address.  Since those two entities don’t match, it’s being held in customs in Cincinnati since last Wednesday, the day it was supposedly to be delivered.  Now, after much aggravation from DHL, the shipping manager from Music Direct contacted customs to try and unravel the red tape.  Now the unit is supposed to be delivered THIS Wednesday.

All this could have been avoided if Aurender sent the streamer from their facilities in California. But, I guess that’s how they do business.

The important part of this exercise is that you can now upgrade either DAC or streamer as needed when tech changes. I just dumped good $$$ on speakers that will allow me to upgrade from an $8k McIntosh integrated (that I enjoy) when I feel the sound needs something else. 

@invalid - true with Sony, but engineers were easily able to show jitter issue with DACs. Nothing fancy. Audio CDs were never designed to be bit perfect delivery of data. But networks are.

As is USB protocol. We don’t connect hard drives, smartphones or cameras to PCs over SPDIF or Toslink for a reason. But we don’t lose phone backups, pictures or signed house deeds when sending data over USB or networks. Financial industry operates over same protocols sending money. Military send missile launch orders.

"Ethernet cleaners" can never explain what is that they do.

And for some reason cloud datacenters that stores all those Tidal files never use $$$ USB or Ethernet cables. Google network engineers would have a good laugh if offered 'cleaned Ethernet' or 'upgraded network cables'.

@mdalton - Amen. If it is engineering, they must be able to show what is it, exactly. Maybe even have a patent. Otherwise it is vapor.

@soix you don't want to waste your time - so don't. And yet you keep posting long diatribes without any note of science. They are pretty personally insulting too and you also apparently acquired some right to speak for the community? 

You don't like someone's opinion? It is a free country. At least I am not insulting anyone. So yeah, take a hike.

mdalton

377 posts

07-15-2024 at 11:41pm 

https://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/facebook/000/019/304/Old_Man_Yells_at_cloud_cover.jpg
 

Great post. Mind posting the actual image next time? I ain’t clicking on your links man. 

https://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/facebook/000/019/304/Old_Man_Yells_at_cloud_cover.jpg

nah, we just know how networks operate.

@mikhailark  Yeah, you just don’t have any idea how they operate in an audio system and are unable or unwilling to use your ears to tell you anything because you arrogantly think you know everything, and you don’t.  You are very good at being able to stick your head in the sand though I’ll give you that, but I understand it’s easier for you that way.  You and your type are in the vast minority here for a very good reason that you can’t or won’t accept or grasp, and I’ve no inclination to waste anymore time than I already have with your foolishness.  You may now reinsert head in sand where it’s most comfy.  Later dude. 

Hilarious 
 

@invalid

so your point is that manufacturers who charge tens of thousands of dollars for products they claim are noise-free have no obligation to show us the data they use to engineer their miracles?  That’s religion, not audio gear my friend.  And I, for one, will not pay $ for it.

@soix nah, we just know how networks operate.

@aldnorab - only if it is poorly made and cause data loss which you would immediately see in your computer operations (such as slow Web browsing or aborted file downloads). Otherwise bits arrive identical no matter what extender is. This is how modern networks operate. They don't lose anything.

@mdalton

You say that manufacturers don’t include any measurements to defend that streamers can make a difference, but once Sony didn’t know what audiophiles were complaining about when CD players first came out, and it was later figured out that jitter was the problem. I’m not saying it’s jitter currently, but it could be something else that measurements aren’t exposing.

thank god for you, our port in the storm.

@mdalton  Says the guy who speaks for next to nobody here and enjoys tilting at windmills.  I’ll take that for exactly what it’s worth. 

@audphile1

thans for heads up.  I have a history of being a little naive regarding others’ motives.