Aurender N200 - DAC compatability


Hi,

I recently purchased a new Aurender N200 and find that it does not recognize my DAC for Native DSD. My DAC is a CEC DA5 and received the following response from the distributor - "unless the aurender can install a driver - it will not be possible to run dsd. the driver is needed for the system to recognise the machine and without the driver for the aurender, it will not recognize the da5."

I reached out to Aurender support and was told this would not be possible.

I'm really happy with every other aspect of my N200 and it sounds amazing in my system playing PCM files. The DSD thing is just a little frustrating. Anyone else have similar experiences?

pgreene

This is clearly a DAC USB board compatibility issue not streamer. I dealt with this before when I owned ARC DAC-9. It will not play high resolution files through USB. I end up selling the DAC-9 and got a DAC that can play high resolution files, problem solved.

IMHO, avoid the path of digital down or up conversion…there is no substitute for feeding digital bits in its native resolution to your DAC for final conversion to analog, especially DSD files.

We are a an Aurender dealer. I have had a couple of DAC's that did not jive with the Aurender at first. However, their support team can help. Also, Aurender should be able to play DSD up to 128

Check this link out: https://ask.aurender.com/hc/en-us/articles/360026675894-How-can-I-contact-Aurender-Technical-Support to get your DAC going - they can remote in and update the 200.

Also, see this: 

Aurender uses DoP (DSD over PCM) to send DSD files to DoP-compatible digital-to-analog convertors. Since DoP uses a PCM data stream, a DSD64 file will display at 176.4kHz, and a DSD128 file will display 352.8kHz on the Aurender Conductor app readout. Note that the receiving DoP-compatible DAC still reads the DSD file natively, as the PCM stream is simply acting as a transport for the original data. 

For further information regarding DoP, refer to the following links: 
http://www.dcsltd.co.uk/support/what-is-dop-dsd-over-pcm/
http://dsd-guide.com/dop-open-standard

OP go into N200 settings, Advanced. Switch off Native DSD. It will send DoP (dsd over pcm) to your DAC. It should be fine. 

Thanks for the info!

My DAC is capable of processing up to native DSD256 and will indicate same on its front panel. Aurender support say they 'cannot make it work' which threw me a bit as I thought they took pride in being compatible with anything thrown at them.

I get that DoP will unpack the DSD file and am experimenting. It won't spoil my enjoyment of the music! :-)

Cheers

Good way to approach it! There’s a lot of high res content on Qobuz that sounds incredible with N200. I rarely go to my library to play DSD