Mrdon,
We sell many of the best server brands, from Aurender, Naim, Baetis, NAD, and Innuous.
Aurender can be controlled through Roon but that is only through Airplay running on the Aurender which limits you to 16 bit 44k only.
Aurender does perform well but the lack of true Roon compatiblity is hurting them the Conductor app is very good, the difference is Roon’s much greater experiential design links performers in a way that leads you to think about how muscians are connected.
Also Roon gives you the ability to upconvert and transcode your data, so for example if your dac can handle 24bit 768k sampling rates you can take a 16 bit 44k sample from Tidal and process it to the highest sampling rate your dac can handle, Or if you prefer the sweeter sounnd of DSD output your file that way to a DSD compatibile dac.
Then factor in that you can control Roon compatible devices from many manufacturers such as a Google Chromecast or a Sonos device all while being able to listen to your high end music system in one room gives you a lot of interesting features that many people really enjoy.
Add in steallar intergration of your stored music with streaming Tidal give s you a very winning platform.
Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ
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Docknow, yes the Nuclueus would be easy to use, so are a lot of other servers.
We are not fans of the Nuclues for one very good reason, for its price point there are better constructed servers which will output a cleaner signal to your dac.
If you look at the $2500 Roon Nucleus server vs the $2600 Innuous Zen server you will see a world of difference.
The Roon server is based on an Intel Nuc with optomizations and a large memory cache the unit still uses a switch mode power supply.
Compare that the the Innous Zen:
1: Custom designed linear power supply
2: Custom designed low noise mother board designed for audio
3: Custom designed USB board
4: Optomized software
5: Ethernet noise filters are in many ot their models as well.
For this reason we picked Innuous over the Roon product, Roon is a great company but has very little experience in designing hardware.
Aurender uses very well executed hardware the issue is true Roon compatibility, for this reason Innous is one of the best server choices on the market.
Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ Innous and Aurender dealers
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.docknow many people purchase the more expensive version which is $2500
If you add a linear power supply you are approaching the Zen.
We would love to do that shootout. |
gdnrbob, if you read our post above, the Roon is nothing special for hardware.Aurender is a much better designed and sounding box, the issue is Aurender is facing stiff competition from Innuous who makes a fanastic server that is also a Roon server.
Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ Innous and Aurender dealers |
Mattmiller why would you possibly say that, the conductor app is a very good app, it is very different than Roon.
Roon is much more experential with links in the Bio page to other related band's musicians, a radio feature that mixes similar artists and complete intergration between Tidal's Library and a stored one.
Roon offers up conversion to higher res sample rates, a eq function, and PCM to DSD and vice versa playback.
Roon also can control other devices that are Roon endpoints so you can have the same music in your reference audio room playing on a Naim Muso or a Sonos box or via Chromecast or NAD Bluesound prouduct throughout your home.
The Aurender products are excellent sounding, and are very well made, if the features of Roon don’t matter than yes Aurender’s conductior is an excellent app. They are very different things.
Obviously you have to pay $119 a year for Roon and Conductor is free.
Aurender has Airplay Innuous doest not.
As per sound and build quality both are outstanding. The Innuous Zenith is a mind blowingly good sounding server that improves upon the Zen.
As per availability we are ordering units three at a time, Innuous is filling orders the first runs of the new MK III products all sold out pretty fast.
Most new orders take 3 weeks to get product, there have been delays with the Zen Mini. Statements, Zen’s and Zenith’s are all flowing out to their dealers.
Dave and Troy
Aurender and Innuous dealers |
kingbarbuda, Roon software can be added to any home computer on the network as well.
Nad M50.2 is your server and can be picked up as a Roon endpoint, also any Sonos device is the same way.
The idea of getting a high end server like a Roon Nucleus or an Innuous would be to replace your Node in the music room with a direct connection via USB to your dac providing your dac accepts Usb.
If you have a modern dac that can do DSD or high resolution PCM you can output any of these frequencies to your dac and we have found that high res PCM or DSD files generally sound far superior to the 16 bit 44k original sample.
We would recommend that you look at the Innuous products as they are true audiophile grade servers that can also house the Roon program.
You could selll both the Bluesound Node and the NAD M 50.2 and replace them both with the Innuous server and get far better sound quality out of your dac.
The difference with the NAD M50.2 is that is has a built in raid drive and analog output a Nucleus or Innuous would require an external back up drive.
Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ Innuous and Aurender, and NAD dealers |
Lalik man it is nice to see you love your N10 but some of your comments are totally off, "the N10 has no peer other then the N20," I guess all of those people who are building other reference streamers such as Innuous, Antipodes, Baetis, SGM and others are making totally inferior products?
As per upsampling only the N10 and N20 offers that with Roon based servers you have upconversion and transcoding available at many more price points and certain dac's sound better as higher bit rates or better with DSD files, so with comprehensive upsampling all of your files from 16/44k files can sound like high resolution files.
As per 480p to 4k it is more like 1080p to 4k and that is what a lot of highly rated projectors have been doing including JVC and Epson and we have an Epson 4k Laser projector which actually uses the same wobulation technique and our 1080p content shown via their upconversion technlogy looks amazing.
We love Aurender and they make fantastic products but don't kid yourself that Roon compatibiity isn't hurting their sales and that many people prefer the comprehensive feature set of a Roon based server.
It all comes down to what you are comparing a product to.
Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ Aurender and Innuous dealers
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We have three on order, most new orders are shipping in three weeks.
We can always lend you a server if you need one.
Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ |
Larryl we have the Ndx 2 xps 2 combo which comes close to the 555.
Our favorite streamer the lumin x1 it sounds amazing.
Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ |
Twoch, Roon is one big boat anchor? What are you smoking Roon rocks, if you notice more and more manufacturers are making their products Roon compatible endpoints, we just put out a new Krell K300i integrated amplifier for example and I can seemlessly send music to it from Roon as well as being able to send music to dozens of other devices all over my store.
Sure some people are not Roon fans, and yes it does suck to have to pay for software but Roon has a huge ton of advantages.
You may also forget we do sell and really like Aurnender products, and they make a fantastic little server, what we pointed out is that not having Roon compatibility is hurting their sales, their hardware is excellent which unit a client prefers is up to them.
Roon is getting more and more traction because it is fantastic software, if you are only going to stream Tidal or Qbuzz, or Spotify or Internet radio then the Conductor app is fine and it is free it does have some nice features. We do like the built in Airplay function of the Aurender servers and wish the Innuous would have that.
Thyname we do agree with you, we sell: Lumin, Aurender, Baetis, Innuous, Naim, and Nad servers and streamers plus a whole lot more, the Innuous is one of our absolute favorites for all the reason mentioned in this thread, is it perfect no it isn't but the company continues to make better and better products.
Mrdon the Calia is supposed to be an excellent dac so unless you are unhappy with its performance I would concentrate on the sever part.
Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ: Innuous, Aurender dealers
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mrdon are you looking for a server or a streamer?
The Naim Ndx 2 oor a 555 are expensive streaming dacs, the NDX is $7500 for example. The Lumin D2 is excellent but it also includes a dac while the U1 does not.
The Aurender and Innuous products are mostly streamers, although the Innuous Mini has analog outputs and the Aurender A1 has its own built in dac.
Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ |
