New Aurender N100H arrived today

[jdandy]

It is exciting to be anxiously waiting for the FedEx truck to come up the drive and drop off a new audio toy. Thanks to Mike at Suncoast Audio my new Aurender N100H 4TB music server in black arrived over night. Gotta love instant gratification. It did not take long to get it installed in the living room system, paired with my iPad and the network, and it is now playing fine sounding music through a Wyred 4 Sound DAC2. The Aurender N100H replaced my old Olive 04HD which was sold a few days ago. Perfect timing for the N100H to show up so quick. My Aurender N10 is in the studio system where I do most of my serious listening, so the N100H will do duty in the living room system where the music system usually provides casual or background music. More to come as I get some hours on this very fine new music server.

[Oly]

Congratulations Dan. She’s a beauty. It fits right in with the rest of your gear.

[joeinid]

Congratulations Dan. Looks awesome.

[jdandy]

Oly.......

Joe.......

Thank you. I have been taking time to listen to the N100H in between transferring music files from an external backup hard drive where I store music files for safe keeping. This is an impressive sounding music server.

I chose the 4TB model of the N100H so that the hard drive capacity would be equal to that of my Aurender N10. I have doubts I will ever use 4TB of storage for my music library, but if I should every need such capacity I will be able to maintain duplicate libraries on both the N10 and the N100H.

I like the size of the N100H. It allows me to install it on the same shelf as the Wyred 4 Sound DAC2. I am using Symposium Rollerblock Jr's to support the N100H. I like how the Rollerblock Jr's elevate the music server to mid-height with the DAC, although I may replace the Rollerblocks with Stillpoints Ultra Mini's in black. The music server's power is backed up with an APC UPS-750. Both the W4S DAC2 and the Aurender N100H are powered with Wireworld Silver Electra power cords. The DAC and N100H are joined with a half meter Wireworld Platinum USB cable, and the interconnects from the DAC2 to the McIntosh C2300 preamplifier are balanced Wireworld Silver Eclipse. The Aurender N100H is sounding excellent.

[Audio 1]

Awesome Dan! Aurender is awesome as you know and your second unit will bring you even more musical bliss.

[jdandy]

Awesome Dan! Aurender is awesome as you know and your second unit will bring you even more musical bliss.

Buddy.......Thank you. I have become a big fan of Aurender.

My living room audio rack has seen its fair share of gear come and go from it over the years. I downsized the living room system this past year, but just can't seem to leave well enough alone. Now that I have the new Aurender N100H I think I'm good for awhile........maybe. .

[Kuoppis]

Congrats Dan! New audio toys are always a great way to start a new day .

I also have one, it’s really great.


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[CPP]

Awesome Dan, enjoy

[Phishphan]

Awesome Dan! Enjoy.


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[jdandy]

I have already given some thought to a direct comparison between the Aurender N10 and the N100H. I am curious how the N100H will sound through the Esoteric K-01X DAC in the studio sound system. Once I have a few hundred hours on the N100H I will move it to the studio to compare it against the N10, both connected to the K-01X. Should be interesting. Right now I am still transferring music files to the N100H with some listening sessions in between. The N100H sounds excellent in the living room system. I suspect it will only get better with some break-in hours logged on it. This is a sweet music server.

[PMCH]

Congrats Dan. It looks good on your rack.

[Audiophilehi]

I have already given some thought to a direct comparison between the Aurender N10 and the N100H. I am curious how the N100H will sound through the Esoteric K-01X DAC in the studio sound system. Once I have a few hundred hours on the N100H I will move it to the studio to compare it against the N10, both connected to the K-01X. Should be interesting. Right now I am still transferring music files to the N100H with some listening sessions in between. The N100H sounds excellent in the living room system. I suspect it will only get better with some break-in hours logged on it. This is a sweet music server.

Congratulations Dan! Looking forward to the shootout between the N10 and the N100H.
I also just received the N100H and enjoying it very much.

[jdandy]

I completed my music file transfers this afternoon. The Aurender N100H now holds 1368 CD's and 72 hi-res downloads for a total of 1440 albums. The music files are stored in bit-perfect FLAC format which has consumed 487 GB of the 4 TB hard drive. I used the drag and drop method to move files from my backup hard drive to the N100H rather than a straight copy of all the backup hard drive content because there are some music files I no longer listen to and don't want on the N10 or the N100H hard drives. There were some music files on the Aurender N10 that were not on my backup hard drive. Opening both the N10 and N100H hard drives on my desktop computer made simple work of dragging and dropping files between the two hard drives. It took about 28 hours total to complete the file transfer task doing the drag and drop by hand. Now it's all about listening to the Aurender N100H. It is a beautiful music server.

[jdandy]

I just finished a three hour listening session with my new Aurender N100H in the living room system. The sound was crystal clear, robust bass, excellent separation of instruments and voices, with quick dynamics and complete silence when there is no audio signal. The N100H is impressive, and its price point makes it extremely attractive. I am very pleased with my purchase. Many thanks to Suncoast Audio. Mike knows how to make it happen for us.

