Aurender N10 - Sound quality performance is erratic

[Pokey77]

I am having problems with my N10. Some days it plays amazingly good, other days good and some days not good at all.

I live very near Aurender in SoCal and so I took my unit in for service and they provided me with a loaner. The first session after I put the loaner in the system was all-time good. Then the next day wasn't all that great. Then the next two days were good but no great. Anyway, this is just weird. Both N10s appear to exhibit this erratic behavior.

My internet is ATT DSL at 24Mbps and that has been suggested as the culprit (I was thinking about calling and asking them to give me a trial at 50 or 100 Mbps to see if the increased speed will eliminate the problem - 24Mbps is fast enough I almost never seen buffering in Netflix). It has been suggested that I get hi-speed cable to solve this problem and get rid of the twisted pairs on the phone line. I have tried a DSL filter and it hasn't seemed to help, assuming I've got it installed correctly.

So have any of you N10 users had this problem? If so, how did you fix it?

 

[audio.bill]

Welcome to AudioShark Pokey77! :hi:

We've had several Aurender N10 users on this forum and I've heard it in numerous show demos and have never heard of it having such inconsistent performance. When I've most commonly heard similar reports regarding a system's performance it's often been attributed to AC powerline issues which tend to vary at different times of the day. Maybe the Aurender is particularly sensitive to power issues; is it possible you have such an issue with your power and have you tried using any power conditioners or re-generators? Might be worth trying to see how it affects the problem, particularly if you have a good relationship with a dealer who could loan you some products to try out.

 

[Pokey77]

Welcome to AudioShark Pokey77! :hi:

We've had several Aurender N10 users on this forum and I've heard it in numerous show demos and have never heard of it having such inconsistent performance. When I've most commonly heard similar reports regarding a system's performance it's often been attributed to AC powerline issues which tend to vary at different times of the day. Maybe the Aurender is particularly sensitive to power issues; is it possible you have such an issue with your power and have you tried using any power conditioners or re-generators? Might be worth trying to see how it affects the problem, particularly if you have a good relationship with a dealer who could loan you some products to try out.

Hi Bill,

Thanks for the Welcome, and good question. I bought a digital multimeter and have monitored power throughout the day. It always varies from 118+v to 122+v. Yesterday I had a listening session in the morning around 9AM where the voltage was 122v and the sound quality was not very good. I listened later that day around 5PM; voltage was 118-119v and the sound was way better. In short, I have not been able to find a correlation between voltage and sound quality; I've had good listening sessions in both the morning and the afternoon. My dealer recommended this as one possible culprit but says after these tests my power is strong and voltage is not the problem.

 

[jdandy]

Pokey77.......I don't think Bill was pointing to a voltage issue. I believe his suggestion about the benefit of using a high quality power conditioner or AC regenerator centers on the possibility of harmonic distortion on your incoming utility power. A voltage fluctuation of 119 to 122 is more than typical of most US households. Audio equipment can routinely operate properly with as much as a 5 to 6 volt variation, so I doubt your issue is with the voltage level or the Aurender N10. By removing harmonic distortion from the AC wave form your audio equipment will sound considerably better. Consider auditioning a product like the PS Audio P5 or P10 AC regenerator on your source components. You will be impressed. In addition, you may want to consider an upgraded power cord for your N10.

 

[audio.bill]

Dan is right on (as usual! ) in that AC power issues often involve noise/distortion on the line rather than just voltage fluctuations. Trying a power re-generator would permit you to determine whether that may be the source of your problem. His suggestion of an upgraded power cord is another thing which you should consider auditioning.

 

[Pokey77]

Hi Dan & Bill,

I have three dedicated lines and the Aurender is on one of them and uses a PS Audio AC3 power cable. Amp and pre are on the other two ded. lines.

I have used a IsoTek Polaris in many configurations in this system and it did not ever best all components connected to the wall but I did find that all components connected to it to be the best when using the Polaris. I do have plans to try better power conditioners.

