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Aurender N20 Music Server Comments and Observations

My Aurender N20 Music Server is installed and working great.  The N20 is supplied WITHOUT hard drives installed. This means hard drives are the customer’s choice. Each of the two rear panel mounting sleds accommodates a 1, 2, 4 or 8TB 2.5-inch SSD or up to 5TB 15mm height 2.5inch HDDs. Since users have different storage requirements, Aurender feels this is the best way to satisfy everyone.  Aurender recommends Samsung EVO (I used Samsung EVO) or QVO series internal SSD drives, and Western Digital or Seagate HDDs.

The SSD Disk installation means you loosen the screws on the back of the unit, pull out the slot, insert the SSD, push in and tighten the screws (top slot is Music1).  After I installed the SSD, I went to the Conductor App, settings, disk information tab to format the SSD (please see instruction links below).   If, for some reason, the format command does not appear, please power down (turn electrical power off) and restart manually.  Restarting takes time since the N20 has UPS circuitry inside.

I checked for software updates on the N20 (there were none) and deleted my old Conductor App and installed a new copy from the App Store on my iPad.

My First impression is it sounds excellent. The music is clearer, the bass is better, has more air and it has more musical details. The overall musical presentation is much improved.  I am listening to jazz now and the SQ is much improved.   I really like it.  

You know the music is great when I am typing my message and music catches my attention and forces me to look up.  This unit is truly outstanding.  I am very impressed. Cranking the volume and this unit is truly amazing. It is much improved over the N10.  The music has more feeling and depth.

I copied my albums from my LaCie external hard drive (backup drive) to the N20 okay.  I also ran the scanner, scan for newly added files, so all my albums appeared okay.  This worked perfectly.  Please note the scan for newly added files takes time to run (watch for messages on your App).   

A miracle!  Next, I restored my music1/backup and all my Qobuz links were returned. This is needed since my main library includes BOTH my stored CD’s and Qobuz links.  Previously, I used the backup my Music1 tab and also copied all my albums to my LaCie external hard drive.  For this step, I restored my settings from Music1/backup file.  This is a required step to ensure all my QoBuz related links were restored.  

In summary, my N20 is breaking in but out of the box, the N20 sounds terrific.   For startup purposes, the N20 displays a six-digit code that must be entered into the Conductor App.   The Aurender N20 Music Server is highly recommended.

Useful Aurender Users Guides and Web Manuals links are below:

https://aurender.zendesk.com/hc/en-us

SSD/HDD Installation Guide

https://aurender.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360045605693-SSD-HDD-Installation-Guide


I hope the above is useful.  


 

 

 

 

 

 


hgeifman
lordmelton's avatar
lordmelton
877 posts
 

I auditioned Aurender, Auralic, Weiss and Lumin over a two week period at a very knowledgable and understanding dealer. It was evident early on I preferred the Aurender's sonic presentation. Most of my listening was done on an Aurender ACS10 where we compared ripped CDs (The ACS10 rips) against my computer rips, ripped using DB Poweamp and then downloaded onto the ACS10's hard drive.

There was a lot of comparison done and the computer rips were no slouch but what eventually won me over to Aurender and eventually the N20 was the voice realism of Redbook CD rips. The Aurender ACS10 rips were amazing also played on the ACS10.

So audition for yourself, hearing is believing don't take my word or anyone else's word for it.

jimmy2615
407 posts
 

The N20 is excellent.  One thing to be aware of though is it runs very hot.  Aurender recommends not putting it in a cabinet.  I had mine in an open cabinet and ran small computer fans on it.  There's so much processing going on inside (FPGA, upsampling, higher DSD rates, etc.), which make the N20 very attractive in terms of features, but are probably the culprits here.  I now have the N200 and comparatively it does not run hot at all.

lalitk's avatar
lalitk
5,053 posts
 

@jimmy2615 

How do you like N200? How does N200 compares with N20? I did not experience any 'heat' issues with N20 as I had mine on a open shelf. 

jimmy2615
407 posts
 

Well, it's the best streamer I ever had, I thought it was great!  Being able to convert DSD to PCM on the fly, upsampling, a really good clock and SPDIF output, among other features make it very flexible, and sound is fantastic.  The N200 in comparison is very simple, but just using USB output it is also very good.  Hard to give a sound comparison though as I did not have the units in house at the same time.  Going off memory fwiw I think the N20 had just a little more refinement and definition.  

lordmelton's avatar
lordmelton
877 posts
 

@jimmy2615 I find your review of the N20 misleading to say the least. The N20 doesn't run hot. Google is your friend! The N20 will output native DSD over USB into a suitable DAC so why convert to PCM? Why use SPDIF when you can use USB or AES EBU? The N200 costs $6k and the N20 $12k if you can't strongly hear the difference you've got cloth ears or a super crappy system.

Anyone interested in Auender produts should go and have a demo over a few days and make your own mind up. PS I have no horse in this race except I chose the N20 over many other products and many people tried to mislead me along the way.

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