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

Hi Cerrot,  I listened to the Aurender N100h using the USB cable and manually switched to the Aurender N10 Music Server using the same USB cable.   I did not test using the spdif connections (USB only).   In my opinion, the Aurender N100h was good but the Aurender N10 sound quality was much better.  I immediately heard the sound differences between the two units.

I used my own music and switched back and forth several times to ensure I was hearing correctly.  I purchased the Aurender N10 for its sound quality over the N100h.   As I stated above, I like my Aurender N10 very much and highly recommend it for its excellent sound quality and Aurender's outstanding customer service.  They were very helpful solving all the problems I discussed above.  Okay? 

I visited the Aurender room at THE Show and was told a new software release is expected in the next 30 days (estimated date, could be earlier or later). The new release will fix bugs, eliminate the stand by option (unit will be on or off), add additional sort sequences (?) to Tidal albums, provide features needed for South Korea and various other items.   Aurender is also working to improve their documentation to better describe its products.

Please note that Philip O’Hanlon from On Higher Note (premier distributor of high-end audio components in the United States & Canada) publishes some of his demo playlists on Tidal.  His playlists are recommended and I especially like "Box of Fun" listed below (one example). The link below is the list of his playlists:

https://onahighernote.com/blog/category/philips-music-talk/philips-playlist/

The link below is an example of his 'Box of Fun” playlist on Tidal. Box Of Fun on TIDAL, 2006 is inspired by Randy Cribb of Audio Advice.

http://listen.tidal.com/playlist/abaa9218-3262-4fd6-86c0-5a7c97697436


I continued to enjoy my Aurender N10 Music Server and recommend you audition it if you are interested in a high quality easy to use music server.   

In my above post, I explained that Philip O’Hanlon from On Higher Note publishes some of his demo playlists on Tidal.  All of his playlists are highly recommended.

Some people have asked me "How do I play this "Box of Fun" from Philip's playlist posted on his On Higher Note website?"  In summary, the steps below explains how to find the playlist on the On Higher Note website, documents how you link to Tidal on your computer, displays the Box of Fun playlist, instructs you to log into Tidal and then SAVE this album as a favorite in your playlist section of the app.  The steps are:

THESE STEPS MUST BE DONE ON YOUR COMPUTER:

1) Go to this link:

https://onahighernote.com/blog/2015/07/17/box-of-fun-playlist/

2) Scroll toward the end of the text and look for the “listen on Tidal box”. Click this box and Box of Fun will be displayed.  I suggest you listen to the album before you proceed to ensure you like it (for fun, turn volume down, play the 2nd song named Norbu by Bruno Coulais and turn volume up as needed).

3) Immediately login into Tidal (on your computer) and make Box of Fun your favorite by clicking on the star button. This saves it to your Tidal playlist. Pease VERFIFY that you made Box of Fun a favorite by looking for it on the Tidal menu. DO NOT LEAVE this step until you CONFIRM Box of Fun is STORED as a favorite. Box of Fun must be stored as a favorite.

4) Log OUT of Tidal on your computer (you are done with Tidal on your computer).

5) Go to your Aurender iPad app, start the Aurender application and look for favorite album playlist. The album may, or may not, be easy to find so keep looking.  If you saved it correctly in step #3 above, its got to be there.


There are several other highly recommended playlists on the On Higher Note website. All of them can be stored on your Aurender app by following the above instructions.   I agree the above steps are not the easiest but the ability to make these terrific playlists available on your Aurender app using Tidal Streaming is well worth the effort.   Any questions, please ask.

 

Aurender announced a new software upgrade labeled the Aurender App 2.7.27 Released on June 30 2016. See link below for a list of the bug fixes & improvements:

http://www.aurender.com/blog/new-software-release-note-4/post/app-2-7-27-136

It took me about five minutes to complete the install. Please make sure the install is 100% completed before you start using the iPad App (look at the display for status information).  After I completed the upgrade, my albums were not displayed on my iPad but my Tidal albums were.  I closed the iPad App, removed it from memory and started the App again.  All my albums appeared perfectly.  Aurender Customer Support reports "If the App did not display your local content correctly after the update, it is possible the App had not quite downloaded the database from the Aurender yet and so when you relaunched it, it reinitiated the download and now your albums appear.  This may be due to old data not being replaced with new data when the app is updated from the app store.  We have found that often, deleting the App and reinstalling it can repair some issues after a software upgrade".

Aurender reports "they are working on email integration for software release notes as well as a new support site, but no estimated dates are available (future).  Also, email reminders will likely be something you will need to sign up for, so it won’t be automatic".

At the moment, Aurender "decided not to implement notices about software updates from the App. They may make it a feature that can be turned on or off in the future, but no information regarding the time frame for this feature is available (Future, maybe)".

"The Standby button still appears on the App, but it no longer works. Aurender left it there with a note that we removed it so customers did not get confused. Either way, it does not work anymore if you try to select it”.  

"Aurender has received some reports of the App crashing more than usual (when multitasking or when selecting the App after the iPad wakes from sleep), and they are working on duplicating the problems and hope to fix them with a new update. For the time being, just a warning that you may need to relaunch the App from time to time”.  This problem has never happened to me.

Aurender also added a Tidal sort by artist option.

After the software upgrade, my Aurender N10 is working fine.  

The N10 is a nice unit, sounds great, marginally better sounding than a Macbook. But be aware that having to use an Ipad to control a device is a mixed blessing. If your internet or network is down, your music will be inaccessible. That is the current state of the art for music servers.