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Aurender N10 - Sound quality performance is erratic

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?
pokey77
pokey77 OP
1,268 posts
 

The ATT tech came out this morning. Before he got here he was running tests on the line. My modem/router happened to be acting up and one of the indictors was red rather than green and he figured it was the modem/router. Then he went outside and checked my exterior lines and said that everything was OK.

He went off to the "box" and replaced all the wire associated with my house though he said he didn't see anything wrong. He said there are two wires from the box to the house and he switched them to give me a new line though he said both tested the same. He said I was also now on a closer box if I understood right.

Then he came back to the house and he took out the old modem/router and replaced it with the most current model. He set up both the 2.4 and 5 Ghz bands and helped me get all my devices reconnected to the network.

I checked connectivity with the Aurender but because it is connected via lan line, there was nothing needed and it worked fine.

The internet does seem faster now but that could be placebo effect. Hopefully I'll be able to get a listening session in later today to check for sound quality. 


jdavis37
28 posts
 
Pokey.... are most of your issues associated with streamed music versus music stored locally (such as FLAC or whatever format files stored either on your Aurender hard drives or NAS type drive)? Curious. I am keeping the N10 on my short list for music servers (2019 purchase) to replace what I now have but I have this far only played music stored locally.
pokey77 OP
1,268 posts
 
@jdavis37 

All of my problems have been with streamed music. I have not uploaded any music to the player yet. I've been trying to iron out my streaming problems first.

As you probably read above, ATT was out here on Monday morning and replaced my modem/router, replaced the wiring inside, checked all wiring outside the house, and replaced all wiring in the "box" at the edge of the neighborhood and gave me a new line. I've had very good listening sessions on Monday, Tuesday, and just a little while ago, today. I am very pleased with the quality of sound since the ATT tech was here.

I can highly recommend the N10. It is pretty easy to use and it sounds very very good. It is able to accurately playback a very high resolution image and it amazes me the sound quality it can provide on a well-recorded Redbook file. I'm very happy with the N10 and with the customer service provided by Aurender. I'd do it again.
jdavis37
28 posts
 
Thanks Pokey,

I won;'t be purchasing a new music player until 2019 but starting my search early. Never know what you run into along the way. I have no immediate plans to stream (I can stream with current player but don't) and I will be redbook all the way given the DAC I am buying. Of course I may at some point go to streaming so not saying never! I know on my current player (Linux based) I typically try to reboot it every week or so. This seems to eliminate any dropouts. I am playing music directly connected to it via USB drive (FLAC) but use their iOS app to drive it and thus the network. My player had a lot of issues with its wireless connection so I went to hard wired and with weekly or biweekly reboots no issues there. If I forget and encounter a drop out I simply reboot the player and all is well.

The N10 appears to be a rock solid player, one on my radar screen. I need S/PDIF output (via RCA or AES) so it certainly qualifies in that way. I am assuming it will work for a USB connected drive as well as using the internal drives? 

I am also curious if the 2 internal drives can be changed out to SSDs if they are not already. I know it caches music to a smaller SSD but with current sizes increasing and prices dropping going all SSD would be nice.

How are the apps they provide? 

Glad your network issues are being resolved and you are able to enjoy the music more!
pokey77 OP
1,268 posts
 
@jdavis37 

2019 isn't all that far away! I know, it sounds long now since you don't have that new piece of gear, but it'll be here before you know it. I didn't try other servers in my system. I just tried the A10 and N10 and can tell you the N10 is very much worth the extra $$. I think the most important thing is that your new server synergize with your gear and really the only way to find that out is to put your choice in your system and listen to how it sounds. Hope you find just the right server.

Streaming is so fun; the only work is to go look up the next track or album. I'm really digging it. BTW, my CD collection is getting smaller and it feels good.

I'll keep the reboot procedure in mind; thanks for the tip.

"I am assuming it will work for a USB connected drive as well as using the internal drives?" -All the inputs are there so I'd say yes. I am using AES from DAC to N10. I also tried USB and felt AES was overall slightly better. Based on the text on the Aurender site, the two main drives do not appear to be SSD. I am unsure if you can replace them. You could try asking Aurender support. They are very helpful.

The Conductor app is quite easy to use. I found a few videos on YouTube that walk you through the features and that was a good use of 15-20 minutes.

Just finished another listening session and it was really very good. The N10 is an amazing source.


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