Aurender N150 vs N200

blisshifi,

Thank you for the information, and I understand the warranty information. However having had the N200 and N10 here at the same time, I will say that in my system (with my equipment which includes a Denafrips Pontus II), the N10 outclassed even the N200. I could live forever with the N200, but the N10 was superior in my system, with my components, in my room. I will probably try to buy an N20 next year when I have the funds, but if not I would LOVE to have an N200 right now.

“Aurender units can act as a Roon endpoint”

@blisshifi

Happy New Year! Does this mean you need another ‘box’ to run ROON Core?

@blisshifi 

Do you know which additional third party apps are in the works? 

@vthokie83 Yes, opinion is split on which is better, N200 and N10, depending on the priorities (resolution vs tonal density, etc). Unfortunately, I don’t know what is in the works in terms of third party apps, and if I did, I probably wouldn’t be allowed to share it. 

@lalitk Yes, the Aurender is not a Roon core, so at this time another box is still required to run as a core. But you should already be able to go to your Aurender app and enable Roon under Streaming settings. 

I’m surprised that people report significant increases in performance using the N200 vs. N150 with a Pontus or similar quality DAC. I’d venture a guess and say they probably have not tried it. I own the Pontus II paired with a N150. I also own a N200 paired with a Terminator Plus (upgraded from an original Terminator) in another system. I have tried the N200 with my Pontus and while there is an improvement over the N150, the improvement is marginal. I have not tried the same comparison using other DAC’s. All of the components discussed here are imo tremendous performers and values in their respective classes. However, unless the OP is planning a significant step up in DAC’s, like others in this and other threads have previously reported, it is also my opinion that the N150 with a Pontus II is much more sensible pairing in this case and significantly better value.