You mentioned "Aurender then also recommended some other process that was just not in my zone (db power something or other)". I do not know what this means.
The album cover art is highly recommended since it makes it easier to find your albums on the iPad. Aurender Customer Support recommends cover art because albums are easier to find.
When you install your Aurender A10, please update its firmware. The update process may be automatic when you connect it but I cannot remember. On the iPad Conductor App, go to setting and check for updates. The Aurender Conductor App is installed from the Apple Store on your iPad. I strongly recommend your Aurender A10 be directly wired to your router (hard wired). Wi-Fi is not recommended.
I also recommend you implement Tidal Streaming at $19.99 per month. Tidal steams using uncompressed CD quality albums and also offer over 10,000 MQA Coded Albums. Your A10 DAC includes full decoder MQA technology and is a fully compliant MQA end-to-end solution enabling you to play back MQA audio files for very high quality.
I own the Aurender N10 Music Streamer and like it very much. Its addition to my audio system substantially improved my sound quality over my MAC Book Pro computer. You are going to like the A10 very much.