Review Aurender N150 – compact and complete

The Sound

The reason we started upgrading our system is so we can detect small differences even better. The Sonnet and Grimm show so much that it was necessary. The Pass X-150.8 and TAD Evolution 2 are good friends we have noticed. It is very fast, open and detail rich without any sharpness. And that makes long listening very enjoyable and addictive.

Impressive

Back to the Aurender N150 for a moment, this is an impressive piece of electronics! When we switch between our Alpha Audio PC with Mutec (both on the Grimm and Sonnet) and the Aurender (both on the Sonnet and Grimm), we just hear more finesse in the Aurender. To be fair, the differences are small. But they are audible and it falls in favor of the Aurender.

Think of a song like The Rip by Portishead. A song with a lot of layers, a prominent midrange and effects that should be placed in the space of your listeningroom. This song can quickly become too oppressive. In both cases it goes well, but the Aurender sounds just a tad nicer. A little more fluidity, a little more calmness in the midrange, allowing us to relax a little more and listen a little deeper.

Moving on to the song Roads by the same band (live performance), we hear a similar signature with a similar outcome. The Aurender presents with more calmness and less harshness in the midrange. And that works out very nicely in this case.

Moving on. We grab some Rock, Metal, House and middle of the road pop…. we hear an equal signature. But – and this is important – without dulling the character of all the tracks. Metallica remains Metallica, and Eelke Kleijn also keeps his pace and energy. We hear enough “relaxed” equipment – especially speakers and amplifiers – that quickly make it a little too relaxed. This makes everything sound nice and relaxed, but sometimes it gets a bit boring. Metallica should be tearing. And Massive Attack should be propulsive and sometimes a bit ‘creepy and dark’. Especially 100th Window. And the Aurender does that with verve!