Fidelity, Features, and Flexibility Any Digital Audiophile Will Love
Aurender's N20 caching music server and streamer provides the fidelity, features, and flexibility any digital audiophile will love. It comes without storage hard drives, which is actually a nice plus, because this allows you to customize storage to best meet your needs, budget and intend use. Some audiophiles use streaming services 100%, so no storage is necessary (although a drive can be added later if they change their mind). Have a modestly sized music collection? Install your own inexpensive 2TB HDD. Own a massive music library? Go with an SSD of 4TB or 8TB – or both, because there's a provision for two HDDs or SSDs. Fully loaded, the N20 is capable of accommodating an incredible 16TB of solid-state storage!
The N20 represents Aurender's best cost-to-performance ratio in terms of audio performance, features, and functionally. Many performance enhancing design techniques, circuit topologies, and upgraded component parts have been employed to push its advancement of digital audio reproduction.
An Intel Quad Core CPU supports the most demanding of all digital file codecs, Native DSD512. Less demanding file formats are also handled by this processor with exceptional ease. Aurender's latest generation SPDIF digital output suite employs transformer isolated grounding for the lowest possible noise floor and Aurender's USB Audio Class 2.0 output benefits from the latest jitter and noise reducing designs.
A word clock input allows you to connect an external word clock, pushing Aurender's reference-class SPDIF digital output performance even higher! And, a double-isolated ethernet LAN port greatly reduces network / router noise, thus lowering the overall system noise floor for a clearer and more pristine audio signal.
The new, bold 8.8" full-color front panel display illustrates the album cover artwork as well as the album name and artist using a large alphanumeric readout. The built-in uninterrupted power supply (UPS) will perform a safe shutdown under an abrupt power outage, preventing system and/or disc corruption.
Ultra-High-Quality SPDIF and AES/EBU Digital Audio Outputs
The N20's AES/EBU, BNC, coaxial, and optical outputs provide a superior musical presentation due to the superior clock and oscillator. As opposed to an asynchronous USB connection, where the DAC pulls packets of information from the player, N20's SPDIF audio outputs push the signal out to the DAC at intervals defined by the on-board precision OCXO clock. You will definitely hear the benefits of a clock this precise.
Oven-Controlled Crystal Oscillator (OCXO) for Long-Term Jitter Reduction
OCXOs are among the most accurate and stable clocks in use today, and they are orders of magnitude more accurate and stable than commonly used ordinary crystal oscillators usually found in computers. Temperature changes cause crystal oscillations to fluctuate, which can lead to jitter in the digital audio signal. Moreover, ordinary crystals are much less stable and lose accuracy over time. In OCXO clocks, a very stable, high-grade crystal oscillator is enclosed in a compartment and kept at a constant temperature to prevent jitter from temperature fluctuations.
Precision DSD-to-PCM Conversion by FPGA
Many DACs support DSD decoding only on their USB inputs, but not on SPDIF. Additionally, many excellent DACs still in use are non-DSD compliant. That's why the Aurender N20 (and W20SE and N10) all feature this extremely high-quality method of DSD-to-PCM conversion on-the-fly by FPGA. The resulting sampling frequency output is user selectable between 88.2kHz and 176.4kHz, gain is adjustable 1-6dB, and a low-pass filter accommodates 24Hz, 30Hz, 40Hz, and 50Hz settings.
FPGA-Based All-Digital Phase-Locked Loop System
An All-Digital Phase-Locked Loop system (ADPLL) incorporating Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA) with OCXO clocks precisely times digital audio data transmissions and minimizes jitter to below negligible levels. The results are sonically audible with better image focus, a wider, deeper, taller soundstage presentation, and an uncanny analog-like organic quality.
Dedicated USB Audio Class 2.0 Output with Ultra-Low Noise Power Circuitry
The N20's dedicated USB Audio Class 2.0 output is designed to deliver an exceptionally transparent audio signal free of noise and jitter, and it is shielded from outside electronic interference. The improved module-type design is chassis mounted for strength and durability.
