Aurender music servers: higher priced ones sonically better?

Roon is an interface has nothing to do with sound quality

totally incorrect. Roon is a 1) server, 2) streamer, 3) multi-room and network streamer with its own protocol, 4) upsampling DSP, 5) MQA first unfold algorithm, 6) timing and bit depth adjustment device, .....

How far do i need to continue. Totally, completely, off base.

Sorry to be blunt to the point of rude, but this is really misinformation. And Roon provides a lot of options to minimize network impacts, optimize timing, tune for rooms, etc.

I shoudl add i have no commercial affiliation with Roon expect that i was an early adopter, and often feel like a beat tester. Its a work-in-progress.

Nice system though Tom. Thumbs up on your choices, from what i can see.


2nd edit: if interested, i was asked, and wrote, a long post on how to get the best sound out of Roon in a digital audio thread not long ago.  It extended beyond Roon proper to bridge and USB interfacing (e.g.: lots of ground and power supply isolation) to get the best sound.  Remember that Pulse Amplitude Modulation is in effect a cartesian coordinate mapping of analog sound and the X (time) domain is just as important  as the Y (volume/bits) domain.

I streamed off a MacBook and / or a PC for years. The sound was, in retrospect terrible. Until I got a dedicated streamer (Auralic Aries first then Aurender) the sound was without a quiet background (very high noise floor), dynamic, or natural sound. I would constantly flipping from one track to another (in retrospect trying to find something that sounded good). When I swapped to a great streamer, my surfing ended, each tune was captivating… even stuff I normally would not like.

@ghdprentice, can you say more?
I clearly had a different experience, and its unclear what steps you took to get good sound out of a "macbook and/or PC".  Further, mac books and PCs are significantly different -- starting with, until very, very recently PCs didn't even support USB high res audio profile 2.  And, while there is huge variation, their power supplies are much noisier. Any SMPS is bad, but Apple's are typically "less bad".  The best procedure is to run them off battery for critical listening.  Will a dedicated server with a dedicated set of isolated LPS bet better? Sure - just like i built for Roon.

Did you use Bitperfect (you really need to, and its 10 bucks).  And the list goes on.  Without that your data point is useful o you, but not very valid as a learning point for others. Plus I'd like o now why the discrepancy.

I worked with streaming on two fronts for about fifteen years. My main system and what eventually became my library headphone system. See my systems by clicking on my user ID.

During this time I used many different software and storage combos on my headphone system. I settled on Ayre QB-9 DAC… lots of power conditioning and a $500 USB cable that finally got some real magic out of the system. I had and have a number of high end headphones. I use high quality Woo headphone amps.

On my main system I was running a Sim Moon 650D DAC with a Sim Moon 820 power supply. I used an MacBook that I carefully unplugged when using as a server. I have since upgraded this whole system in a big way. The Aurender W20se streamer seemed expensive until i turned it on and listened. Finally some competition with vinyl.


I did all sorts of software and format changes. I doubt there was much I didn’t try. Bought a bunch of high res files. Tried from the MacBook, USB storage, network storage. All sorts of interconnects. The more I think back the more stuff I realized I tried.

Anyway, I didn’t get real audiophile quality sound until I finally broke down and got dedicated streamers. I was resistant… “it’s only a PC in a different box”, why should I spend so much money? The difference was profound.

I did all sorts of software and format changes. I doubt there was much I didn’t try. Bought a bunch of high res files. Tried from the MacBook, USB storage, network storage. All sorts of interconnects. The more I think back the more stuff I realized I tried.

But none of this is very specific and none addresses the ground isolation, jitter or processor load (which generates noise) which are the critical factors to optimize. I suspect that is all your streamers do - all the necessary EE blocking and tackling. But hat can all be done to Roon running on  NUC with a RPi bridge - with much effort. Or similarly, some can be addressed with a Laptop especially (since they can run on battery).

That's what I'm trying to understand - and i think is good learning for other starting down the path. Throwing money at it certainly can solve the problem, but takes, well, a pile of money.