Joel Chevassus hat auf „6moons“ den Aurender S 10 besprochen (hier) und ist dabei auch auf die sehr berechtigte Frage nach der Investitionssicherheit eingegangen, denn in der Tat folgen vor allem im Bereich des digitalen Audios die Innovationen tragenden neuen Geräte schnell aufeinander und drohen ihre Vorgänger von vor nur wenigen Monaten oder Jahren obsolet zu machen.
Sein Fazit hebt vor allem die klanglichen Vorzüge bei hervorragender Verarbeitung und höchster Vereinfachung der Bedienung hervor.
- „[…] the Widealab server truly is a beautiful piece of industrial design […]. Equally attractive is the frontal display […]“
- „The way the Aurender works is efficient and simple.“
- „The free remote iPad app from the iTunes App Store is state of the art, completely stable, fast, beautiful and well thought out.“
- Die Bedienung ist kinderleicht, es ist ein „server for dummies“.
- „The Aurender turned out to be the simplest and most user-friendly computer-based audio solution I have used to date. There’s simply no comparison to a Linn or Olive machine to where on ease of use the Aurender S10 strikes me as an ongoing market leader.“
- Der Klang ist herausragend: „The Aurender was the best computer-based solution I’ve ever tested at home with the exception of the Audionec SDV3 which isn’t comparable on price.“ {Der Audionec-Server liegt zwischen 20.000 und 30.000 €}
- „The S10 delivered far more involving playback than other dedicated solutions I previously experimented with like Olive’s 4HD, Wyred4Sound’s Music Server, Linn’s Akurate DS or the Squeezebox Touch. For once the price hierarchy actually tracked the results (not always the case).“
- Im Vergleich zum Esoteric K-03: „For less than €6.000 the Aurender S10’s performance now was thus simply outstanding and with high-resolution files (24/96 or 24/192) it exceeded Esoteric’s own Redbook performance.“
- Die verschiedenen Ausgänge testend kommt er zu dem Schluß: „To me the Aurender seemed more responsive to the intrinsic quality of whatever digital cable I ran than the output itself (except for Toslink which was a clear downward step).“ {In der Tat ist der Aurender sehr gut geeignet, die Qualität unterschiedlicher Digitalkabel zu beurteilen}
- Auch Stromverkabelung und korrekter Anschluß habe einen klanglichen Effekt: „The choice of power cord became another differentiation factor. […] The Korean server was greatly impacted by AC phase and sounded rather different in either power polarity far beyond what I initially expected.“
- „Aurender’s plug & play performance really was outstanding.“
- Und im Vergleich zu direkt computergestüzten Lösungen (MacBook und iTunes/Audirvana etc.) : „The Aurender produced a denser sound with accurate treble, clean bass and precise soundstaging. Each of my Macs had me think that something was missing from amongst possible bandwidth, dynamic, depth, timbre or image density facets.“
- „it became the most gratifying computer source I have experienced excluding the Audionec.“
Zusammenfassend:
„Either way the S 10 is a highly commendable device that offers good value over the mid-term because it’s been very cleverly designed to address the average music lover’s expectations like a bull’s eye. Let me say it differently. A few days ago I had opportunity to try Ayon’s S 5 streamer connected to a dedicated NAS. Despite this expensive machine offering higher resolution and superior sound, it remained a prisoner of its built-in DAC’s personality and was completely outclassed by Aurender’s ease of use. That’s what the S 10 is all about. I’d sketch the difference between it and a Linn server as being exactly what separates an Apple computer from a conventional PC. Better more intuitive functionality and a slicker user interface make for high residual value over the long term and in this fast-changing sector of audio computing, that’s quite the little miracle. Highly recommended!“