My best selling digital source and DAC is the Aurender N200 paired with the T+A DAC 200. That falls a bit north of $10K, into $12.9K retail, but the combination parallels performance of over $20K rigs. The
DAC 200 has about 90% of the performance of the $38.5K reference T+A SDV 3100 HV streaming DAC preamp. It’s sonically natural, with great body, speed and detail. The soundstage is also considerably larger than many other DACs in its price range.
The Aurender N200 is one of Aurender’s latest products, which features a very high quality power supply and very low noise architecture which results in a digital signal that has coherency and body without fatigue. It I think is the best performer in its class and has been claimed by many to unseat the even more expensive Aurender N10.
Again, this combination falls north of your budget. As an alternative, the Aurender A15, also just new to the market in the last few months, is the equivalent of the N200 streamer with the addition of a DAC and volume control. While I would strongly recommend having a good preamp in front of the chain and leaving the A15 to line level output, its DAC performance is incredibly close to that of the T+A DAC 200. The A15 is just a bit more neutral in comparison, with just a bit less body, and a slightly smaller soundstage. This route retails for $8K and leaves you budget for decent cables should you opt for it.
I’ve compared DACs and streamers for years, and I settled on T+A and Aurender well before I became a dealer for them this year. Both companies make incredibly satisfying products. Searching for T+A DAC 200 or Aurender N200 on these forums will bring up some good threads, and the Aurender A15 is up there with the both of the two and fits in your budget. Happy to chat options in private should you have more questions.
