I appreciate the responses folks. A bit more info.
The Aurender replaces a high quality home-built server with all sorts of internal "audiophile" parts, linear power supplies etc and ran JRiver, AO and Fidelizer. No other changes. I would characterize its sound as neutral.
The DAC is an Auralic Vega which is pretty neutral as well. It has 4 filters. I just played with those but not much difference.
Cabling is from different sources but all are in the $300-$700 range not counting the Audience speaker cables. Most of the cabling is fairly neutral as well.
Aurender recommends 100-150 hours break in. I'm at less than 50 but I don't think the entire character of the Aurender will change during break in. But we'll see.
The amp is on the bottom shelf of a non-"audiophile" rack, in fact its a wide Sanus unit meant more for a home theatre. So, MDF shelves most likely. When I got this amp I plunked it on the shelf and there it has been sitting for 5 years. Now I'm wondering if the amp's placement and the lack of isolation devices has been contributing to the somewhat warmer/darker sound Pass is known for, and adding a new device with similar sound qualities just exacerbates that sound. I don't have much in the way of isolation stuff- Black Diamond cones, Golden Sound DH cones and squares, various Herbie's junk. Not sure if any of these might help tighten up the amp sound.
Short of other ideas I'll let the Aurender break in and go from there. I would consider swapping in a more neutral amp as well if the isolation doesn't help.
The Aurender replaces a high quality home-built server with all sorts of internal "audiophile" parts, linear power supplies etc and ran JRiver, AO and Fidelizer. No other changes. I would characterize its sound as neutral.
The DAC is an Auralic Vega which is pretty neutral as well. It has 4 filters. I just played with those but not much difference.
Cabling is from different sources but all are in the $300-$700 range not counting the Audience speaker cables. Most of the cabling is fairly neutral as well.
Aurender recommends 100-150 hours break in. I'm at less than 50 but I don't think the entire character of the Aurender will change during break in. But we'll see.
The amp is on the bottom shelf of a non-"audiophile" rack, in fact its a wide Sanus unit meant more for a home theatre. So, MDF shelves most likely. When I got this amp I plunked it on the shelf and there it has been sitting for 5 years. Now I'm wondering if the amp's placement and the lack of isolation devices has been contributing to the somewhat warmer/darker sound Pass is known for, and adding a new device with similar sound qualities just exacerbates that sound. I don't have much in the way of isolation stuff- Black Diamond cones, Golden Sound DH cones and squares, various Herbie's junk. Not sure if any of these might help tighten up the amp sound.
Short of other ideas I'll let the Aurender break in and go from there. I would consider swapping in a more neutral amp as well if the isolation doesn't help.