Dedicated Word Clock Input
The N20 offers support for an external work clock which can, in most cases, improve upon the SPDIF audio performance in terms of musical rhythm, pace, and timing.
If you want to use a separate master clock, a music server with a master clock input is needed as well as a DAC with master clock input. The external word clock can then be used to synchronize timing between both digital devices ensuring jitter-free and time-perfect data transmission. The N20 can accept word clocks with the following frequencies – Master clock: 10MHz, 12.8MHz, Word clock: 44.1KHz and 48KHz in multiples from 1 to 512. The N20 supports both word clock (dCS, DACs or similar) or Master Clock (MSB DACs or similar) inputs.
Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS)
At the heart of any music server is essentially a computer, and like a computer, the server doesn't like it when its electrical connection is abruptly terminated. In the case of an AC power outage or momentary "brownout", the N20 is protected by a clever super capacitor-based power supply ,which allows the unit to stay powered on long enough to automatically power down. This prevents the system and hard drives from being corrupted by the loss of AC power.
User-Installable Hard Drive Storage with Solid-State Caching Drive for Playback
If you wish to add one or two internal drives of your own, the N20 provides unparalleled flexibility in terms of the type and capacity of drive that can be fitted. Each of the two trays on the rear panel can be fitted with a 1TB/2TB/4TB or 5TB HDD or a 1TB/2TB/4TB or 8TB SSD. You can choose to install one or both to accommodate your current capacity and/or future expansion of your digital files.
If installed, these internal hard drives provide storage for your music library and an internal 500GB solid-state drive is used to cache music for playback. If a selected song or album is already cached to the solid-state drive, the storage hard drive remains idle. This minimizes wear and tear on the hard drive. Additionally, by caching songs to the solid-state drive for playback, electrical and acoustic noise resulting from spinning disks, moving heads and motors is completely eliminated.
USB HDD and NAS (Network-Attached Storage) Support
Best audio performance occurs when music is stored using internal storage. However, the Aurender platform is also capable of seamlessly integrating content stored on a NAS, external USB HDD, or thumb drive. Two USB 2.0 ports on the rear panel import content or play back from the attached storage device. If importing content, Aurender's SmartCopy program can be used for bulk transfer or to selectively copy specific content onto the internal hard drives.
Upsampling and Critical Listening Mode
The N20 gives you the ability to upsample any lower resolution content to a user-determined sampling rate. Three selections are available to choose from: 44.1/48kHz, 88.2/96kHz and 176.4/192kHz. Since results vary from server-to-DAC combinations, experimentation may be needed to determine the sonic results. Upsampling can only for used when the DAC is connected using the SPDIF digital outputs.
Critical Listening Mode is a feature that allows you to defeat any nonessential-to-playing music circuitry within the N20. By defeating the display illumination and disabling other background functions, system resources are reduced for the best possible sound quality.
Aurender Conductor App Packed with Convenient Features for Full-Function Control
The Aurender Conductor App turns the iPad, iPhone, Android phones and tablets into a versatile user interface for all Aurender music servers. All settings and functions of the Aurender server can be easily accessed through the Settings menu, and Conductor comes with extensive features to make browsing and playing high resolution music collections a breeze.
Two streaming services, Qobuz and Tidal (subscription required) are embedded within the Conductor App, allowing easy access to millions of high-resolution albums. Being integrated, links to content found on streaming services can be added to your main file library making it easy to combine and compile content in one location.
MQA Core Decoder (Optional In-App Purchase)
Aurender's MQA Core Decoder upgrade enables MQA Core or first unfold allowing playback of MQA files at up to 88.2kHz or 96kHz. This is beneficial if using a non-MQA DAC as Core Decoding will deliver some of the MQA benefit from MQA encoded content. Additionally, the MQA Core Decoder will work with DACs that perform MQA rendering which is the second stage of MQA decoding. Together, they provides full MQA decoding.
Remote Internet Technical Support
Sending a Remote Support Request through the Aurender App allows engineers to quickly diagnose and correct problems over the Internet. This service can correct for file, software, or firmware issues and is a service provided free of charge.
