MAGAZINE
The most noticeable new feature of Aurender's newest music server is that it now comes in two separate chassis, as well as the color LCD screen, which is the same one that is present in the N20. According to Aurender, many aspects of the circuitry and hardware are also based on the N20, and have now been further improved for the N30SA. With the goal of eliminating noise and jitter, as well as keeping the music signal pure, the device was split up into two enclosures that communicate with each other via two connecting cables.
In the first chassis, the power supply, the display, the hard drive(s) and all parts of the system control find their home, while the second one contains all music-processing components, the digital outputs, as well as the OCXO clock, which is identical to the one in the Aurender's W20SE server. Both chassis are made of aluminum and feature a 10mm top cover, which is supposed to counteract resonances, among other things; they can also be placed up to 1.5 meters apart.
The audio box receives – and filters – clean DC power from the power box's linear power supply via a cable, which aims to prevent noise that might be generated by AC power or the processing of it. With the same goal, the N30SA's Gigabit Ethernet port is double-isolated, and LAN signals are also galvanically isolated by a transformer.
In terms of audio outputs, the new Aurender N30SA server/streamer offers one each in AES/EBU, BNC, coax, Tos-link, and Audio 2.0 USB. Thanks to a unique grounding technology, noise at these outputs is said to be reduced even further. In addition, the server has a Word/Master Clock input, which allows an external clock to be attached to it.
The CPU in the N30SA has also been improved, now coming in the shape of an Intel low power quad core with 8GB of RAM. For storing music, it has an SSD drive with 8TB capacity built in, while also offering space for an additional hard drive. Another SSD, with 480GB, is responsible for caching the music. Like all Aurender servers, the N30SA is controlled by the Aurender Conductor app for Android and iOS.
In Germany, the new N30SA is said to cost €24,900.
