Aurender N20 Review

Mike

Audioshark
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Aurender N20 Music Server - The Absolute Sound

"...the Aurender N20 is one of a handful of the best-designed, best-integrated, best-engineered, and, most importantly, 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵-𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 audio components I have ever had the pleasure to use and experience."


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Mike - What are your thoughts/experience regarding the quality of USB output vs BNC, Coax, etc? The review and owners manual seem to imply that a non-USB output is optimal.
 
Great question. It really depends on the DAC too. If the non-USB input on the DAC is optimized, then those can really benefit from the exceptional non-USB outputs of the N20. I found AES and SPDIF (digital RCA) to be the best when the DAC is optimized for those (Berkeley REF 3 for example). That being said, most DAC’s are optimized for USB today.


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IÂ’ve been reading through various threads on here for months. Never a shortage of good discussion and input. I have a few related questions.

IÂ’m considering an N20 to connect directly to my MSB Premier, but what are the sound differences between running ProUSB/ISL out of the N20 versus any of the other options? Would ProUSB/ISL be the best option here? I believe a saw that Aurender is developing its own external clock, so which outputs of the N20 with be affected?

Thank you!
 
IÂ’ve been reading through various threads on here for months. Never a shortage of good discussion and input. I have a few related questions.

IÂ’m considering an N20 to connect directly to my MSB Premier, but what are the sound differences between running ProUSB/ISL out of the N20 versus any of the other options? Would ProUSB/ISL be the best option here? I believe a saw that Aurender is developing its own external clock, so which outputs of the N20 with be affected?

Thank you!

Welcome. The ProUSB/ProISL with the N20 would be sonically a great match. Since it would be the non-USB outputs affected and the clock in the Premier is used, I would not think the external Aurender clock would benefit in this case over ProUSB/ProISL.


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Thank you very much for the quick reply. It was quite helpful! I’m looking forward to adding the N20 and switching to the ProUSB/ISL interface from the network renderer.

The new Digital Director seems pretty interesting, so hopefully there will be a lucky member that can weigh in on an N20/Director combo one of these days. Until then, happy listening!
 
I plan on connecting an N20 Aurender to my Esoteric K-01XD via USB. In that scenario (using USB to connect the N20 to the K-01XD) if I use an external master clock, is it correct that I would only need to connect the master clock to the K-01XD?
 
Aurender has some great stuff under its arms, how ever, not being Roon compatible is a deal-breaker for me, as no other app come close to Roon flexibility and user experience.
 
If N20 is connected via USB to a DAC and let’s say, the DAC does not have 10MHz master clock input, but N20 master clock input is fed a 10MHz clock from device such as Cybershaft, I’m wondering if the DAC will use the master clock from Cybershaft via USB connection from N20?

Thanks in advance.
 
If N20 is connected via USB to a DAC and let’s say, the DAC does not have 10MHz master clock input, but N20 master clock input is fed a 10MHz clock from device such as Cybershaft, I’m wondering if the DAC will use the master clock from Cybershaft via USB connection from N20?

Thanks in advance.

No. USB negates the clock in all cases.


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No. USB negates the clock in all cases.


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Thanks Mike! If AES connection is used, will the master clock be carried over to the DAC?
 
Thanks Mike! If AES connection is used, will the master clock be carried over to the DAC?

Only if the dac is connected to the clock via a clock cable as well. Both devices must be connected to the same clock, both devices must have external clock enabled and neither device can use USB.

I’m afraid there’s no free lunch when it comes to clocking.


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Only if the dac is connected to the clock via a clock cable as well. Both devices must be connected to the same clock, both devices must have external clock enabled and neither device can use USB.

I’m afraid there’s no free lunch when it comes to clocking.


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That’s what I was afraid of. With my recent revelation with master clock, Cybershaft particularly, my future DAC choices just become very limited.
 
That’s what I was afraid of. With my recent revelation with master clock, Cybershaft particularly, my future DAC choices just become very limited.

Your N-05XD will benefit.


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Your N-05XD will benefit.


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It has. In fact, it changed my view on digital playback and my future choices on DAC will be limited to the ones with master clock input.
 
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