A/B Comparison On A Pair Of Moderately Priced Streamers

I went from a node with dac to a new streamer and new dac and very happy. Pretty big jump up for sure. Using the Zen Stream with aftermarket LPS. 

Upgrade your DAC. In my experience the DAC has 95% of the sound the streamer is really not as important IMO.

@glennewdick While I see how in your situation and with your streamers this could be the result, my experience is upgrading a streamer is at least as impactful as upgrading a DAC. IME everything matters, and matters significantly in a streaming setup. If I was recommending to someone how to build a good streaming setup I’d recommend something like a 50/50 split between spending on a DAC and streamer. Again, just my experience FWIW.

Would anyone make the argument that an Innuos Zen mini is an upgrade over an N100?

No   The proper comparison would be with an Innuos Zen.

I have owned both the Aurender N100, and the Innuos Zen Mini.

I ended up with the Innuos because it allows me to integrate 2 systems, whereas the Aurender does not.

Both are very good units. If you don't need to add other systems, and don't mind being locked into either Qobuz or Tidal, then the Aurender makes sense.

For me, I like to have more options. The Innuos allows you to use Roon- which I find to be quite a nice piece of software. And, though I hate to pay for more stuff, I really think it does a remarkable job of doing a lot of things in an easy to use package.

If you want a streamer with a lot of options, the Bluesound Node is probably the best one out there. Though I would get a nice DAC. Well, I would get as good a DAC, as possible for any of the choices I have given.

Bob

Glennewdick is dead on. I will save you the long speech about my experience, just look at my house of stereo system. My streaming is now awesome without adding any expensive streamer. Just upgraded the NODE 130.

As far as DAC, upgraded from Aries 2 to Gustard X26 PRO.