● Covered by 1 source · 1 reportLow impact1 negative
Aurender NH10 Network Hub, a $4,700 audiophile switch, uses a $5 Realtek controller
Key points
- Aurender released the NH10 Network Hub for $4,700.
- It features eight gigabit ports, including two SFP ports.
- Four copper ports have seven electrical filtering stages.
- The device uses a Realtek RT8370N controller, an MV85 oscillator, and an AMD/Xilinx Spartan 6 FPGA.
Product Release and Pricing
Aurender introduced the NH10 Network Hub, an audiophile-grade network switch, with a price tag of $4,700. This device is marketed to provide a noise-free experience and enhance music quality, despite its high cost and the use of common networking components.
Technical Specifications
The NH10 Network Hub includes eight gigabit ports: six standard copper inputs and two SFP ports for fiber or copper transceivers. Four of the copper ports feature seven electrical filtering stages, while the remaining two have two stages. Aurender states that these stages were selected based on "listening comparisons" after experimenting with over 10 stages.
The device also incorporates an Oven-Controlled Crystal Oscillator (OXCO) controlled by an FPGA for clock synchronization, and a BNC input for an external clock source. It does not support 10 GbE capabilities.
Component Analysis
Internal components of the NH10 include a Realtek RT8370N switch controller, an MV85 oscillator, and an AMD/Xilinx Spartan 6 FPGA. The Realtek controller is available for approximately $5.5, and the other main chips are also relatively inexpensive. The total cost of these components is significantly lower than the product's retail price.
Impact on Audio Quality
Standard Ethernet protocols already include multiple layers of error correction, such as Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) for data integrity. TCP connections also have built-in error correction. These existing mechanisms ensure that digital audio data transmitted over a network remains unaltered, making additional filtering stages or specialized network hardware functionally redundant for sound quality.
✨ This summary was generated by AI from the outlets' reporting listed below. It is not independently verified and may contain errors — check the original sources. How BrevFeed works →
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Reporting from
Aurender released the NH10 Network Hub, an audiophile-grade network switch priced at $4,700, which features eight gigabit ports and claims to offer a noise-free experience. The device incorporates seven electrical filtering stages per port and an OXCO for clock synchronization, despite using a low-cost Realtek controller and standard Ethernet protocols that already include error correction.