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Streamer for LTA Aero

I've been shopping for a highly capable, yet sensible streamer to pair with a LTA Aero DAC... on order. I'm trying to read everything, but being just about as far away from tech savvy as one can be, I have to give great weight to the guidance of others. The streamers that are most of interest to me are the Aurenders N200 and N150, and the Innuos ZEN and ZENith. My interest in the Innuos line is due mostly to their ripping feature - that might be unfair - I have a couple thousand CDs. That being said, I'm not deaf to those who advise that If I get the streamer/DAC thing right, I'll never reach for a CD again. My interest in the Aurender line is not only that they are high end, but that they are a friendly choice for those with limited computer savvy (I ain't kidding either, my new cellphone is kicking my behind). After talking with the Aurender rep at Axpona, I was all in on the N200. Now that I've chosen the Aero DAC, I'm considering that I'll be paying for capabilities, not relevant to the Aero, and that the N150 might provide essentially the same SQ at half the price. I'm very happy with my amplifier/speaker combination and believe that it's a highly capable pairing. They're pretty obscure in this country, but FWIW, I have a New Audio Frontiers Supreme 300B SE integrated feeding SoundKaos 40 speakers. I'm open to criticism as well.

phaelon
mezzguy2
3 posts
 

Hi there. I have a Grimm MU1 and love it.  I just received my new LTA Aero yesterday.  I would not recommend the combination for the following reason - One of the best features of the MU1 is its 4x over sampling, which makes my streaming audio sound as smooth as vinyl.  For songs that stream at 96kHz 24 bit, the upsampling at 4x sends too much data to the LTA and it won’t play.  The problem is solved by reducing the upsampling rate to 2x, but ever song that streams below the 96kHz doesn’t sound as good as it did with the 4x sampling and there isn’t an easy way to switch between 2x and 4x.

Hope this helps!

 

troutstreamnm
45 posts
 

I own an LTA Aero DAC and am very happy with my Innuos Zenith Mk3. Nuf said 🙂

jrgvliw's avatar
jrgvliw
4 posts
 

@phaelon I’m not using the internal dac of the eversolo. I’m using it as a streamer and have an LTA Aero as an external dac. Imho  and comparison w/ Aurender streamer, you don’t have to spend much with streamer. btw Don’t forget to ask for a free shirt on your order. I picked up mine at their shop.

jacoblta
1 posts
 

@mezzguy2 wouldn't this be resolved by using the S/pdif output from the Grimm, which is limited to 24-bit 192kHz? I haven't confirmed but I would imagine that the MU1 upsampling algorithm would respect these unconditional limitations.  

mezzguy2
3 posts
 

The Grimm only upsamples through the AES output.  I ran the AES output through a Hosa CDL-313 AES/S/pdif converter specifically to take advantage of the upsampling.  Anything run through the S/pdif output could not be upsampled regardless of setting and would work fine.  

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