Стримеры — Aurender A20

The A20 is a music server, network streamer and DAC from the Korean company Aurender, combining local storage, streaming, digital to analogue conversion, variable analogue outputs and headphone amplification within a single enclosure. Control runs through the Conductor application from Aurender for iOS, iPad and Android, by a rotary knob on the front or by an IR remote. Tidal, Qobuz and Spotify Connect are supported.

Key specs that matter

A dual mono AKM AK4497 DAC chipset performs conversion in a 32 bit, 768 kHz design, and the analogue outputs decode PCM up to 32 bit and 768 kHz and DSD up to DSD512 natively. The unit is also an MQA full decoder. Supported files cover WAV, FLAC, AIFF, ALAC, M4A, APE, DSF and DFF. The XLR and RCA analogue outputs both carry a variable level, and a USB Audio Class 2.0 output passes PCM up to 768 kHz, DoP up to DSD256 and native DSD512 to an external DAC. For external digital sources there are two Toslink sockets plus S/PDIF on both RCA and BNC connectors. Two user installable 2.5 inch bays take HDD or SSD drives for up to 16 TB of music, and a 480 GB NVMe drive works as cache. The front carries an 8.8 inch wide IPS colour LCD with 1920 x 480 resolution. The case is 430 mm wide, 111 mm high and 355 mm deep and weighs 14.2 kg.

Engineering and use context

Each channel of the DAC stage gets its own fully discrete linear power supply, and the unit includes a linear power supply with a UPS function. Clocking comes from an OCXO master clock working with an FPGA based clock generator that Aurender specifies at sub 100 fs jitter. The network interface is double isolated to keep noise from the home network away from the audio circuits. Because the analogue outputs are variable, the A20 drives a power amp without help and removes the need for a dedicated preamplifier in a compact system. The headphone section is fed from its own amplifier stage rather than from the line outputs, and the display shows album art and playback information on the front panel.

Pairing

With volume control on board, the A20 connects to a stereo power stage or active loudspeakers through XLR or RCA cables. It also works with an integrated amplifier set to a fixed gain input, and the S/PDIF and optical sockets allow a CD transport or TV to connect to its DAC. The USB output allows an outboard DAC to be added later while the A20 keeps its role as server.

Alternatives

The Aurender A30 is a related music server and DAC from the same maker that adds CD ripping capability.