Стримеры — Aurender A200

The A200 is Aurender's most compact and economical analogue output network player, a streamer and music server with an on-board DAC that took over from the earlier A100 in the range. The Korean maker built it to bring its caching server platform and a built-in converter to buyers who want one box between the network and the amplifier, and it keeps the machined aluminium chassis used across the larger models.

Key specs that matter

A single stereo AKM AK4490 chip does the conversion and carries full MQA decoding. The analogue section accepts PCM up to 32-bit and 768 kHz and native DSD512, and it leaves the unit through one pair of RCA sockets with variable level. There is no balanced output and no headphone amplifier. For external converters the isolated USB audio port passes 768 kHz PCM, DSD512 natively and DSD256 as DoP. Two digital inputs, coaxial RCA and Toslink optical, give outside sources access to the AK4490. Storage is a 240 GB NVMe drive reserved for the system and cache, and two 2.5 inch bays that hold hard disks or SSDs up to 16 TB in total. An Intel low-power quad-core CPU runs with 8 GB of memory. The body measures 350 x 96 x 355 mm and weighs 9.6 kg, and its 6.9 inch wide IPS colour screen shows 1280 x 480 pixels.

Engineering and use context

Three discrete toroidal transformers feed a fully linear supply, rated 50 W for the computer section, 25 W for the DAC and 25 W for the FPGA, and shielding keeps noise from the converter. The FPGA hosts a clock generator whose jitter Aurender puts under 100 fs. A super-capacitor backup holds the system steady through an abrupt power cut. Selected music is loaded into solid-state memory before it plays, and Critical Listening Mode shuts down the screen, front buttons and any processing not required for playback. Networking runs through a double-isolated gigabit LAN socket, and two rear USB 3.0 ports take external drives, while NAS libraries are also supported. Draw is 26 W in playback, 30 W at peak and 6.5 W in standby. The Aurender Conductor app handles control, and the streaming list runs to Qobuz, TIDAL and web radio, plus AirPlay and Spotify Connect.

Pairing

The lossless DAC-level volume lets the RCA outputs run a stereo power amplifier without a preamplifier in between. An integrated amplifier with unbalanced line inputs is the other obvious partner, and a streaming TV box or disc transport can be wired to its Toslink or coaxial socket.

Alternatives

The Aurender A20 moves up to two AK4497 chips in dual-mono form, adds XLR outputs and a headphone jack, and has four digital inputs including BNC.