Стримеры — Aurender A30

The A30 is Aurender's all-in-one network player, merging a music server with a built-in hard disk, a CD ripper, a streaming client, a dual-mono DAC and a dedicated headphone amplifier in a single aluminium chassis. The company sums it up as a marriage of performance and convenience - one box that can import a disc collection, store it, stream online services and drive speakers or headphones.

Key specs that matter

A pair of AKM AK4497 converters works in dual-mono mode, one per channel, and full MQA decoding is built in. Playback through the analogue stage reaches 768 kHz at 32-bit for PCM and DSD512 in native form. Line outputs come in XLR and RCA form, and both are adjustable. The headphone amplifier has three sockets - a 6.35 mm unbalanced jack, a 4-pin XLR balanced connector and a 4.4 mm balanced connector. Music is kept on a 10 TB 3.5 inch hard disk, with a 480 GB NVMe SSD for the system and cache. A slot-loading optical drive rips discs to WAV, FLAC or AIFF. The digital inputs are RCA coaxial, BNC coaxial and two optical, and a USB audio output serves outboard DACs at up to 768 kHz PCM and native DSD512. The case is 430 x 142 x 355 mm and 17 kg, with an 8.8 inch 1920 x 480 IPS display.

Engineering and use context

Power comes from four discrete toroidal transformers in a fully linear layout - 50 W for the server, 25 W for each DAC channel, 25 W for the headphone stage and 25 W for the FPGA. A bank of super-capacitors acts as an internal UPS that protects the unit when the mains drops out. The FPGA-based clock generator is specified at sub 100 fs jitter. Every track is played from solid-state memory rather than straight from the hard disk. For big collections the ripper works with the Acronova Nimbie autoloader, which can process up to 100 CDs without the owner feeding them one by one. A quad-core Intel processor of the low-power type with 8 GB of RAM runs the system, drawing 47 W while playing, 80 W at peak and 6 W in standby. Owners control it with the Aurender Conductor app and manage the library with a separate A30 Manager app, while TIDAL, Qobuz, Spotify Connect and AirPlay are integrated.

Pairing

The lossless volume control inside the DAC lets the A30 act as a preamplifier, so balanced cables can go directly into a two-channel power amp or two mono units. Headphones with balanced leads plug in directly without an external amplifier.

Alternatives

The Aurender A20 keeps the same dual-mono AK4497 DAC in a shorter 111 mm case but omits the CD drive, the internal hard disk and the balanced headphone sockets.