The N30SA’s visual presence, elegance, and grace offer a clue as to what you can expect sonically. This is the first Aurender to feature a dual-chassis design, and it uses the same wide-screen full-color LCD display from the A30 and N20. The N30SA develops on the hardware and circuit topology innovations of the N20 and goes above and beyond in terms of noise and jitter reduction, increased dynamics, and purity of the audio signal.

The N30SA comes with an 8 TB SSD and has a rear panel tray slot to add another drive if desired. (The N30 with 12 TB of onboard storage is for Asian markets.)

When it comes to whether this sounds better than the W20SE, Aurender says, “That’s a hard question to answer as they each have their own distinct qualities and sonic signature. As is always the case in high-end audio, careful listening and system matching will only definitively answer that question. Much like Ferrari offers several automobiles, each with their own driving qualities and personality, no one would argue they’re not all supercars.”

Dual-Chassis Design

The bottom “power box” houses all power supplies, display driver, HDD/SSD storage, and system-control circuitry. The “audio box” contains the display, SPDIF audio board, and the OCXO clock, and is supplied clean DC from the power box. Both boxes have 10 mm thick top covers for EMF shielding and acoustic damping. A cable allows the power box to be located up to five feet away from the audio box, greatly reducing any interference with the extremely delicate digital source signals. 

As always, Aurender takes great care to isolate everything internally as well, segregating noise-inducing componentry such as the AC socket, LCD
display driver, AC-to-DC power rectifier, and LAN port.

LAN ports are especially noisy, and the Aurender uses transformer-based galvanic isolation, and the double-isolated LAN port on the power box is connected to the audio box via a dedicated data cable.

The digital outputs use a unique grounding technique, electrical isolation, and DC power from the power box for a noisefloor that is nearly unmeasurably low.

High-End Clocking

The N30SA uses the same oven-controlled crystal oscillator (OCXO) as the one in the W20SE. A world clock input allows you to use an external word or master clock using the 75 Ω BNC connector.

Final Notes

The N30SA ships with a 0.5 m and 1.5 m linking cable for placement flexibility. For the highest fidelity, Aurenders are closed systems and are controlled using only Aurender’s Conductor app. 

Features

• Full-Color 8.8” 1920 x 480 wide IPS LCD
• 8 TB Storage SSD and 480 GB Caching SSD with slot for additional drive
• Double-Isolated LAN port
• Robust machined aluminum chassis structure
• Super-capacitor based UPS
• Word Clock Input
• Oven-controlled crystal oscillator (OCXO) for long-term jitter reduction
• MQA decoder optional
• Remote tech support via the Aurender app

Specifications

Front Panel Display: Full-color 8.8” 1920 x 480 wide IPS LCD

CPU: Intel Low Power Quad-Core, 8 GB RAM

System and Cache Storage: 480 GB SSD

Storage: 8 TB SSD installed. Slot for additional 2.5” drive

Word Clock Input: 75 ohm BNC 10 MHz, 12.8 MHz (44.1 kHz and 48 kHz multiples from 1 to 512)

I/O Ports: 2 x USB 3.0 (rear)

Digital Audio Outputs: 1 x AES/EBU (75 ohm), 1 x coax, 1 x BNC, 1 x TOSLINK, 1 x USB Audio Class 2.0

S/PDIF sampling rate (PCM): Up to 192 kHz, 24 bit

USB sampling rate (PCM/DSD): Up to 384 kHz, 32 bit/Up to DSD512

Compatible Formats: DSD (DSF, DFF), WAV, FLAC, AIFF, ALAC, M4A, APE

Power Consumption (Play, Peak, Standby): 4 W, 70 W, 3.5 W

Dimensions (each): 16.9″ x 3.8″ x 14″

Weight (each): 48.5 lb