A Somewhat, Affordable Aurender

@mattmiller totally agree. The X100L is a gem. 

Another vote for the N200.  

For those above who did not read the attached link, it is about a combination streamer/DAC, not a stand-alone streamer.

I just received an Aurender A1000 demo unit from the Aurender team to evaluate over the coming weeks.

It is roughly the same build size as the N200 - about .75” wider.

As for first impressions, I think Aurender really got this unit right in terms of price point and performance. Given the supreme linearity of the DACs in the A15 and up, I was anticipating that this unit might sound bright given it is lower on the scale. This is absolutely not the case. From a timbre perspective, it reminds me a bit more of the A20, which is a bit richer, but it sacrifices a bit of resolution and separation, as it should at its price point, say compared to the A15. I don’t have the A200 on display, but from what I recall of its performance, the A1000 gets close!

I am very much enjoying it the A1000’s musicality, and so far I highly recommend it for any DAC/Streamer combo $5K and under!
 

@oddiofyl @curiousjim 

Did you compare the Aurender N200 to any other streamers? How does it compare to Lumin U2 and other similarly priced streamers? It will be used with an Esoteric K-05XD.