Review and Measurements of Aurender A10 Streamer

[Jimster480]

F

This is a nice Volumio Intel based platform which will play music without any glitches even when running BruteFIR convolver at 192kHz upsampling:

https://volumio.org/product/volumio-mini86/

But you can of course use any Intel based PC, although I would recommend a fanless variant for music listening.

This is actually really good for the money.
It has an Ivy Bridge Celeron vs that Atom junk that you find in most low power devices.
I was actually really worried when they said x86 since like I said, its mostly just Atom junk.

Their spec sheet has some mistakes though, they say Celeron 107U later on and then they say dual core 4 threads.
Its a dual core with 2 threads (no SMT) and there is no 107U...

 

[graz_lag]

F

This is actually really good for the money.
It has an Ivy Bridge Celeron vs that Atom junk that you find in most low power devices.
I was actually really worried when they said x86 since like I said, its mostly just Atom junk.

Their spec sheet has some mistakes though, they say Celeron 107U later on and then they say dual core 4 threads.
Its a dual core with 2 threads (no SMT) and there is no 107U...

I assembled my last little fanless PC around the
AMD Athlon 5150 Processeur 4 cores1,6 GHz AM1 on the ASRock AM1B-ITX mother board.
It's really very fast with both W7 Pro and Linux Mint.
4GB ram and 60GB ssd.

 

[Frank Dernie]

You would go bankrupt if you had to then sell them for $948. Dealer margins alone are up to 40%. For low volume products like this, you would want 40% for yourself too. So the cost can't be more than 20% of the total. Multiplying your nearly $1,000 you get $5,000.

These guys go to shows. That cost alone is $20K per show. There are a lot of expenses....

Exactly, and the enclosure is beautifully made way nicer to have in the room tan a diy computer box!
The BOM cost of a car is around 10% of retail

 

[Jimster480]

I assembled my last little fanless PC around the
AMD Athlon 5150 Processeur 4 cores1,6 GHz AM1 on the ASRock AM1B-ITX mother board.
It's really very fast with both W7 Pro and Linux Mint.
4GB ram and 60GB ssd.

Those are great little systems.
I actually have 2 production colocated servers running A4-5000 (4c 1.5Ghz Jaguar, just like 5150) w/ 8G ram & SSD's.
They cost $30/mo to colocate.

 

[invaderzim]

Why do you need streamer if you have a computer?
They sound exactly the same, right?

I can't help but feeling that Logitech missed the boat (or actually sank the boat by buying Slim Devices and then killing the line) every time I use any of my squeezebox touches that are connected to a Topping D30. I can't imagine what useful advance $5,500 would get me over my current setup. I have 3 of the touch/D30 setups and haven't even hit 1/5th the price of that and I get touch screens that I can still control from my TV remote, phone, tablet or computer if I want.

 

[graz_lag]

I can't help but feeling that Logitech missed the boat (or actually sank the boat by buying Slim Devices and killing the products) every time I use any of my squeezebox touches that are connected to a Topping D30. I can't imagine what useful advance $5,500 would get me over my current setup. I have 3 of the touch/D30 setups and haven't even hit 1/5th the price of that and I get touch screens.

Logitech paid some serious amounts of money when they bought Slim Devices, at least this is what it is written ...
You do not do that simply for the pleasure of sinking the business, at least not unless you are insane ...

Some spring early birds say there was some sort of agreement between Logitech and Sonos abt the strategy (or tactic ?) to keep Slim Devices on a low profile ...

Who knows the win to win logic which is behind these business operations ...

 

[AndrovichIV]

Yes, $5,500 is fair bit of money but my own server cost me nearly half of that and I had to put in a lot time and effort to build it.

wait, why did the server cost 2,700 or so dollars? Is the performance of such a server higher compared to say something running an AMD Ryzen, 8 GB's or RAM and 1TB SSD for about a grand?

Honestly curious

 

[Jimster480]

Yes, $5,500 is fair bit of money but my own server cost me nearly half of that and I had to put in a lot time and effort to build it.

wait, why did the server cost 2,700 or so dollars? Is the performance of such a server higher compared to say something running an AMD Ryzen, 8 GB's or RAM and 1TB SSD for about a grand?

Honestly curious[/QUOTE]
That's not even a grand now. 1TB SSD can be had for $99.
You don't need a special video card ($99 or less) and a 8C Ryzen can be had for $210.
16G ram for $80, b450 board for $80
Case + PSU + Nice Fans $150.
$620 doing it right.

You could get a video card for $50 or less to knock the price down, get a budget case (still with good fans) for $50 with fans.
Honestly it can be built for $500 or less and be able to kill every possible audio task with 50%+ CPU to spare.

 

[AndrovichIV]

That's not even a grand now. 1TB SSD can be had for $99.
You don't need a special video card ($99 or less) and a 8C Ryzen can be had for $210.
16G ram for $80, b450 board for $80
Case + PSU + Nice Fans $150.
$620 doing it right.

You could get a video card for $50 or less to knock the price down, get a budget case (still with good fans) for $50 with fans.
Honestly it can be built for $500 or less and be able to kill every possible audio task with 50%+ CPU to spare.

Exactly, so why did Amirm's server cost so much?

 

[AndrovichIV]

It is to eliminate the computer. These black boxes tend to be easier to maintain, work as soon as you turn them on, etc. With a computer you have to choose your software interface, DAC, remote interface, etc. These come all in one.

Even though I have built my own I curse them sometimes. Yesterday mine turned off when power went off. I booted it and needed to login. Problem was, my wireless keyboard battery was dead so I could not. Had to get a new battery for it before I could get past the windows login.

As to sound quality, many think these are better but in reality there is no difference. These boxes run a full operating system and computer internally so there is no architectural advantage to them.

But couldn't you just build a Linux box running say Ubuntu server and have it running for months on end? You could just SSH every month or so to install updates and what not. The Box itself could even be an Intel NUC or something similar that uses passive cooling. Such a Linux wouldn't even need extra drivers to talk to a DAC.

 

[Krunok]

The Box itself could even be an Intel NUC or something similar that uses passive cooling. Such a Linux wouldn't even need extra drivers to talk to a DAC.

IMO boxes like Intel NUC are indeed an optimal solution.

 

[BillG]

Exactly, so why did Amirm's server cost so much?

They don't have to cost as much, but I recall correctly, he went for a rather state of the art build. One could get away with a used i7 box, say for $200 - $400USD, and still be happy with...

 

[amirm]

wait, why did the server cost 2,700 or so dollars? Is the performance of such a server higher compared to say something running an AMD Ryzen, 8 GB's or RAM and 1TB SSD for about a grand?

Honestly curious

You can read about it here: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/amirs-music-server-build-thread.415/

The case alone was $340.

 

[Jimster480]

You can read about it here: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/amirs-music-server-build-thread.415/

The case alone was $340.

Well considering you spent $500 on the case + PSU.... it makes sense now.

 

[Krunok]

Well considering you spent $500 on the case + PSU.... it makes sense now.

Does it..?

 

[Jimster480]

Does it..?

The math does... I'm not sure about the rest

 

[Krunok]

The math does... I'm not sure about the rest

The rest falls under this definition.

 

[Jimster480]

The rest falls under this definition.

LMAO That is a bit harsh don't you think?

 

[Krunok]

LMAO That is a bit harsh don't you think?

No intention to insult anybody, it simply fits the definition.

 

[Newk Yuler]

No intention to insult anybody, it simply fits the definition.

Dang, man! We're suppose to feel bad because the panthers are deprived???