Streamer Upgrade Bluesound Node To Aurender N10
Just got into streaming via a Bluesound Node running Tidal and Qobuz, streaming from an iPad Air via wifi. Very impressed by the simplicity, convenience, incredible choice of music and sound quality. My question is; if I replace the Bluesound Node with an Aurender N10 will there be a noticeable difference in SQ?
Rest of the system is a McIntosh C52 pre amp, MC312 power amp and Magico A5 speakers. I feed the digital optical output from the Bluesound Node to the C52. A/D conversion is done in the C52. If I do upgrade to the Aurender N10, what is the best way to connect the system together? A/D in the Aurender N10 or C52, type of cable connection between the two units etc?
“If your Node was $600 to start, you’re only at about, say, $850 with the power supply upgrade. That’s still a far, far way from $4000 and $6000.” @hilde45 |
@lalitk suggested DAC first. I would suggest that you form a core group of members that you can trust. Go back and review lalitk’s post in other threads and you will find responses based upon a long history of listening to top gear. There are others with a depth of experience like ghdprentice, blisshifi, atmasphere and others. Many give advice based on their perception of having a great sounding system, but like myself , have limited experience. The problem is that top sound cost a lot of money and the only way to counter this is to buy used. With limited funds, I had to decide where to put the money. For four, or five thousand dollars you can purchase a nice streamer, or DAC, but don’t ignore power, or quality interconnects. |
Thought I was being pretty clear. Looking back at my post, I see that I didn't say that the Node with PSU upgrade was just as good as N10 or N200, because I don’t know how much better the Aurender(s) would sound. My point is that it would be about 6x more expensive, and given that a DAC is not even part of the equation, that’s a significant upgrade. Maybe that extra expenditure -- on just the streamer -- would be worth it over or against other upgrades. For me, that extra money would be better spent on other things to improve the sound, but I’m someone for whom money is not unlimited. Perhaps the OP would not suffer any opportunity costs by spending that much extra on just a streamer and could then go on and improve other things, too. I plead ignorance on that one! Cheers! |
“My point is that it would be about 6x more expensive, and given that a DAC is not even part of the equation, that’s a significant upgrade. Maybe that extra expenditure -- on just the streamer -- would be worth it over or against other upgrades.” Thanks for clarifying your take on streamer upgrade. That’s what I thought as well :-) Regardless of whether one have unlimited funds or not, I wouldn’t spend my money on an upgrade like N10 knowing that money can be put to better use elsewhere. As I pointed out in my first post, upgrading DAC should be the priority to realized full potential from a high end streamers like N10 / N200. I believe in whole system approach over simply tossing an equipment upgrade or tweak. The other point of argument was upgrading PSU in Node. Again, I see that upgrade as marginal improvement at best considering the weak link (DAC) ahead in digital chain. Just my two cents from experimenting with streamers and DAC’s in last 10 plus years. |
