Streamer Upgrade Bluesound Node To Aurender N10

@lalitk

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.”

@hilde45

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.

If @mgattmch don’t want to pursue separate DAC and Streamer, then Lumin T3 ($5K) should provide substantial upgrade over Node 2 and C52 DAC. T3 features an excellent DAC and streamer with pretty decent app with Qobuz / Tidal integration. 

I failed to mention one thing the power supply upgrade to the NODE won't help is the average performance of its DAC. My NODE is connected to a Matrix Audio X-Sabre Pro MQA DAC and the improvement is unbelievable. No matter what people think of MQA, MQA Radio Paradise sounds mighty impressive with the right DAC.

As someone who did something similar to what you are doing…..

I moved from the bluesound to an outboard DAC with the bluesound, to an Aurender and each time there was a worthwhile improvement. I also agree with @ghdprentice and @oddiofyl . I know how much people like Roon, but I did not like the price, and the software for Aurender is great and is included. It’s better then the bluesound software, which was very good. Just be aware either way you go, you’ll have to get used to the new software. 

Aurender seems to really be on top of fixing issues.   They made a few tweaks recently.   My Android Tab stays connected , seems like they took care of that problem.    I emailed them through the device for another issue and they were super responsive.    
 

Don’t get me wrong, I loved the Vault and I still do.  I can back up the Vault and then move those files over to the Aurender.    The PC interface with the drives is great.    Easy to add content.  Awesome machine.  What’s not to like?