A little background. The entire system is new to me. I heard it at my dealers in a number of different configurations and am very familiar with it. On its best days here in my home, it is very close if not the same as when played at my dealers (dealer was using IsoTek Mosiac power re-generator). Very high resolution so bass is very accurate, midrange is very good, and treble is as it should be - pristine. On tracks like Miles Davis - All Blues, you don't even need to close your eyes to see the performers on the stage, it is that good, 'to die for' for me really. Then on other days it is not so good or some variant in between. My best session with the loaner N10 was right out of the box at 3:30 PM when everybody is using electricity. I've had other good sessions both in the morning and in the afternoon or even after 5PM, like yesterday.

Bill, I did get that you were suggesting power conditioners but forgot to mention what I had tried as I noted above. What I meant about the power varying, was not that it varied 4v in a session, but that it varied at different times of day. Not necessarily based on time of day and most of the time, morning or evening it was between 120-122v and in any session the voltage varied by just a few tenths. FYI - House power panel is 200 amps and all audio wiring and panel is new. System was installed around 1.5 to two months ago.

I appreciate all your comments so far.

 

[hellrider77]

I would check the following:
- led lighting and/or light dimming devices, check whether when lights are off SQ improves
- fridge/freezers/coolers, check if there's a difference when the compressors are on or off
- air conditioning on or off
- TV cable or internet cable for IPTV, check whether there is a difference with the cable disconnected from STB/IPTV box or TV, especially if (like in my case) sound from tv or NETFLIX / HBO Go is directed into the main sound system.
In my case, I found out that I had to isolate the TV cable (i get TV via DVB-C here) as there was buzzing coming out of speakers when cable was connected to TV. Even now, I have no idea how this was possible as (in my case) TV cable was going directly into TV, TV was connected to my AV-Receiver via HDMI, AVR was connected to my main system via pre-out into my amplifier. This is strange, as even if I disconnected the AVR from my main amp, the buzz was still there, then, I found out that my HTPC was also connected to the AVR and HTPC would go in the same network switch as my Aurender. I guess this is what is usually called ground loop, but that was not my case, I found out that sometimes, TV and internet providers are delivering high continuous current voltages across their networks for various reasons.

So, in some cases, a power conditioner (or an isolating transformer) will not be enough as there are many ways interference could get to one's system.

 

[Mr Peabody]

It would seem if noise or interference the issue would be more constant. DSL isn't always consistent with delivering the max rating. You may want to do a speed test at the time yu feel the Aurender is sounding poor. If you have other family in the home, especially kids, the internet is getting some use, phones,tablets, etc.

Anyway to test the N10 from another source, such as a transport to see if you still get varying performance?

 

[Pokey77]

The below is pasted from Agon' and is the resolution of my sound quality issues on the N10. Cliff notes: it was a bad modem. Read on for the details.

As those of you who have been following this thread know, I had been having erratic sound quality streaming Tidal. ATT came out last Monday morning and performed maintenance, replacing my modem/router, and returning everything to good working order. I was able to listen once on Mon/Tuesday, and twice yesterday and today for a total of six sessions and all my sessions have been very good. Apparently my modem/router was the most likely culprit according to my tech; the tech called back to check in on me today - good customer service on ATT's part. I do notice that my internet is faster now that the service has been performed and of course the most important part, the music is now correct.

Aurender has provided very good service along the way including providing me a loaner N10 and repairing my N10.

My dealer, Mike Rose @ Excel Audio in Newport Beach, has also been exemplary in his customer service. He had pushed me to have my internet connection checked and it turned out to be culprit. He has been there in my journey and has been instrumental in helping me to build a system that I had only dreamed of prior to meeting him around a year ago. As a totally satisfied customer, I suggest if you are in the Southern California area, Mike is a top-notch dealer worthy of doing business with, not only because he carries some of the finest world-class audio components available, but because he is first-class in customer service. Mike is just like all of us, he loves the music. When you are around him you can't help but be happy, it is just infectious.