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

Additional information for Aurender Music Server Users only:

Please see the link for information on the “Streaming” tab:  
http://support.aurender.com/streaming.html

Also please see the links below for information on the second row filter buttons and the user nameable folder row:

http://support.aurender.com/content-browse-buttons.html
http://support.aurender.com/user-nameable-folders.html

New Aurender Software Release Notes for System SW 4(5).10.16 / App 2.8.5 Released on August 4 2017:

http://www.aurender.com/blog/new-software-release-note-4/post/system-sw-4-5-10-16-app-2-8-5-148

FYI.  My Aurender IPad was losing its connection to  my Aurender N10 Music Server yesterday.

I re-booted the iPad App but still had the same problem.  Today, I re-started (hit the re-start tab in settings) my N10 and everything is working fine now.  I think the the connectivity technology gets mixed up over time.  

hgeifman,

this is a great thread and you provide a ton of great information.  Thank you.  I have a few questions, but before I get to them, please excuse my ignorance about computer stuff and MQA in general.  If my questions are stupid, I apologize in advance, and admit that I am somewhat of a newbie when it comes to the MQA  and streamers etc.   


 I don't understand why an MQA dac is needed to get MQA from Tidal.    Right now when I open my Tidal app on my windows laptop, I can play MQA to my DAC (a light harmonic dual dac) and my dac is not MQA, yet my dac plays the Tidal MQA songs at 48 hz (my dac tells me whether im playing 44.1, 48, 192, dsd etc).  So I am able to stream MQA to a non-MQA dac using the Tidal software on my computer.  How come Aurender can't do the same thing?  Or am I missing something.  According to Tidal, you don't need an MQA dac, just their app.  Here is a quote from the Tidal website:

"All you need is a TIDAL HiFi membership to get access to thousands of master-quality albums through the TIDAL desktop application. When you are in the TIDAL desktop app, go to What’s New and select Masters in the Albums section."

I understand if you play Tidal from a web browser, then your dac has to be MQA to decode it.  But the Tidal app seems to do the MQA decoding instead of the DAC.  Couldn't Aurender build something into their software to decode the MQA like the Tidal app? 



You have also pointed out that the Aurender customer support is fantastic, but it does seem that you have had a few problems with your Aurender and for those of us that are not as computer savvy as you appear to be, do you think the Aurender is still a good option?  

Again, I appreciate this post, and your well thought out explanations, and any comments you can provide. 

Thank you and again apologies if my post is wrong or my understanding is wrong or my questions show a level of ignorance. 

@gasherbaum 

Thanks for your kind words.  It is appreciated.  Yes, I continue to recommend Aurender for your music server. There is lots of info below for you to better understand how the Aurender handles MQA. 

My friend, Lalit, posted this on Audiogon:

“For the benefit of those still unclear about how MQA works, this is a very nice article about demystifying the ambiguity surrounding the MQA”.

https://www.audiostream.com/content/mqa-decoding-explained


Please see this link, from
Aurender, “Browsing and Playback of MQA Content using Conductor”.

http://support.aurender.com/mqa.html

This is another excellent link, from Aurender, “MQA Content and Aurender Music Servers”:

http://support.aurender.com/mqa-playback.html

I hope the above helps.  Please let me know.  

Thanks so much hgeifman, that was super helpful.  That first link made it much clearer about what is going on.  I greatly appreciate the help.  I didn't understand that the Tidal app only unfolds part of the MQA and that you need a dac to unfold the rest.  Thanks so much.