Aurender

@vonhelmholtz 

You may be interested in watching this video from Suncoast Audio where they discuss all things Aurender with Ari Margolis - he is the face of Aurender here in the states. It'll bring you up to date on Aurender and what they are doing, including why they use their own proprietary software, best sounding outputs, etc. 

(13) In Stereo with Mike & Rick - Episode 4 - Ari Margolis with Aurender - YouTube

I've owned an Aurender N10 for four years now. I can say that the Conductor software is very easy to use and I've really had no meaningful problems with it, just works every time. So for the few users who have had problems, I wonder if it is not with the actual machine itself or some other issue? My dealer has/had nearly all the different models in stock and I don't ever remember him having a problem with one. To be forthcoming, I've only used Aurender streamers in my system. I've also played with several DACs that have a streamer built in at my dealers shop, but none of them, even the top $$ tier brands don't have a user interface that is as useful or as easy to use.

I've followed along on the Taiko threads on a different forum. At least one member, who has both the Taiko Extreme and an N30 sold the Taiko as they enjoyed using the Conductor software more on the N30.

A note on Roon, I know a person on this forum that can use both Roon and Conductor and they prefer Conductor. Also, there's a thread, again, on another forum, that is about the different updates to Roon. Apparently, each iteration of Roon can be different sounding and some much better than others. Though Taiko uses Roon, they are in middle of an upgrade to their own XDMS software, and all users in that forum that have tried both Roon and XDMS say that XDMS is far superior.

+1 @pokey77 on the Aurender N30SA over the Taiko. There are a few other threads on other forums that cover this. Not only does it sound better, the N30SA costs $10K less. 

@pokey77 

Thanks for the info.

Roon can exhibit functional issues due to seemingly minor network issues.  For example, don't use a smart switch unless you know what you are doing.  Perhaps, some Conductor users suffer the same fate.

Roon musicality claims are all over the map.  I wonder if this can be traced back to Roon Core implementation.

“Not only does it sound better, the N30SA costs $10K less”
@blisshifi

Have you compared Taiko running on XDMS with N30 in your system?

@lalitk Unfortunately no, when I did compare it was in someone else’s system and Taiko was running Roon. At that point the units have the same level of body and natural delivery (which is significant compared to any other streamer / server I’ve ever heard), but the N30SA had better clarity and separation. Maybe XDMS puts the Taiko up a notch, but for a $10K difference, I’m wondering if the SQ improvement from the software alone would justify the price difference.

What I would also say is that while I do have the N30SA, it is hooked up to the T+A SDV 3100 HV Reference Streaming DAC Preamp. I’ve spent a lot of time comparing the two, and it is really close. The N30SA does still beat the SDV’s streamer just ever so slightly with body and detail, but I have to try really hard to tell the difference. I’d like to try hooking up a simple fanless NAS, thinking of getting a QNAP HS-264 to try, putting one of my SSDs and a linear power supply to connect via Ethernet into the SDV and compare it to the N30SA’s local library. If the SDV is close, that really makes it a killer unit as its preamp and DAC sections are also the best I’ve ever heard.

And again, in full transparency I am both an Aurender and T+A dealer, so feel free to take my comments with a grain of salt despite these being my honest convictions compared to all other gear I’ve heard.