Стримеры — Aurender N20

The N20 is a network music server and digital transport from Aurender, built to feed an external DAC rather than to convert audio itself. It has no internal DAC and no analogue outputs. What it brings instead is a set of five digital outputs, oven-controlled clocks for the S/PDIF and AES/EBU streams and a socket for an external master clock, all housed in a full-width chassis machined from aluminium.

Key specs that matter

Outputs are isolated USB audio, AES/EBU, BNC coaxial, RCA coaxial and Toslink optical. Over USB the N20 sends PCM up to 32-bit and 768 kHz and DSD512 in native form. The AES/EBU and S/PDIF outputs are limited to 192 kHz PCM at up to 32-bit, and DSD reaches them only as DoP at DSD64. The one input is a 75 ohm BNC master clock connection that locks to 10 MHz, 12.8 MHz or multiples of 44.1 and 48 kHz. Music can sit on two user-installable 2.5 inch drives, HDD or SSD, of up to 8 TB each, while a 480 GB NVMe module takes the operating system and cache. The computer side pairs an Intel quad-core chip of the low-power kind with 8 GB of RAM. The unit is 430 x 111 x 355 mm and weighs 13.5 kg, and an 8.8 inch full-colour IPS screen shows album art, artist name and song title.

Engineering and use context

Aurender uses a hybrid linear supply with separate chains for the audio output board and for the non-audio sections, and super-capacitors provide an internal UPS. The OCXO parts, crystal oscillators held in a temperature-controlled oven, govern timing of the coaxial, optical and AES/EBU data. An FPGA performs DSD-to-PCM conversion for DACs that cannot take DSD, and it can also upsample PCM. Tracks play from a solid-state memory buffer, and Critical Listening Mode disables the screen, buttons and background computing that music playback does not require. The N20 is Roon Ready, and an MQA decoder is available as an upgrade. TIDAL, Qobuz and internet radio are integrated, with Spotify Connect and AirPlay alongside, and file support covers DSD, WAV, FLAC, AIFF, ALAC, M4A and APE. Rated consumption is 40 W while playing, 70 W at peak and 3.5 W on standby.

Pairing

A DAC with a USB input gets the full format range, while one with only AES/EBU or coaxial inputs works within the lower sample rate limit of those outputs and can receive DSD converted to PCM. Owners of a master clock generator with a suitable output can slave the N20 to it through the BNC input, and DAC preamplifiers or integrated amplifiers with built-in converters are equally valid partners.

Alternatives

The Aurender N200 is a narrower 330 mm transport with a TCXO clock, a 6.9 inch display and only USB and coaxial outputs.