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Aurender N20

Wow, just received my used N20, installed a 2TB 870EVO SSD and downloaded Conductor. Uploaded 72GB of purchased and ripped CD files from my Synology NAS. Connected to Qobuz and I must admit, I wasn’t prepared for what I heard. I thought that my fiber isolated, upgraded power supply iFi Zen Stream was really good, but it is no where near as good as the Aurender and I’m just listening to AES. Upsampling was set to 176.4K and so I went with it. I purchased from an experienced Dealer, so I went with his bang for the buck DH Labs AES and USB cables, which he doesn't sell.   Evidently, they punch above their price point.

Local media and Qobuz sound equally stunning. This gets close, or rivals my analog system and that is saying something.

Complaints so far.. no information regarding bit rate of music. I’m use to Roon and this is not Roon..not even close. I think that with Qobuz I can make playlists with quality high bitrate music and import the playlists.

Anyway, if I would have heard the N20 first, I would not have anguished over spending the money. Again, having a good dealer, or trusted friend really makes the difference. Time to burn in the cable(s).

vonhelmholtz
blisshifi's avatar
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blisshifi
1,124 posts
 

@vonhelmholtz Your most recent post is hilarious. I had to do a double take after reading it. :)

It makes me happy to hear of your satisfaction in the N20. It truly is the best performance-to-value unit in the Aurender lineup. I would say the N200 is the runner up. I've been able to directly compare the N20 and N30SA and I would say that they are quite close in character. The N20 has a slightly warmer and punchy delivery, but not as resolving as the N30SA. The N30SA delivers with a bit more ease and refinement and more effortly reveals detail. It is still very tonally dense like the N20, but just balances out a little more. Some might say the N30 is less dynamic than the N20, but it's just a different presentation. I could honestly be happy with either, but since I have the N30SA in possession I am holding on to it!

The DH Labs cables are really wonderful and outperform other brands costing many times more. I am glad to have been able to recommend them to you.

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lalitk
5,104 posts
 

“I could honestly be happy with either, but since I have the N30SA in possession I am holding on to it!”

@blisshifi

How about swapping out your N30SA with my N20 and call it a day :-)

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blisshifi
1,124 posts
 

@lalitk Well part of the reason why I could honestly be happy is that there would likely be thousands of dollars back in my pocket alongside the N20 to be happy with it. :)

vonhelmholtz OP
911 posts
 

I tried to join audioscience review in order to post on the N20 thread, but my membership was rejected. I’m guessing that I couldn’t convince Elon to buy audiosciencereview.com... no, probably not.

I was going to suggest that the best way to get the functionality of the N20 for less money was to buy it used.

I'm use to rejection...I'm married.

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