Aurender N100H vs MacBook Pro/Audirvana

[ChrisAZ]

I recently upgraded my Ayre QB-9 DSD DAC to a Twenty. So to complete my streaming upgrade I purchased an Aurender N100H used, hooked it up to the Ethernet (I had used WiFi on the MacBook), and connected it to the Ayre with a Kimber USB cable. Now I changed a bunch of things at once in the process, so I realize this is not scientific, but after running Tidal in HiFi DSD mode all I can say is that my streaming listening is completely transformed. It’s a revelation and now streaming is not the red headed stepchild of my system.

[George Prentice]

Congratulations! My first decent streamer was an N100 (coupled with a QB-9 DAC, now upgraded to 20) for my headphone system. Yeah, it is amazing isn’t it. Before that, I used Macs and PCs... it just didn’t seem like a streamer should make that much difference... it does. This revelation caused a complete upgrade of my main system. Streaming really opens the door to the world of music.

Also, if you don’t know this trick. Just buy a router extender box that plugs into an outlet near your Aurender and you can run an Ethernet cable from it to your Aurender. Then you can take your MacBook out and just control with your phone or an iPad.

[Puma Cat]

Guess what just arrived yesterday from a friend for an audition?

Aurender N20!

[George Prentice]

Originally Posted by Puma Cat

Guess what just arrived yesterday from a friend for an audition?

Aurender N20!

👍 It is highly likely you will love it. I have been impressed with every Aurender I have purchased or auditioned.

[Puma Cat]

Originally Posted by George Prentice

👍 It is highly likely you will love it. I have been impressed with every Aurender I have purchased or auditioned.

I like it very much already. Superbly made, and setup and getting it going was very easy; took all of 10 minutes.

The Commander software works and is fairly intuitve for the most part. It's integration with online streaming services is very good. Managing playlists and configuring the software to play an entire albums could be less modal, as software engineers say. The ease and "process flow" of selecting an album is not as intuitive or as fast and easy as Roon.

Sounds very good indeed.

[btn2803]

Originally Posted by Puma Cat

I like it very much already. Superbly made, and setup and getting it going was very easy; took all of 10 minutes.

The Commander software works and is fairly intuitve for the most part. It's integration with online streaming services is very good. Managing playlists and configuring the software to play an entire albums could be less modal, as software engineers say. The ease and "process flow" of selecting an album is not as intuitive or as fast and easy as Roon.

Sounds very good indeed.

Hi Stephen,

I am looking at N10, N20 and the Auralic Aries G2.1. Would love to hear your thoughts on the N20. Do you plan on writing a review of the N20? Thanks.

[George Prentice]

I owned Auralic Aries G2... And currently own a Aurender N100 and W20SE. I think the Aurender is in a different class than the Aries. I have heard the Aurender N10. My conclusions... go with Aurender, more natural sound and quieter (much of the improvement with cost is quieting it down). With Aurender you get exactly what you pay for... the N100 -> N10 -> W20SE are all significant jumps in performance, each completely worth it. The new N10 has a redesigned power supply for lower noise, definitely an improvement. I am not familiar with the N20. It sounds like it has expanded USB capability and more storage. If you buy at this level it is likely the AES or other digital out will sound better than the USB output with your current DAC. Unless your DAC is massively better than the streamer I doubt this is important. Even in my situation the AES sounds the same or ever so slightly better They probably made other improvements in the n20 to make the sound better than the N10.


The age of massive stored files locally is over. It is good to have a little local storage... but streaming sounds exactly the same in mine, so local storage of files is for internet outages and feeling like you haven’t thrown away money on all those disks and downloads. I haven’t used anything off of local storage in six months. Qubuz is great.

I think it is safe to buy the most expensive you can afford. My purchases were revelatory and left me happy that I did not invest less. They took me into the digital audiophile world permanently.

[ChrisAZ]

Originally Posted by George Prentice

Congratulations! My first decent streamer was an N100 (coupled with a QB-9 DAC, now upgraded to 20) for my headphone system. Yeah, it is amazing isn’t it. Before that, I used Macs and PCs... it just didn’t seem like a streamer should make that much difference... it does. This revelation caused a complete upgrade of my main system. Streaming really opens the door to the world of music.

Also, if you don’t know this trick. Just buy a router extender box that plugs into an outlet near your Aurender and you can run an Ethernet cable from it to your Aurender. Then you can take your MacBook out and just control with your phone or an iPad.

That is exactly what I did and it works a treat!