Considering an Aurender N100H or N10

JohnJ said:

All-

I have been considering an upgrade to my Macbook for some time now.
After reading and contributing to the forums here and else where many, many times, I remain indecisive.
The basic N100H seems to be a great value but I do wonder what I may miss or gain to just go for the N10 (other than an additional 2 tb or storage and not needing to buy a better USB cable).
My goal is to sell my CD Player and pack up the CD's.
Also, anyone feel these models may be getting a bit long in the tooth?
Unfortunately, there is no local dealer to audition so this will need to be a "leap of faith."
Thanks!

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What will you use as a DAC? The only Aurender with a DAC is the A10 which is an N100H with a DAC and volume control. IMO, the DAC is probably more important than the streamer. Your budget should consider the cost of the streamer plus the DAC plus the cost of the requisite cables. When I was comparing the sound of my N10 into the DAC in my Aavik U-300 vs into a Chord Dave, the one fed with the best digital cable sounded best.

As for the N10 vs the N100H, I've never heard the N100H in my system but there must be a reason why the N10 is being used in state of the art audio systems.

In any case, any good streamer will offer better SQ than a noisy computer.

JohnJ......I own the Aurender N10 and the N100H music servers. The N10 is in my studio two channel system, and the N100H is in the living room system. Both music servers are wonderful sounding components. Having said that, the Aurender N10 bests the N100H in its ability to reproduce timbrel accuracy and an alluring organic nature to human voices. The N10 uses an oven controlled crystal oscillator (OCXO) that is designed in to its proprietary SPDIF digital output section. The accuracy of this internal clock reduces jitter to nearly immeasurable levels (0.02 ppm) which is considerably superior to even the clock accuracy in your Esoteric K-01X (0.5 ppm). Between the incredible accuracy of the N10's clock, coupled with the excellent design, engineering, and application of the SPDIF digital output section of the music server, the combination of these features ensure an astonishing musical performance.

I use my N10's coaxial SPDIF output with the DAC in my Esoteric K-01X. The N10's USB output does not use the internal OCXO clock because all USB connections rely on the clock that exists in the DAC. The SPDIF outputs (coaxial, AES/EBU, Toslink) reqire the use of the clock in the music server. The very best sound comes from the SPDIF outputs. Musical performances are thoroughly involving to the highest degree.

I use my Aurender N100H music server with the new Schiit Audio Yggdrasil Analog 2 DAC. The N100H has only USB output. The new Gen 5 USB input on the Yggdrasil DAC is very good and allows the N100H server to sound remarkable. I am happy with both of my Aurender music servers but the N10 is state of the art and definitely reigns supreme over the N100H.

i have looked very seriously the n10 and find it quite appealing. however, consider the file types and resolution that you want to send to your dac vs the specs for the aurender:

n10 bit and sample rates:
also, the internal storage listed in the specs is a spinning HHD rather than SSD which may generate less noise.

these were two of my concerns with the n10 specific to pairing it with my dac.

on the plus side for me are the many digital SPDIF outputs and the app interface.

in any event, while maybe long in the tooth when compared to some more recently introduced high end servers probably costing more, it may fit your needs well and offer a good value in that respect.

aKnyght said:

consider the file types and resolution that you want to send to your dac vs the specs for the aurender:

n10 bit and sample rates:

SPDIF : Up to 24-bit, 192kHz (PCM); 1-bit, 2.8MHz (DSD64)
USB : 32bit /384kHz, 1-bit, 2.8MHz (DSD64); 1-bit, 5.6MHz (DSD128)​

also, the internal storage listed in the specs is a spinning HHD rather than SSD which may generate less noise.

in any event, while not state of the art, they may fit your needs and offer a good value in that respect.

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aKnyght.......FYI, the hard drives in the N10 and the N100H only spin while transferring music files to the internal solid state drive, after which the hard drives are put to sleep. All music file playback is done from the SSD. The N10 has a 240GB SSD. The N100H has a 120GB SSD.

