Hi, I just purchased two a1000s - one for my main home and the other for an apartment I own on the opposite coast. So far, I only received the one for the apartment and expect the second one to arrive late this week.
My systems are:
- Apartment: Krell KAV-300i integrated amp, Sonus Faber Sonetto 3 v2 speakers
- Home: McIntosh MHT100 receiver, Linn Keleigh speakers, Technics SL1210GR turntable, Phasemation 200 cartridge, Sutherland TZ Vibe phono pre
- Streamers: For the Mac system, I was first streaming Apple Music over Airplay to the DAC in the Mac via SPDIF. Then I bought a Topping D10 and streamed to it from an iPad via USB and then analog to the Mac, as I wanted to stream at hi-res, which AirPlay cannot do. It sounded very good. Then I went with an Eversolo A6 to get into streamers and be able to get hi res but control it wirelessly. When I set up the apartment system, I started with a Cambridge CXN100 and then exchanged it for the Aurender.
Thoughts on streaming options:
- Topping DAC: Sounds good, better and more reliable than AirPlay. Needs to be wired.
- Eversolo A6: Nice but sometimes a little harsh. It has all of the right features and the right chips, but honestly it’s what you expect from Chinese gear. Checks the boxes, sounds decent, nice display, a lot of bells and whistles you don’t need. Decent value, but I’m really getting sick of Chinese stuff in general.
- Cambridge CXN100: Definitely a step up from the Eversolo as far as sound goes, the app is decent. But I decided that, given what I spent on the rest of my gear and the quality of that gear, I can spend more and get nicer streamers. I clearly could have lived with the Cambridge unit. Had I not decided to go with the Aurender, I’d have exchanged the Eversolo for another CXN. And I am aware it's made in China, but Cambridge is an English company.
- Aurender a1000: I only have this unit up and running with the Krell and can only directly compare it to the CXN100, which it replaced. And I only have a few hours on it. The Aurender sounds better, really good, but so far it’s not an enormous leap. The CXN sounded great and the Aurender is maybe 5-10% better. It’s audible. That’s the nature of these things. The build quality of the Aurender is far better than the CXN and Eversolo, but those aren’t badly built units. It’s just that the Aurender is heavier and the case is better, and the controls are higher quality. It may not really matter but it’s nice. Still, I need to put more time on it. Overall, I am happy with the Aurender and don’t regret the purchase(s). But I would say that if you don’t want to spent $3500 for a streamer, get the Cambridge, which is only about $100 more than the Eversolo and IMO sounds better. Also, as I mentioned in my other thread, I can’t seem to get Aurender to respond to my customer service emails after several weeks, which is disappointing. It will really be interesting to compare the Aurender with the turntable, which I should be able to do next week. BTW, the Phasemation/Sutherland combo sounds fabulous (I believe a solid turntable “gets out of the way” and it’s really the cartridge and phono pre that matters).
One last thing: Initially, I didn’t really see the value in Roon given I just use Qobuz and don’t have a big ripped library, but I decided to do the trial because, why not? Yes it’s a pain to need to run the Roon Core on my Mac and have that computer running. But I have to say I like it. The interface is much better than Aurender Conductor or Eversolo, and the information on the music and bands is just great and well presented. I think I’ll stick with it and use Aurender Conductor as a back up when I don’t have the Mac that runs my Roon Core with me.
Overall, these streamers all sound really good and the availability of millions of songs and albums is really incredible when you think about it. I know we all like to gripe about product shortcomings and talk about how much better things were decades ago. But when I think about my system in high school, things generally sound so much better now, and I'm appreciative for that.
