The A100 is a budget-friendly follow up to the popular Aurender A10. A music player with a high performance MQA enabled digital-to-analog converter, 2TB of internal hard disk drive and one 120GB solid-state drive cache for playback, the A100 is the perfect solution for those replacing CD players or seeking one-box simplicity.
FEATURES
• Single-ended/ Unbalanced (RCA) Audio Outputs
• 768KHz/32bit Next Generation Flagship AK4490 DAC Chip
• Volume adjustment from app, IR remote or front panel rotary control
Precision clock generation system incorporating Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA) with sub 100fs world-class jitter-reducing clock generator precisely times digital audio data transmissions and minimizes jitter to below negligible levels
A full linear power supply along with special shielding prevents noise from being delivered to sensitive DACs for the best sound reproduction. Three individual toroidal power transformers are used for the music server, digital circuitry and DAC. Fully isolated asynchronous USB audio output is also designed to block spurious noise
The Aurender Conductor App turns the iPad into a versatile user interface for Aurender Music Server/Players. All settings and functions of the Aurender Server/Music Player can be easily accessed through the Settings menu, and the Aurender App comes with extensive features to make managing, viewing and playing high resolution music collections a breeze.
The internal hard drive provides 2TB of storage and a 120G 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 hard drive will remain asleep. This minimizes wear and tear on the hard drive. By caching songs to the solid-state drive for playback, electrical and acoustic noise resulting from spinning disks, moving heads and motors are also completely eliminated.
The dedicated USB Audio Class 2.0 output is designed to deliver an exceptionally transparent audio signal free of noise, and is shielded from outside electronic interference.
Best performance occurs when music is stored on the Aurender’s internal storage. However, the Aurender platform is also capable of seamlessly integrating content stored on a NAS or external USB hard drive.
Sending a Remote Support Request through the Aurender App allows engineers to quickly diagnose and correct problems over the Internet.
The Aurender A100 is a computer that's purpose-built to be a music server optimized specifically for music reproduction in tandem with its robust operating software. I found the A100 to be a significant step up from using a computer designed for multiple purposes and trying to adapt it for music server duty. The A100 is better at reproducing music both from a performance standpoint and from a user interface perspective. Music played through the Aurender A100 does an admirable job at providing enough musical detail to satisfy most music enthusiasts, while still leaning slightly toward the warm side, making it enjoyable for longer listening sessions.