2. digital
  3. 172823-1590

750$ Intel NUC vs $6000 Aurender N200: I don't hear the difference

I finally plunged into the source is as important as the DAC belief that is quite prevalent here and decided to test out Aurender N200. And given I have a very highend DAC, thought if the N200 pans out I would go for the N20 or N30.

 

I was expecting the N200 to blow away my Intel NUC which is 10th gen, core i7, 8GB and running Roon Rock BUT I am switching back and forth between USB playing the Roon Rock, and Co-axial playing Aurender N200, and I don't hear much of a difference maybe a hair, or not even that.

 

A few caveats: 1) Roon Rock is playing Quboz, N200 is playing Tidal (I am unable to get Qobuz login to the N200 for reason I don't understand).

2) I am comparing Coaxial on N200, USB on Roon Rock.

Caveat #2 can be ignored because I don't hear a difference between Coaxial and USB output of N200.

 

So either this is an "Emperor has no clothes" moment or I am missing something big. Any thoughts on what I might be missing before I send this N200 back to the dealer on Monday.

 

Rest of my system: Nagra TUBE DAC -> Accuphase E-650 -> Devore O96 and all Acoustic Revive wiring. 

essrand
audiotroy's avatar
audiotroy
3,929 posts
 

lord melton we have tested these servers under identical conditions

 

same everything just swapped usb cables pretty scientific

 

also the reviewer ed seally has tested many servers

dep14
336 posts
 

Your conclusion makes sense to me.  Sever has one job, deliver bit-perfect data to your DAC.  

Use your ears.

welcher's avatar
welcher
121 posts
 

I own the Aurender n200 and in my testing I found there is definite difference in sound quality between the usb and coax output. IMHO the usb output is all around better than the coax ouput. A fairer test would be comparing the nuc and aurender usb outputs to your dac. 

grannyring's avatar
grannyring
6,645 posts
 

Plus Qobuz sounds better than Tidal. Tidal is thin sounding and a tad harsh in the highs compared to Qobuz.  Then we see different cables are being used. This impacts the sounds greatly. Most likely different power cables and footers are also being used.  What about burn in time on the new server? So many variables. 

milpai's avatar
milpai
2,496 posts
 

@essrand,

What a timely thread for me. I was thinking of posting one asking users here if they have compared a NUC to a streamer. I currently use an older Asus laptop and feel that a streamer might help my cause. But Roon themselves advice on a NUC if you don't use their Roon Nucleus.

Wonder what is the difference between a NUC and dedicated streamers. I know that NUCS can be fanless, but thats just one good reason to use them over the laptops. What do streamers "don't have" that NUCs "might have", that could introduce "noise" in an audio system. I am more interested in hearing about that.

More to discover