step up from N100H?

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2FlyingYorkies

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I'm considering stepping up from my current Aurender N100H, which has served well for several years. i don't really have any complaints with it; mostly it's just an itch that might need scratching. I use a separate DAC, and therefore have no need for a model with one built-in. I also have all of my CDs and other physical media already ripped to a hard drive (with several backups), so the ripping functionality from the ACS series is not valuable to me. I'm searching only for an upgrade in sound quality and durability (ditching the spinning hard drives in favor of all SSD might be nice).

Having said all that, is the step-up in audio quality from the N100H the ACS10, or do I have to go all the way to the N10? The N10 feels like it's getting old, and maybe the new N20 is its eventual replacement? I can say that I'm not ready to pay as much as the N20 at this time, so it's really a battle between the ACS and the N10 (or exploring similar DAC-less servers from other brands, though I really do like the Aurender app).
 
Jeff

My personal preference would be the Auralic Aries G2.1. More flexibility in terms of outputs and if you don't need all of that internal storage from Aurender the G2.1 is about $2300 cheaper with the 2TB SSD drive. I've owned three Auralic streamers and I think the Lightning DS works and sounds great but I have never heard an Aurender. I am going to upgrade to the 2.1 without the hard drives after the first of the year.
 
I own both the N100H and ACS10. I rip on the ACS10 and listen on the N100H. There is a slight - ever so slight - increase in sound quality by running the N100H thru the ACS10. The difference in sound quality alone is IMO "not" enough to upgrade for.

IMO, if all you are desiring is better sound quality - and not ripping capability - then I personally would upgrade to the N10, N20 (or N30 [two unit chassis] when it comes out).

From what I understand the N30 will be on par or exceed the W20SE.

From what I have heard the N20 is a substantial increase in quality over the N10.

The N10 is better than either the N100H or ACS10 or using both of the later in combination with one another.

Of course, my opinion is based upon the DAC I use.
 
The N10 is not going away. It’s going to stay in the lineup. It’s a BIG step up from the N100H sonically. When people compare them here in the store, they can’t unhear the sonic superiority of the N10. That’s where I would be focusing on.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
Timing is everything, as they say. Just last night my N100H decided to commit suicide. The front display went solid white when I woke it up, and the unit did not respond to commands via front panel or app. It asked for an initialization code from the front panel (like it might on initial installation), but of course I couldn't see it.

Kudos to Aurender for replying to my remote support request within minutes! They think the display is the only thing that's dead, and are sending me parts so I can do open heart surgery in hopes of bringing it back.

I'm going to take a step back from any upgrade talk for a bit. Aurender did good so far on the support side, but a failure of this kind on a part that doesn't get used much (i have the display set to sleep during playback) does give me pause about spending much more on an upgrade model right away.
 
2FlyingYorkies said:
Timing is everything, as they say. Just last night my N100H decided to commit suicide. The front display went solid white when I woke it up, and the unit did not respond to commands via front panel or app. It asked for an initialization code from the front panel (like it might on initial installation), but of course I couldn't see it.

Kudos to Aurender for replying to my remote support request within minutes! They think the display is the only thing that's dead, and are sending me parts so I can do open heart surgery in hopes of bringing it back.

I'm going to take a step back from any upgrade talk for a bit. Aurender did good so far on the support side, but a failure of this kind on a part that doesn't get used much (i have the display set to sleep during playback) does give me pause about spending much more on an upgrade model right away.
Click to expand...

Great response from Aurender. How old is your unit? Let us know how it works out.
 
2FlyingYorkies said:
Kudos to Aurender for replying to my remote support request within minutes! They think the display is the only thing that's dead, and are sending me parts so I can do open heart surgery in hopes of bringing it back.
Click to expand...
Please let us know if the surgery is successful. I've had my N100H for a few years now and I'd like to know how the DIY process goes.
 
My N100H is about 3 years old, so it's still pretty young by my reckoning. Hopefully this is just an infant mortality issue that isn't a sign of other issues. I was initially worried that the platter-based hard disk had failed, but fortunately that seems not to be the case.

Aurender sent instructions before I agreed to do the fix myself. Looks to be mostly bolt-on; no de-soldering or fancy electrical work required. Just a case of having to very carefully ensure that all of the pins get lined up correctly. I'll report back once the job is done.

The hard part is going without streaming indefinitely until the parts arrive!
 
Mr. Big said:
Please let us know if the surgery is successful. I've had my N100H for a few years now and I'd like to know how the DIY process goes.
Click to expand...

The replacement part arrived today, and I'm glad to say the surgery was a success! Remove ~10 case screws and 5 for the display PCB. Then gently remove the display OLED itself, and reverse the process to reassemble with the new part. The display connector was a tiny board-to-board item that took some patience and a steady hand, and I had to position some official (and provided) foam spacer blocks to ensure the display had the right stand-off from the main board and was square to the front lens. Took a little while to figure out the first time, but the second time (to correct the foam blocks not being perfectly aligned the first time) went quite quickly.

Everything's back up and running just like it used to. So hats off to Aurender for supporting a 3-year old product like they did, and at no cost to me!
 
2FlyingYorkies said:
The replacement part arrived today, and I'm glad to say the surgery was a success! Remove ~10 case screws and 5 for the display PCB. Then gently remove the display OLED itself, and reverse the process to reassemble with the new part. The display connector was a tiny board-to-board item that took some patience and a steady hand, and I had to position some official (and provided) foam spacer blocks to ensure the display had the right stand-off from the main board and was square to the front lens. Took a little while to figure out the first time, but the second time (to correct the foam blocks not being perfectly aligned the first time) went quite quickly.

Everything's back up and running just like it used to. So hats off to Aurender for supporting a 3-year old product like they did, and at no cost to me!
Click to expand...

Awesome support from an awesome company.

Roon would have you still looking inside to see if you see white, red or green lights.
 
Mike said:
The N10 is not going away. It’s going to stay in the lineup. It’s a BIG step up from the N100H sonically. When people compare them here in the store, they can’t unhear the sonic superiority of the N10. That’s where I would be focusing on.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
Click to expand...


Don't want to hijack thread, but question for Mike.

What would you say sounds better, for digital

An Aurender N10 plugged into a Esoteric K-01x or

the new Esoteric N-01XD
 
adol290 said:
Don't want to hijack thread, but question for Mike.

What would you say sounds better, for digital

An Aurender N10 plugged into a Esoteric K-01x or

the new Esoteric N-01XD
Click to expand...

N-01XD and the reason is the “XD”. Now an N10 into a K-01XD (instead of K-01x) then that’s a different story.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
Mike said:
N-01XD and the reason is the “XD”. Now an N10 into a K-01XD (instead of K-01x) then that’s a different story.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
Click to expand...

N10 into K-01XD = out of my price range

which leaves

N-01XD vs Aurender A30
 
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