A Somewhat, Affordable Aurender

If in the market for a Streamer /DAC it would be high on my list.   

@oddiofyl  what would be high on your list, the N200?

What is it you like about the N200?

An A1000 would be high on my list for an all in one.  I like the N200 Interface.   I also have a Vault 

The N200 gets better with each FW Rev.  

@oddiofyl so what do hear better coming from your N200 over that of the Vault, using the same Lab 12 DAC?

@swede58 I compared the N200 against the Lumin U2 earlier this summer as I had a client who traded in the U2 to move back to Aurender. 

In short, I strongly preferred the N200. It is far more resolving and presents such that it has a much lower noise floor. Resolution and detail retrieval is much greater, whereas the U2 sounded congested. As the N200 is $1,300, I expected it to be better, but not that much better. Its performance surprised me as to how much audibly better it was.

I wish I could say that the Lumin U2 was more “musical”, but I didn’t find it that engaging, either. At the same time, I had an Innuos Zen Mini MK2 with the LPS, and honestly, despite its lower price point, I enjoyed it more than the U2. The Innuos was warm and engaging, even if it, too, was not able to deliver the resolution, imaging, and soundstaging of the N200. But for less critical listeners, the Innuos can go a long way.

In full transparency, I am an Aurender dealer, but these are my own personal experiences with these products.