MAC Book Pro Computer vs Aurender N100h vs Aurender N10 Music Servers


I am considering replacing my MAC Book Pro Computer with the Aurender N100h music server. The N100h has received great reviews, has quality construction, provides Tidal support and offers the convenience of using an iPad. My local dealer "highly recommends" I consider the Aurender N10 music server OVER the Aurender N100h server. He feels the N10 would sound much better than my current MAC Book Pro Commuter or the N100h. He said the N100h would only be marginal better than my MAC Book Pro. To be honest, I was really considering the N100h because of its sound quality, construction and my budget.

However, based on the reviews, etc., I am sure the Aurender N10 sounds great but it costs $8,000 (expensive). I found one N100h review that said “ ….Not one single combination of Mac Mini & peripheral devices has so far bested the sound of Aurender’s N100H; a digital audio streamer/server that comes pre-loaded with: 1) audiophile-approved 120Gb solid state hard drive (for cached playback); 2) custom 35 Watt linear power supply; 3) low noise USB output. Check one, check two, check three”.

This is probably not a fair comparison since the N10 cost is $8k and the N100h cost is $3k. What are your comments about replacing my MAC Book Pro Computer with either the N10 or the N100h? Has anyone replaced their MAC Book Pro with one of these Aurender servers?

And, yes, I plan on visiting my local store shortly to hear both the N10 and the N100h. My current MAC Book Pro computer is connected to my Bricasti M1 DAC connected to my Hypex NCore NC400 Bridged mono blocks class D power amplifiers and my Sonus Faber Olympic II Speakers.   The 4 NC400 power amplifiers (2 amps per side) were modified (4 R141 chips removed) to match to the volume control in the Bricasti M1 DAC (running DAC direct to amp, no pre-amplifier).   Thanks.

hgeifman
hgeifman,

this is a great thread and you provide a ton of great information.  Thank you.  I have a few questions, but before I get to them, please excuse my ignorance about computer stuff and MQA in general.  If my questions are stupid, I apologize in advance, and admit that I am somewhat of a newbie when it comes to the MQA  and streamers etc.   


 I don't understand why an MQA dac is needed to get MQA from Tidal.    Right now when I open my Tidal app on my windows laptop, I can play MQA to my DAC (a light harmonic dual dac) and my dac is not MQA, yet my dac plays the Tidal MQA songs at 48 hz (my dac tells me whether im playing 44.1, 48, 192, dsd etc).  So I am able to stream MQA to a non-MQA dac using the Tidal software on my computer.  How come Aurender can't do the same thing?  Or am I missing something.  According to Tidal, you don't need an MQA dac, just their app.  Here is a quote from the Tidal website:

"All you need is a TIDAL HiFi membership to get access to thousands of master-quality albums through the TIDAL desktop application. When you are in the TIDAL desktop app, go to What’s New and select Masters in the Albums section."

I understand if you play Tidal from a web browser, then your dac has to be MQA to decode it.  But the Tidal app seems to do the MQA decoding instead of the DAC.  Couldn't Aurender build something into their software to decode the MQA like the Tidal app? 



You have also pointed out that the Aurender customer support is fantastic, but it does seem that you have had a few problems with your Aurender and for those of us that are not as computer savvy as you appear to be, do you think the Aurender is still a good option?  

Again, I appreciate this post, and your well thought out explanations, and any comments you can provide. 

Thank you and again apologies if my post is wrong or my understanding is wrong or my questions show a level of ignorance. 

@gasherbaum 

Thanks for your kind words.  It is appreciated.  Yes, I continue to recommend Aurender for your music server. There is lots of info below for you to better understand how the Aurender handles MQA. 

My friend, Lalit, posted this on Audiogon:

“For the benefit of those still unclear about how MQA works, this is a very nice article about demystifying the ambiguity surrounding the MQA”.

https://www.audiostream.com/content/mqa-decoding-explained


Please see this link, from
Aurender, “Browsing and Playback of MQA Content using Conductor”.

http://support.aurender.com/mqa.html

This is another excellent link, from Aurender, “MQA Content and Aurender Music Servers”:

http://support.aurender.com/mqa-playback.html

I hope the above helps.  Please let me know.  

Thanks so much hgeifman, that was super helpful.  That first link made it much clearer about what is going on.  I greatly appreciate the help.  I didn't understand that the Tidal app only unfolds part of the MQA and that you need a dac to unfold the rest.  Thanks so much. 
Thanks.  Unfortunately, the MQA implication is complicated.  DAC’s that implement MQA have to pay a fee for the MQA license.  Please note the Aurender A10 server includes a built in DAC that supports MQA.  

My DAC does not support MQA and I have no plans to replace it.  I do not know if the MQA is a lasting technology.  We have PCM, DSD, double DSD, quad DSD and MQA.   My Aurender plays Tidal albums (Masters) at 24/96 and they sound great.  


“Commercial MQA-capable playback devices require payment of a royalty to MQA Ltd per unit sold. Based on information from Auralic, a manufacturer of Audiophile Wireless Audio Streamers, Meridian Audio prohibits digital output of unpacked MQA in any digital format, only allowing the unpacked data to be fed to an on-board MQA-compatible DAC and output in analog form”.  

See this link for more back ground info on MQA.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_Quality_Authenticated

More info:

https://opensource.com/life/16/9/whats-wrong-with-

I hope the above helps.   Any more questions?

 I suggest you search Audiogon for “MQA” for many more questions and answers on MQA.