Another one (server) bites the dust! Aurender N10 vs. N200

@fuzztone @charles1dad I agree! Good clean power feeding good clean power supplies is the best place to start. I rewired for my audio system w/extensive thought out arrangements of 3 dedicated lines to separate digital from power (with one for analog for good measure) based on all sorts of obsessive research and a white paper from Vince Galbo with a separate subpanel/copper busses, high silver content contact grease, isolators/ground scrubbers, and a large in-line noise suppressing conditioner between the main and sub panel along w/the nicest sound outlets I listened to and Alan Kafton's last box of cryo'ed Diamond Handiwire). Phewy!

Isolation and power supply do seem critical, especially for digital gear. I'm curious if you've heard the Aurenders? The last 12-18mos of N10's had upgrades on their power supplies and might tip the scale towards them...

Enjoy the tunes,

Art

@budburma

Based on your efforts, you definitely take power concerns seriously. I would give attention and heed the guidance of @blisshifi given his in depth familiarity of the Aurrender components.

Charles

@budburma If you bought the KWA from CY, then yes, that would have been mine. He used it only very lightly as he was evaluating amp roulette style. Given your tastes, I would certainly recommend the N200 over the N10. Happy to discuss options if you want to PM me. Also happy to answer any questions on the KWA since it was in possession for a number of years.

Speaking of which, CY also purchased an N200 from me a few weeks ago. He was able to compare it to his Modwright-modded Cambridge CXN V2 and was sold within a minute or so of listening to the quality of the N200 streamer going into the CXN’s DAC. 

Thanks, @charles1dad. Hearing is believing!

@blisshifi CY it was! Well, the 200 is inviting. I've got my thinking cap on. I know CY has a lot of faith in your insights. My automatic suspicion of dealers and their products may be misfiring. I appreciate the opportunity for a side conversation. One member here whose owned both, listened extensively and owns the W20SE is more enamored of the N10 - in particular, the later power supply upgraded unit. Not that it matters, but 'all but discontinued' is no big deal to me as a long time "previous generation" buyer.

@budburma Two other things to consinder with the N10.

1. It is a seven-year old model, vs the N200 which is only a year old. There has been a significant jump in streaming and serving technology hardware design in the last two years alone.

2. The internal drives of an N10 used for storage are leveraging spinning drives. Despite the unit caching music for playback, the spinning disks possibly still introduce noise/jitter into the equation. The N200 requires users to purchase drives and install them, but quality solid state drives can be had for approximately $100/TB.