Streamer creates a Wow experience

“Aurender’s ecosystems are sonically quite impressive given the coupling between the hardware and software.”
+1, ​​​​@blisshifi

@sbank

I understand if you prefer Roon but its not the best software for sound quality. I am not here to bash ROON but in direct comparison with Aurender Conductor app, I still prefer Conductor interface, file curation and ease of browsing music by a mile. I never wonder if I am getting the best SQ with Conductor. Again, this is my personal preference and a conclusion drawn upon last 12 months of side by side comparison. BTW, I own lifetime Roon subscription :-)

Aurender doesn’t use Roon by design and choice, they have their own eco-system with nothing else interfering.

Aurender’s Conductor app does nothing whatsoever to influence the sound of streaming, internal hard drives or attached NAS. It purely has the function to index and select tracks to play. It is available for both Apple and Android.

Conductor’s Folder application is the best way to use Conductor IMHO because it’s like a DOS version that lists everything by text and small thumbnails, great if you have a large library or playlists.

The N20 and N30 substantially benefit from the addition of a 10 Mhz master clock.

If you are using usb to your dac, your sq will always be flawed, it doesn’t matter how many tweaks/gimmicks you add to make usb sound better.

omg ... here we go... 🍿

let’s see --

... all dacs sound the same

... it is all 1's and 0's... none of it matters

... cables make no difference

... vinyl is better than digital

... tubes are better than solid state

... if you can’t measure a difference there ain’t no difference

... fuses are the most important part of every system

and so it goes, around and around

I know many here like Aurender, but found it to be very buggy and had connectivity issues that I was unable to resolve, despite numerous exchanges with Aurender customer support and sending the unit to Aurender to replace the SS drive.  I give Aurender kudos for trying everything to resolve the problem, including inspecting the unit (which I bought used from a dealer) and replacing the SS drive at no charge.   I just couldn't get it to work consistently and had to move on.  YMMV.

@lordmelton

Thanks for your post. I just want to reiterate, the use of external clock with N20, N30 or W20 requires a well thought out holistic approach and a commitment for SOTA digital streaming. Attaching a 10mhz master clock to a streamer is a half bake idea even with a high quality DAC. A external clock on streamer end alone will not yield full benefits in terms of musical rhythm, pace, timing, realism and phase coherence.

In order to realize aforementioned benefits, you need a music server and a DAC with master clock inputs. The external clock can then be used as a single source to synchronize timing between both digital devices ensuring jitter-free and time-perfect data transmission.

My previous setup included a N20, DA2, Ref10. While adding the Ref10 made a difference over already excellent internal clock in N20, the differences was not day n night or should I say worth $8K (clock, PC, BNC cable). I was looking for next level improvements and thanks to @mikelavigne and my dealer @gestalt audio, I now have what I believe a true SOTA digital streaming front end. I also encourage the use of high quality Ethernet switch / noise filtering device to further enhance your streaming experience.