Upgrade Bluesound DAC or go to Aurrender?

if i understand the question right, I’d sure not spend thousands on upgrading a five hundred dollar Blue sound node.

in nearly every instance of moddifying/upgradinfg a device, the outcome regularly varies either subjectively or synergistically.

i’ve only heard upscale servers at shows, but more often than not, in numerous setups, those with aurender came off sounding more tangible and real.

then too, the dA’s in play were nothing to sneeze at either and many ranged from near 10k to well beyond 30K in a few cases.

i doubt too the particular Aurdnder in play was one of their lower end units.

i’ve not owned Aurender but have heard theior support arm is fabulos and maybe that is important to you.

IMO it comes down to how important is it given its application and the surrounding gear in play at the time?

I’ll be crossing this river soon enough as I only have the BSN 2I myself.

good luck!

Thanks to all, I believe I will first upgrade to an outboard DAC, then go to the N10 at some future date. Although the A10 will get me a very nice improvement, if I did ever want to upgrade from the A10, I'd have to start from scratch. This way I get a nice improvement now with a nice DAC, then another one with the N10 when the cash flow improves. I think that is reasonably logical at least for me. 

I agree that adding an outboard DAC to the Node will certainly improve the sound. But don't discount what a good streamer brings to the party. Something like the Aurender or a Lumin will be a nice upgrade too.

Oz

Add Innuos to that list.
B

The Lumin T2 may sound better in your system if you go that route. I had an A10 and a Lumin T2 at the same time. The Lumin T2 would kick the Aurender ass 7 out of 10 songs but in my system it would get fatiguing. But in the right system it would be the choice. I moved on from them to a Cary DMS 600 which beats them both pretty handily. Just moved to the Cary DMS 700 which is another level in performance but with a price 
The DMS 600 will be on Audiogon tomorrow. Really nice all in one.