Thanks All for the replies! @designsfx - perfect suggestion, thank you! I tried both connection options in the beginning, when I just received the Aurender and before it broke in. I couldn't hear the difference back then and left Aurender on the Aux of the pre-amp. I tried now connecting it directly to the amp, and that worked - the SQ is identical to the CD, if not a bit more transparent!
Aurender vs CD
Upgrading my old system: Nakamichi CD player OMS-7, Pre-amp CA-5, Amp PA-7, recently purchased Sonus Faber Sonneto VIII speakers; simple Monster RCA interconnects and AudioQuest Rocket 88 speaker cables.
Purchased Aurender A15 to replace the CD player, and the Aurender sounds more "digital" - more noise on the top, less transparent, more fatigue after listening. It's the same while streaming high-res Qobuz, MQA Tidal, or playing from the SSD.
This is my first streamer. Is it the same for all the streamers/DACs in this price range? I also considered but did not audition Lumin, Auralic and HiFi Rose.
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Thanks @rockrider! CLM does improve the SQ - a bit more clear top and focused bass, at least to me |
@evernv I agree on playing with the DAC filters as well. The A15 benefits from some break in time, so it will sound more full and open as the DAC breaks in. Also, most Aurender you units including the A15 will benefit from a quality cabling. You can reach a much higher level of performance if you find a power cable with very good shielding and 10-12AWG copper or silver plated copper conductors. Quality Ethernet cables can also reduce fatigue. |
@blisshifi Thanks, fully agreed on break-in. It took about 3 weeks of almost daily listening for A15 to fully open up. Cables are definitely in the plans. My Nakamichi amp has only RCAs, and I'm planning to upgrade it to Mac MC275 that has XLRs. Hence the wait. Good power management system with power cables is also in the plan. What ICs & power would you recommend? I've been looking into Nordost family. BTW, I know speaker cables are off-topic in this discussion, but wondering everyones opinion. I tried AQ Rocket 33 first and was not impressed, then got Nordost SuperFlatline and was impressed by it's musicality. I missed the bass though, and the highs were a bit too underscored and not super clean. Recently, I got AQ Rocket 88. They are still breaking in, but definitely higher quality, quiet, and with better bass. Maybe it's my bias toward Nordost, but I'm missing emotions a bit with AQ Rocket 88 and now considering Nordost Red Dawn. I looked at others at this price range but some designs are not my cup of tea, eg Cardas bright blue color with cheap looking heat-shrink tubing. Any thoughts and recommendations? Re the system, I'll be keeping A15 as my main source for a while, maybe adding analog source at some point, will be upgrading digital Nakamichi PA-7 to Mac MC275, and possibly upgrading Sonus Faber Sonneto VIII to higher level speakers but most likely staying with the SF family. Again, apologies for off-topic. |
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