AUDIOLAB 9000N MUSIC STREAMER
The AUDIOLAB 9000N is a high-end music streamer offering numerous music streaming services such as Qobuz Connect, Spotify Connect, and TIDAL Connect, as well as network and AirPlay streaming, internet radio, and is also Roon Ready.
Developed to combine an incredibly capable and equally stable streaming platform with Audiolab’s digital know-how, world-beating DAC implementation and signal flow, and the intuitive 9000 series general user interface, for the ultimate streaming solution.
The Audiolab 9000N app offers immediate access to Qobuz and Tidal, with full access to hi-res content, as well as Spotify, TuneIn internet radio and UPnP music server systems and digital audio files stored on USB HDD devices. The 9000N fully supports Spotify Lossless, allowing playback at true CD-quality directly within the native Spotify app and ensuring that every detail of the recording is preserved.
The app offers intelligent search functionality and full access to, control of and even the creation of user-defined playlists, folders and album grouping functions. File information, track detail and app-in-app search, select, and compilation functions are easily accessible. Qobuz and Tidal users will be pleased to know that, unlike some other apps and platforms, the hi-res tracks can be easily identified with icons within the app itself, with no need to hop between the service and device apps to find such content.
Unlike comparable technology from other manufacturers, the 9000N offers wireless playback over a Wi-Fi connection, not solely dependent on the albeit sometimes preferable wired /ethernet connection. This, along with the full album artwork and ESS9038Pro DAC chipset integration, represents several advanced features for the 9000N to boast.
Yet, it is also not limited to the Audiolab 9000N app; the 9000N also offers playback via Airplay II as well as Tidal Connect, Qobuz Connect and Spotify Connect for those who prefer the proprietary streaming service app.
And to add to the impressive list of digital audio platform compatibility, the 9000N is Roon Ready. Roon Ready devices are network players with Roon’s own streaming technology built right in, connected over your ethernet or WiFi network. These devices make bit-perfect high-resolution audio simple because they require no configuration, they give you access to the best audio quality and they provide stable, reliable playback.
Most impressively, the 9000N display presents details of format data, playback information and, as mentioned above, full-colour album artwork display. Album artwork is visible in the default playback screen but can also be expanded for an artwork-emphasised playback screen. The display can even be set to display a VU meter in ‘analogue’ or ‘digital’ form, showing real-time decibel levels for the left and right channels – a satisfying graphical representation of the music as it plays. For a more minimalistic option, the display can be dimmed or turned off completely, as the user prefers.
The hardware is based upon a Quad Arm® Cortex®-A53 core MCU with 1.8 GHz per Core. This powerful ‘brain’ behind the system ensures seamless, rock-steady operation and additional benefits such as album artwork caching; for faster loading of the accompanying artwork files, thus enhancing the user experience and visual aesthetic.
