Aurender A30 Caching Music Server/CD Ripper - Silver - 10TB

Five Boxes, Folded Into One

The A30 is a music server, a streamer, a CD ripper, a converter and a headphone amplifier in one chassis. It is the flagship of Aurender's analog-output range. It replaces most of a rack.

A slot-loading drive rips your CDs to FLAC, WAV or AIFF with AccurateRip checking every copy. Cover art and metadata arrive with the rip, and you choose the folder they land in.

Ten terabytes of enterprise-grade hard disk hold the results, with a 480GB solid-state drive caching whatever is playing. That cache is why playback is not competing with the disk for attention.

Five Transformers and a Dual-Mono Converter

The power supply is fully linear, built around five separate toroidal transformers. There is one each for the server, the digital section, the two converters and the headphone amplifier. None of them shares a supply.

Conversion is an AKM AK4497 in dual-mono, on its own dual-mono linear supplies. An FPGA reclocks the data against a clock measuring under 100 femtoseconds of jitter. MQA decoding is built in as well.

Behind all of it sits a supercapacitor uninterruptible supply, which keeps the machine stable if the power drops without warning. The case is 16.9 inches wide and weighs 37.5 pounds.

What Reviewers Are Saying

Hi-Fi News gave the A30 its Editors' Choice Award. Andrew Everard wrote that it "makes every nuance clear without the merest suggestion of harshness," and that "Its sophistication never slips."

Scott Hull of pt.audio put it plainly: "The sound is reference-quality. The build is reference-quality," and added that the A30 "invites you to spend more on the rest of your system just to keep up with it."

Who Is This Server Best For?

• You want the rack back — server, streamer, ripper, converter and headphone amplifier in one box means an amplifier and speakers finish the system.
• You listen on headphones as well as speakers — three outputs are fitted, quarter-inch unbalanced plus 4-pin XLR and 4.4mm balanced, so almost any pair plugs straight in.
• Your amplifier takes balanced inputs — XLR and RCA outputs are both there with variable level, so the A30 can feed a power amplifier directly and skip the preamp.
• You have a lot of music and more coming — ten terabytes on board, plus NAS and USB storage support, means the library has somewhere to grow into.
• Your other sources are digital too — coaxial RCA, coaxial BNC and two optical inputs bring them in. See our integrated amplifiers for the other half.

How Does It Connect to Your System?

Take the XLR or RCA outputs straight to a power amplifier or an integrated, since the A30's output level is variable. Ethernet goes to your router, and the Conductor app does the driving.

Other digital sources connect on coaxial RCA, coaxial BNC or optical. Headphones plug into the front, and a dedicated USB audio output feeds an external converter if you prefer one.

Pairs Well With

Building around the A30? Here are some great companions:

• Power Amplifier: The variable outputs can drive one directly — see our Stereo Amplifiers.
• Headphones: Three outputs are waiting — see our Headphones.
• Floorstanding Speakers: Finish the system — see our Floorstanding Speakers.
• Interconnects: Balanced XLR keeps the path balanced — see our Interconnect Cables.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which converter is inside?

An AKM AK4497 in a dual-mono arrangement, each channel on its own linear power supply, with a full MQA decoder on board.

What sample rates does it handle?

PCM up to 768kHz and 32-bit, DSD256 over DoP, and DSD512 natively.

How much storage is fitted?

Ten terabytes on a 3.5-inch enterprise-grade drive, plus a 480GB NVMe drive that caches whatever is playing.

Can I use it without a preamp?

Yes. The XLR and RCA outputs have variable level control, so the A30 can drive a power amplifier on its own.

Is it Roon Ready?

Yes. With a Roon Server on the same network and current firmware, the A30 works as a Roon endpoint.

What is the warranty?

Two years on parts and labor from the date of purchase, with a dated receipt from an authorized Aurender dealer. No registration is needed.

See It in Action

The A30 set against its smaller sibling, the A20:

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Learn More

Want to learn more about all-in-one servers, ripping a CD collection, or driving a power amplifier directly? Visit our Learning Center for guides, tips, and expert advice.