All's well that ends well

In its basic form this digital streamer/network bridge is governed by the Conductor app, but add optional SSD storage and the N200 turns into an excellent fully fledged music library

DETAILS

PRODUCT Aurender N200

ORIGIN South Korea

TYPE Network-enabled media storage device/streamer WEIGHT 9kg

DIMENSIONS (WxHxD) 330 x 96 x 355mm

FEATURES

● 240GB SSD for caching playback

● Two slots for 2.5in HDD or SSDs

● Outputs: coaxial; USB-A 2.0

● Inputs: Ethernet; 2x USB-A 3.0

DISTRIBUTOR Padood Ltd, UK

WEBSITE aurender.com padood.com

Music storage: it can be a thorny subject, not least because those network products offering internal capacity for your library tend either to have fixed, non-expandable storage or offer the option of dealer-installed drives. The cost of such storage is usually high, too - okay, not 'adding capacity at the time of ordering your new Apple computer high', where an extra Terabyte can cost you £400, but still at prices to have you looking at HDDs on the likes of Amazon and scratching your head in bewilderment.

Not so with the Aurender N200, available in silver or black at 700. As supplied it has no storage capacity aside from the 240GB NVMe SSD used for caching music for playback, of which more later. Instead, two slots on the rear take 2.5in HDDs or SSDs, installed by the user to suit their needs. And that's a good thing for two reasons: one is that you can buy your own drives at sensible prices - think just over £100 for a 1TB Samsung SSD, less if you go for the likes of a Seagate Barracuda HDD - and the other is that Aurender has made it simple to install the storage.