MAC Book Pro Computer vs Aurender N100h vs Aurender N10 Music Servers

How does the Aurender handle albums coded with the MQA Format (the answer and information below should be considered a work in progress and subject to change)?  

"If you navigate to an artist that has an MQA version of an album available on Tidal, there will be TWO versions of the Album – one MQA and the other non-MQA. When used with an MQA compatible DAC, the MQA files from Tidal will play back with no issue, as far as we know (?). The DAC needs to be MQA certified for the files to play back properly. It is possible the files will simply play back as a non-MQA PCM bit stream when used with a non-MQA DAC (?).

Currently, there is no easy way to filter MQA content from the Conductor App when browsing Tidal on the Aurender iPad app (making MQA albums hard to find!). You must navigate to the artist and try both versions of the album. The MQA versions are streaming in 24 bit when used with Aurender and a connected DAC, so your DAC should register one version as 16 bit and the other as 24 bit. We still need to wait for more information from Tidal on how Aurender can pull MQA information from Tidal, since even the Tidal App does not delineate between versions of the album yet”.  

I have not been able to confirm the above but believe this information is correct.

Can someone please find an album on Tidal (on your Aurender) that is coded an non MQA for 16bit playback and coded as MQA for 24bit playback .

MQA is a new technology that is yet to be proven and accepted.  I do not know if it sounds good or not. In addition, any DAC’s that use MQA must pay a MQA licensing fee so its adoption may be slow. Several people I have talked to are interested in hearing about MQA but have no plans to buy new hardware to support it.

There are MQA specific posts on Audiogon that provide additional information.   Please post any additional information you have using MQA coded albums on your Aurender unit.

Additional clarification information:  When using you Aurender iPad application, you might see TWO identical albums on your screen.  Unfortunately, Tidal is not displaying the difference between albums when browsing content (regular resolution or MQA format).

"Aurender is waiting for Tidal to enable these differences before they can display which is MQA and which is not. The way you can tell which one is MQA and which one is not, is one will register as a 24-bit either 44.1kHz or 48kHz sample with your DAC, and the other will still play back as 16-bit, 44.1kHz.  At this point, Aurender is waiting for Tidal to include the necessary data points for the album(s) to distinguish it being MQA or standard resolution".   

As I stated above, I hope someone can verify this information. Any additional comments are appreciated.  Thanks.  

Our electrical power stopped working on Sunday for about 2 hours.  I unplugged all my audio equipment including my Aurender N10. When the power was restored, I plugged in the Aurender and it started its recovery process.   I asked Aurender Customer Support if this is the normal process. Their explanation is:
   

“Yes, whenever the Aurender N10, or any of our music servers experience an interruption in power, the software logs tell the Operating System this and it starts a different boot process.  This is normal since we want to ensure the hard disks and SSD (solid state drive) do not have a problem due to the outage.   You do not need to be concerned about it, unless the recovery fails, in which case one of the hard drives or the SSD is corrupted. 

If the HDD is corrupted, it will need to be formatted or even replaced, and the music will need to be repopulated.  If the SSD is corrupted, there is a recovery mode feature that will format and rewrite the Operating System to the SSD; only playlists and ratings are lost, the rest of the music information remains intact”.

My Aurender N10 finished its recovery process and everything is okay.

So, does the Aurender N100h sound better than the MAC Book Pro?  Looks like it doesn't.  Is this correct?  I am interested in getting a N100h, but if it doesn't sound any better than a MAC Book Pro, then there is no point.

I believe the Aurender N100h sounds better than my MAC Book Pro computer.  

However, the Aurender N10 music server is much better than the Aurender N100h  I had major problems with the cost of the Aurender N10 so I listened to both units several times and finally decided the N10 sounded the best.  Yes, the Aurender N10 is expensive but it is well worth it for its surberb sound quality and ease of use. 

I suggest you listen to both units again and decide what sounds best to you.  The Aurender iPad App is very easy to use and it is very easy to switch back and forth between CD's and Tidal Streaming.  

Aurender customer service is terrific.  My Aurender N10 is working fine and I enjoy it very much.