What's Everyone Using as a Digital Source Nowadays

[MylesBAstor]

Computer, music server, transport?

[JackD201]

Still spinning discs with a CH D1/C1/X1 stack. I go USB via a MBPro/ROON. The alternate is the Da Vinci Dual via Aurender W20. In the latter configuration CDs are played through an EERA Autographe. To me the single box silver spinner I still like best despite its obvious format limitations.

I haven't gotten around to finalizing the NAS thing. The C1 supposedly plays best via UPNP/Ethernet.

[nc42acc]

Aurender N10 with a Gustard X20 DAC. I also have an Oppo BDP-105 for discs if needed.

[MylesBAstor]

There's been a lot of good word of mouth about the Aurender. What makes it so special?

[Steve Lefkowicz]

I use a generic Asus notebook running Windows 7 and JRiver Media Center 21 software. I've just upgraded to an iFi iUSB3/iPurifier/iDAC2 combo with a dual head Gemini cable. Review will be out in a month or two. Still need to determine if the iUSB3 is better than the Schiit Wyrd or not.

[Robert_Anderson]

At home, I am using an Esoteric D-03, P-03, and G0 Rb clock. Also in the photo is a Levinson 37 transport for guests to use, and a Bryston BDP-1. Yes, the rack and equipment positioning is shameful.............

[JackD201]

There's been a lot of good word of mouth about the Aurender. What makes it so special?

Mine comes with a techno whiz named Hansen via the Aurender distributor who makes everything easy for me. Gotta love great customer support.

[Alex Siufy]

We do have a CD transport (MSB Universal V) in the store, but we hardly ever use it.
Most of the time, it's MSB's own streamer module (installed inside an MSB DAC), or an Aurender N10. When we have them in, the Auralic Aries is always popular, for its price point ($1600). The Linn streamers are also in heavy use here, as they're by far the most "solid" from a reliability perspective.

Myles, to answer your question, the Aurender is very popular as it provides a simple, "all-in-one" solution to the digital problem, for those who don't want to deal with CDs anymore. With most of the other solutions, you're looking at getting an external storage box on your network, and interfacing that with your streamer. With the Aurender, all you need to do is drag your music to the Aurender itself, that'll be sitting on your network. That way, you can, for instance, leisurely rip your CDs on your computer, and transfer the files to the Aurender.

Because it doesn't rely on the network to actually fetch the files, it's extremely solid and bomb proof. Updates, when available, are done transparently, with very little downtime. With the higher end models, you can even eschew USB altogether, and go old school with SPDIF to your DAC.

In terms of SQ, I found it to be the smoothest, most pleasant of all the digital transports out there (that I tried of course).

Just for reference, I used to use a Mac laptop with Audirvana before, and even the $1600 Aries was a significant step up over that.

[Bruce B]

I use my DAW. Most stable thing I've found!

[Ki Choi]

There's been a lot of good word of mouth about the Aurender. What makes it so special?

I borrowed one for a month or so. Can't tell if it sounds any better than my PC based file playing but their iPad UI was so easy and useful - sorting and getting right to the music in a flash, it might have been worth the admission. OTOH like all things in digital, I knew the moment I pull the trigger, it would have been outdated (as bad as buying the latest Wilson speakers it seemed)...so I had to pass and settled for stumbling through the J-river on my laptop and the Aries (bought one but haven't installed).

[nc42acc]

I moved up from an N100H to the N10 for the higher storage capacity and better output stage. I can drive three DACs with the N10 simultaneously. I was using a MacBook Pro 17 with iTunes and Audirvana + before and the Aurender sounds substantially better in my system.

[mep]

I'm still using a laptop as a music server running JRiver 20 into my Mytek Stereo 192 DAC.

[Dre_J]

My old standby is a Sony SCD-XA9000 CD/SACD player

When needed, I have a laptop with JRiver Media Center 21 and an external RAID5 drive system.

I can also stream TIDAL on demand.

The last few DACs (also CD and/SACD players) in the system were:
- PS Audio DirectStream DAC
-Ayon CD-3sx (reviewed in TAS issue #259)
-Accuphase DP-720.

Dre

[allenh]

Now that I sold the CHP C1, Sonos.

[allenh]

I borrowed one for a month or so. Can't tell if it sounds any better than my PC based file playing but their iPad UI was so easy and useful - sorting and getting right to the music in a flash, it might have been worth the admission. OTOH like all things in digital, I knew the moment I pull the trigger, it would have been outdated (as bad as buying the latest Wilson speakers it seemed)...so I had to pass and settled for stumbling through the J-river on my laptop and the Aries (bought one but haven't installed).

In addition to the sonic advantages the Aurender has, the GUI has to be one of the best apps out there for playing digital music. I've tried a number of DLNA clients with my C1, including CHP's own app - meh. If I ever get back into a serious digital rig, Aurender will likely be serving up the bits.