Aurender N200


Hi

I was hoping to get feedback on the Aurender N200.   I have a Bluesound Vault 2i that honestly has been great but I am looking for a significant bump up in sound. Will be using with a LAB 12 DAC which accepts USB class 2 output and has coax also.  I really like this DAC , although I do have the opportunity to trade up within a year so that's to be seen if I do that.  I find myself mostly streaming and want a great sounding stand alone streamer that won't be outclassed if I upgrade the DAC.   Any opinions of this unit would be appreciated 

Thanks 

128x128oddiofyl

@dinov and @cleeds - for clarification, Aurender does not require you to use the internal bays for storing your music library. It absolutely has the ability to connect to a NAS on your network if that is the route you prefer to go. But there are benefits to installing the drives in the Aurender unit as it then does not risk any noise being leaked while the files are transferring from your NAS over Ethernet.

Likewise, the internal drives on an Aurender also act like a NAS on your network. You can access the drives and the files on them from any other device that can access your network.

So if you really want to use a different system to manage the music, you can still do that, and you can still use Aurender Conductor to navigate that file system and play back the music on your NAS. I hope that clarifies things. 

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@blisshifi I understand all of this, but Aurender is built for using the internal storage, not the other way around. Therefore, the benefit, so to speak, of using Aurender is it’s built in storage. Aside from the tweaking, I live in Florida, and when I need to evacuate because of a hurricane, I can just grab my nas with all my music and not have to dismantle a component from my stereo. I’m not saying Aurender is not good, just proprietary, and I’ve been there and done that game. Cc:  @cleeds 

blisshifi

...  for clarification, Aurender does not require you to use the internal bays for storing your music library. It absolutely has the ability to connect to a NAS ...

Quite so and thanks for clarifying. I just meant that Aurender is a closed, proprietary system, much like Apple products. For example, good luck trying to convert a standard playlist (such as a .pls or m3u file) for use with Aurender. Unless your filing structure is something Aurender "likes," the company says conversion is impossible. That's why I dumped Aurender. And good riddance.

“The problem I feel with Aurender is again being locked into a proprietary system that’s not nas friendly.”

@dinov

I don’t know why anyone still consider external NAS when you have the flexibility of onboard storage? Aurender is built around the idea of simplicity. Set it and forget it! I never felt ‘locked’ out when I’m downloading or transferring files from my computer to Aurender internal drives. I enjoy the complete freedom to edit metadata, album art. I can perform all of the edits from my iPad. As @blisshifi pointed out, there is a distinct advantage to store music on internal SSD drives.