Aurender N20

“The Aurender N20 hits the bullseye with simplicity, stability, speed, and sound quality. The product is as simple as possible, but no simpler”, said AudiophileStyle.com and we couldn’t agree more.

N20 sits in the enviable “sweet spot” of cost vs. performance in the middle of Aurender’s range of digital source components. Equally at home in a cost-no-object system or as the cornerstone of a more modest system, N20 is designed to be connected to the world’s best high-quality DACs. the N20 features ultra high-end SPDIF (Coaxial, BNC, Optical) and AES/EBU outputs in addition to an isolated USB Audio output. The SPDIF digital output suite is controlled by a precise OCXO clock for long-term jitter reduction, achieving the perfect marriage of low noise and low jitter. A word clock or master clock input is also provided for users who wish to sync with an external clock.

High-resolution file support for all major codecs goes to the extreme limits, and on-the-fly DSD-to-PCM conversion by FPGA is available for SPDIF outputs. N20 is equipped with two user-installable storage bays, allowing the user to select the drive type and capacity to meet their own needs. The handsome machined aluminum front panel features a large 8.8” full-color IPS LCD display that reproduces the album art, artist name and song title.

A true overachiever, the N20 fully embodies the virtues of high-end audio performance and user-friendliness expected from Aurender.

Clean power is the single most important factor in enjoying your favorite music with the highest fidelity from a digital source component. N20’s unique hybrid power supply, on which the flagship N30SA is based, delivers a pure DC current to flawlessly power the digital audio output board, while a separate linear power supply chain feeds clean power to the non-audio adjacent components of the machine.

Aurender’s Oven Controlled Crystal Oscillator (OCXO) clocks are unique in a category that has historically treated superior SPDIF and AES/EBU audio outputs as an afterthought. Unlike USB, where the DAC’s clock matters most, SPDIF and AES/EBU data streams are only as good as the transport clocks that govern them. N30SA, N20, and W20SE all employ exceptionally accurate and stable OCXO clocks for a smooth, saturated, and laser-focused audio presentation.

Although N30SA plays in a league of its own when it comes to resolution, timbral saturation, and lowering the noise-floor by physically separating the audio outputs into a separate chassis, N20 includes very nearly the same hardware features and benefits in a single chassis. For many music lovers and audiophiles, N20 is the promised land.

N20, N30SA, W20, and W20SE all feature a unique Clock Input for connectivity with an external Master Clock such as MC20. A superior Master Clock can make a good system sound uncannily realistic, giving a new literal meaning to “High Fidelity.”

N20 is capable of upsampling any lower resolution content up to 176.4/192kHz for better performance with some DACs. Upsampling effects only the system’s SPDIF digital outputs. USB is always bit-perfect with no digital signal processing.

N20 is built with two trays for user-installable storage. Need a lot of capacity? Load up to 2 8TB SSDs! Not into storing files and prefer to stream? Leave them empty, and don’t pay for storage capacity you won’t use.

An impressive 8.8” full-color IPS LCD display reproduces the album art, artist name and song title in utter elegance.