[SCAudiophile]

jdandy: Congratulations on the new Aurender gear and thank you for your detailed write-ups here and elsewhere in the past and what you'll post on this new unit.

Love the comment about being done for a while, 'maybe'! When will you get a W20 ?!?

[smax]

This is the music server I've been leaning toward. I realize many of these are just computers in a fancy box, but it seems like the Aurender line goes beyond that. I can't bring myself to purchase a music server that is literally just a Windows PC with apps downloaded from the Internet. I am curious about the new Wyred 4 Sound music server, but the Roon control kind of ruins that for me. The Aurender app looks full featured and the OLED display is a must have for this sort of device IMO. Also, it's not just an off the shelf PC crammed into a fancy enclosure. It's been valuable reading about user experiences with the Aurender servers.

[Audiophilehi]

Hi Dan......are we going to see one of your outstanding reviews on a shootout between the N100H and N10?

[pessoa00]

I have already given some thought to a direct comparison between the Aurender N10 and the N100H. I am curious how the N100H will sound through the Esoteric K-01X DAC in the studio sound system. Once I have a few hundred hours on the N100H I will move it to the studio to compare it against the N10, both connected to the K-01X. Should be interesting.

Did you had the chance to perform the comparison between the N10 and the N100? I was offered a chance to buy a N100 for a great price, but would 1st love to learn about your impressions of these 2 units.

thanks!

[jdandy]

Did you had the chance to perform the comparison between the N10 and the N100? I was offered a chance to buy a N100 for a great price, but would 1st love to learn about your impressions of these 2 units.

pessoa00.......I did a short comparison one afternoon about a month ago with the Aurender N10 and the N100H. It wasn't exactly an apples to apples comparison because I only have one USB input into the Esoteric K-01X DAC and the N100H is USB only, so the N10 remained connected to the K-01X DAC with the coaxial output. The coaxial connection takes advantage of the N10's OCXO oven controlled crystal oscillator clock, which the N100H does not have. I could have used the N10's USB output but that would have required me to swap USB cables at the K-01X with the inherent delay during that process, which would have hindered direct A/B comparisons by switching between inputs on the DAC. I spent less than two hours with the N10 and N100H in the studio system, so my analysis of the differences between the music servers is not my usual in depth review.

My conclusion of this short comparison is the Aurender N10 has a greater sense of timbrel accuracy, portraying micro details more clearly, and ultimately reproducing instruments and voices in a more holistic and believable way. I have no doubt the coaxial connection that makes use of the N10's OCXO clock plays an important part in the sonic accuracy that ultimately reveals a more engaging and purer musical experience. By no means does my conclusion undermine the excellent performance delivered by the Aurender N100H, and I have no intention of parting with my N100H. It sounds wonderful in its own right and is my favorite source component in the living room system. In my opinion, you would be hard pressed to identify which music server was playing if you walked into a room with both the N10 and the N100H in the same rack. Without a direct A/B comparison the differences will not leap out at you. Both music servers are musically satisfying. If I had been able to make direct A/B comparisons of the two music servers through the USB outputs without the delay issue I described with swapping USB cables, the performance difference may have been smaller. None the less, the Aurender N10 reigns supreme in my studio system, while the N100H shines in the living room system. Both music servers are serious performers, neither of which will disappoint.

[pessoa00]

Thank you Dan! That was very useful

[jdandy]

Thank you Dan! That was very useful

pessoa00.......Looking at your signature and noticing the high caliber of gear in your system I am confident that either the Aurender N100H or the N10 will be a substantial improvement over the Mac Mini. Your sound system is revealing enough to allow the Aurender's high quality reproduction to shine. If cost is not an issue, bring home the N10. You will be thrilled.

[pessoa00]

pessoa00.......Looking at your signature and noticing the high caliber of gear in your system I am confident that either the Aurender N100H or the N10 will be a substantial improvement over the Mac Mini. Your sound system is revealing enough to allow the Aurender's high quality reproduction to shine. If cost is not an issue, bring home the N10. You will be thrilled.

I hope so!
I think my local Rep of Aurender has closed the line because they no longer have it advertised on their web site and are offering a nice deal for the N100 and the A10. They don't mention other models, so I guess thats all they have left. I asked them to reserve a silver N100C to connect via SPDIF to my Puccini and hope to grab it by the end of the week.

[JohnJ]

Dan-

Thank you for the comparison. It may not have been "apples to apples" as you said but this is a moot point. In your original reviews you mentioned the superior performance of the N10 via coax. In essence you therefore made an accurate assessment of the two while allowing each to put its best foot forward in your most capable studio system. To my mind your well chosen words greatly ease the decision making process in a few paragraphs!
Cheers!

John

[jdandy]

Dan-

Thank you for the comparison. It may not have been "apples to apples" as you said but this is a moot point. In your original reviews you mentioned the superior performance of the N10 via coax. In essence you therefore made an accurate assessment of the two while allowing each to put its best foot forward in your most capable studio system. To my mind your well chosen words greatly ease the decision making process in a few paragraphs!

John.......Thank you. I am completely infatuated with both the Aurender N10 and the N100H music servers. We live in the best of times for high-end audio with digital source components such as these available. My systems have never sounded so good.