While you made no reference to the music server(s) you may consider state of the art, the Aurender N10 and W20 can stand shoulder to shoulder with the industry's best offerings in my humble opinion. It is not surprising to see the Aurender N10 and W20 music servers being used by so many audio component and speaker manufacturers as their source component of choice at audio shows worldwide.

jdandy said:

aKnyght.......FYI, the hard drives in the N10 and the N100H only spin while transferring music files to the internal solid state drive, after which the hard drives are put to sleep. All music file playback is done from the SSD. The N10 has a 240GB SSD. The N100H has a 120GB SSD.

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thanks! that is very good to know.

jdandy said:

While you made no reference to the music server(s) you may consider state of the art, the Aurender N10 and W20 can stand shoulder to shoulder with the industry's best offerings in my humble opinion. It is not surprising to see the Aurender N10 and W20 music servers being used by so many audio component and speaker manufacturers as their source component of choice at audio shows worldwide.

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my apologies -- certainly not my intention to yuk anyone's yum. the n10 is indeed a fantastic piece of gear and i have given it very considerable thought. regrettably, it just did not fit my needs.

Thanks to all for your comments.
Bud... for now, I'll be using the built-in DAC on my Mc C2500. Down the road, I may go with a Schiit Yggy or something in that range.

Dan... for me, you really nailed the differences. I have been a fan of your reviews for several years on another site and for the past few months here at the shark site. Many I have read so carefully, so many times that my eyes would be sore the next day.

aKnyght...all of my "server music" is ripped AIFF from CD's with perhaps some free higher resolution tracks I have run into. Local public libraries are great resource to find music. I wonder if the N10 can play higher resolution DSD with future firmware updates (?). I question the advantage of higher resolution files on older recordings and more modern recordings not knowing the provenance. New recordings captured at the studio with new hi rez techniques are the future IMHO. I too like the various outputs in addition to USB.

Wonder how close the coaxial SPDIF in X100C is to the N10's coaxial in SQ. I'm using a Mac mini (modded) now going into a Yiggy (next week an Terminator dac).

JohnJ said:

Dan... for me, you really nailed the differences. I have been a fan of your reviews for several years on another site and for the past few months here at the shark site. Many I have read so carefully, so many times that my eyes would be sore the next day.

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JohnJ.......Thank you for your comments. I try my best to tell it like I hear it.

I have a N10 and N100H I will be posting for sale soon if your interested?

I’m ultra frustrated with my N10 right now. It’s causing loud chirps and pops on DSD and some tidal tracks. Not cool. Thought it was the DAC I was testing, but when I take the aurender out and feed via JRiver DoP I have zero issues.

If Aurender can’t fix it, I’m moving on. Might go to a Lumin


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Kyle

Does it make the noise with any of the digital outputs or have you just tried one?

I have no popping with my aurender. Are your firmware up to date ? It sounds like a issue with your DAC.

Sorry for the delayed responses. Not a DAC issue. EMM and MSB have the exact same issue. Oddly it’s happened on a couple tidal tracks. Aurender pushed me a update, but haven’t listened to all the albums giving me issues.


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Jack said:

Kyle

Does it make the noise with any of the digital outputs or have you just tried one?

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Just usb, and I’ve swapped cables


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Same issue with DSD on my N100H and I've reported to Aurender as well but no fixes as of yet. Has happened regardless of DAC and/or USB cable. Fortunately for me the popping sounds are not very loud and only happen when changing tracks. They are barely noticeable on my system so I've just lived with it.

George

Have you tried going into settins/advanced and adjust the “time needed by DAC to adjust to new sampling rate”? I have mine set to 3 seconds. That may fix the problem

I have tried all of the different time settings and a few other things and at the end of the day there never was a fix for me. That said ... since fore me its really very minor I mostly don't think about it any more. Like others ... when I use a laptop with the DAC there is no issue from any of the music players on windows or Mac OS. Just like the sound quality from the Aurender much better than my laptop for sure. Wondering if I upgrade to the W20 and go dual balanced into the D-02x if that might solve the issue? Maybe a next year upgrade.

George

I had some issues with Aurender as well. I now have a Lumin and no issues at all. Sometimes Dealers and people in the industry aren't as honest with issues as they perhaps should be.