[Vitor Teixeira]

Indeed. And guess who has an Aurender X100L en route for review? That's right, finally something tempt me away from my beloved Auraliti. We shall see if the added functionality of on board storage, display, front panel controls, dedicated Aurender iPad app, etc, is enough to overcome the price discrepancy.

Hi John,

Where's the X100L review ?

 

[project86]

Hi John,

Where's the X100L review

?

 
Getting there. Slowly but surely. Sneak preview? I love it. 

 

[Vitor Teixeira]

   
Getting there. Slowly but surely. Sneak preview? I love it. 

 
Yup. Sneak preview would be great! 

 

[project86]

   
Yup. Sneak preview would be great! 

 
That was the sneak preview! 
 
No seriously, a big part of the draw is their software. You can go read reviews of the other Aurender models and see what I mean. It's similar to the mPad app I use for my Auraliti PK90, but refined in a number of ways. Which makes it a big part of the Aurender package.

 

[Greg121986]

I am an experienced computer user and I run an Ubuntu server with MPD which works great to my Oppo BDP-105 via USB or network. However, setting it up is kind of annoying and it does have a few things that would make a typical user impatient. I've used the Aurender system and it's quite nice. Basically, it just works. They are quite costly, but it seems they're using their own proprietary hardware and not just off the shelf mini ITX PC's like some other guys so their price may be more justifiable than most.

 

[townes]

Hi project86
I am also curious to read your review about the Aurender X100 (L). Though I have read a number of S10 reviews... one point was never clarified: While the S10 has a SSD and 1 x 2TB, the X100L has a SSD and 2 x 3TB (spinning) disks. Is it possible, that the user can replace the 3TB disk(s) by himself, in case one gets defective? Could I replace it by any (preferably silent) e.g. WD disks?
It would be great, if you could clarify this in your upcoming review. Thanks in advance!

 

[project86]

  Hi project86
I am also curious to read your review about the Aurender X100 (L). Though I have read a number of S10 reviews... one point was never clarified: While the S10 has a SSD and 1 x 2TB, the X100L has a SSD and 2 x 3TB (spinning) disks. Is it possible, that the user can replace the 3TB disk(s) by himself, in case one gets defective? Could I replace it by any (preferably silent) e.g. WD disks?
It would be great, if you could clarify this in your upcoming review. Thanks in advance!

 
Good question - very relevant. I already had a request in with some technical questions, this being one of them. 

 

[bmichels]

Is there somewhere a comparative review between the LUMIN A1 and the New LUMIN S1 ?
 
I will be interested to hear if the S1 bring really some serious SQ upgrade to the original A1 ... and why they changed DAC Chip supplier 

 

[cAsE sEnSiTiVe]

 
Is there somewhere a comparative review between the LUMIN A1 and the New LUMIN S1 ?


 


I will be interested to hear if the S1 bring really some serious SQ upgrade to the original A1 ... and why they changed DAC Chip supplier 

 


The S1 has a different DAC chipset (ESS Sabre) in it so it can output DSD128. The Wolfson in the A1 is only capable of DSD64.

 

[Xymordos]

Anyone got a Sony HAP-Z1ES to compare to the rest despite the price differences? 

 

[project86]

The HAP-Z1ES is interesting but sort of a "closed system". You've got no digital outputs for connecting an external DAC, and no way to play music from a NAS. The 1TB onboard storage can supposedly be augmented with adding a USB hard drive, but I don't know how well it integrates. I guess that's not too bad, but I see no reason why they couldn't do at least a 2TB drive on board. Drives are cheap enough these days right? Still, I'm interested to give it a try some day, and would love to hear someone's impressions.  

 

[Xymordos]

It says on the site that it has WiFi capabilities, or is that just for transferring files?! I saw a Japanese blog where the person changed its internal HDD into a SSD.
 
Not being able to be used as a DAC from the computer is making me not want to get it unfortunately...

 

[project86]

Yeah it's just for transferring files over the network, not for real time playback. Which IMHO makes it even worse - the networking capability is already there but they won't let me use it for playback? Annoying.

I'm sure it sounds really nice via analog outs. But personally I'd like to see digital outs as well as digital ins. Again, seems obvious, the DAC circuitry is already there so why not let me use it the way I want?

 

[Xymordos]

Yeah, that's a big no for me if it can't stream over network. Wonder if there are any good music servers out there.

 

[project86]

I like the Aurender X100L on the higher end side, and the Auraliti PK90 as a more affordable option. I also notice Grant Fidelity has an Opera Consonance Reference 7 on clearance at Audiogon. I used to have a JF Digital streamer which used the same playback "engine", and it was very nice. This one probably sounds even better due to a better analog stage, DAC, and power supply. I'd buy this in a heartbeat if I didn't already have other stuff.