750$ Intel NUC vs $6000 Aurender N200: I don't hear the difference

@david_ten excellent point, and will do (may take me a few weeks). Switching power supplies can be controversial, but I’ve heard some excellent digital products that rely on them, like the Weiss and Meitner DACs (Mola Mola also uses a switching supply). So I’ll be going in with an open mind/ears.

metaldetetektor

the grimm was just tested in europe vs our 432 EVO master

nprecedented realism

Because at the same time, a phenomenom happens which I can best describe as “de-hasting”. The Grimm also masters this, With “de-hasting” I mean the feeling that you get as listener with music, to even process very complex passages. With some, and mainly less performing products, the music can become overly blobut the 432 EVO Master even goes a little bit further. ated and prominent in certain areas, and the music is almost forced onto you. None of that with this Belgian music server who continues to act like a gallant gentlemen.

There are also differences in the bass and even though it does not fully reach the authority of the Grimm MU1, Brinkmann Nyquist, Naim ND555 and some other very expensive top products, it has other charms at reference level. A nice track to demonstrate this, is A Trace Of Grace from the album Monteverdi: A Trace Of Grace. Here bass player Steve Swallow plays exactly the kind of bass which I mean, and that in the right setting can come across as very tangible and realistic. For sure the EVO Master is catching up at this aspect, and now is at the same level with other top streamers. Also the super beautilfully captured 3D sound field from this album comes to the fore in a very tangible and believable way. It is completely separate from the music in a beautiful way, but still manages to continuously connect with it. Properties that guarantee profound enjoyment.

ven though the price is downright hefty, and a small minus is the fact that it only support USB connections towards a DAC, what we have here is a very special music server which within it’s price class, is among the best challengers today. Even though a top class CD transport still sounds substantially different in it’s own way and still is hard to beat on it’s own strong aspects, there is indeed a far-reaching analog sound. This makes the rendering smooth, airy, spacious and naturally realistic and moreover, also has exactly that right outlined and catchy character that is so typical of a good analog source. Nice work Frederic!

the nice thing with the 432EVO is you can start with the $3500.00 standard an that same unit can be upgraded all the way to the Master

Dave and Troy

Audio intellect NJ

US importer 432EVO music servers

Cool. Looking forward to your impressions @metaldetektor 

@metaldetektor @essrand If you want a USB DAC the Musetec MH-DA005 uses an Amenero board for the USB. As a long time advocate of AES/EBU I’ve been literally blown away using this DAC with the USB input fed from my Aurender N20, which also has a 10Mhz Master Clock input. It’s so good I just ordered a new USB cable!

I was disappointed at first because I found the Musetec only offered DOP over AES &SPDIF but after a few days I realised why.

I will let you be the judge against the Grimm streamer but I did compare it to the N20 and I bought the N20.

Grimm does not offer DSD re-clocking in any of it’s products AFAIK.

The Aurender also unfolds .ISO files internally which sound better than just copying .DSF files.

The Aurender N20 plus the Musetec is an end game system for me, at least for several years I imagine.

On a last note the Musetec beats many more expensive DACs, I’ve even heard it best a $30k DAC.

Hong Kong prices for high priced DACs are falling through the floor, the Musetec is a game changer.

N.B. I don't stream because of the incredible sound I get from the internal SSDs on my N20. Although the N20 is a very capable streamer, I want maximum resolution and I have a sizable ripped music collection.

@lordmelton you make a great point, which is that you need to consider the server and your preferred DAC in tandem. The best input on my preferred DAC is AES and the best output on the Grimm is AES so that should be a good fit. Whereas it sounds like you prefer a DAC whose best input is USB, so the Aurender makes sense. I have an ok sized file collection but would strongly prefer to stream, to the extent the gap between streaming and pulling from local storage isn’t significantly. No doubt the local file sounds better in a direct A/B, but I’m interested in how good streaming can sound on its own terms.

@audiotroy thanks perhaps you might seek out Christiaan Punter to review the EVO again. He last reviewed it in 2015. He’s reviewed the Grimm, Antipodes and Aqua Linq relatively recently. So he’s got the requisite experience (it seems like some of these server reviewers don’t know what they’re doing!) and I happen to think he’s generally quite accurate in his assessments of products.