Aurender A20 or Lumin X1
I considering one of these as my next DAC/streamer. From a purely technical perspective, which one should I buy?
Has anyone else seen the following about Roon and Aurender by chance? On the Roon forum I had read that “They said that with the new line that utilizes Intel instead of AMD, that they are working on a Roon Ready status for Aurender.”https://community.roonlabs.com/t/aurender-roon-we-cant-be-friends-we-can/231190/14 Wouldn’t this qualify the Aurender A20 since its CPU is Intel and not AMD? Couldn’t a software update make this Roon Ready then?
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ROON READY should have nothing to do with the processor. ROON READY is the ability to talk a particular protocol call RAAT. If Aurrender can be programmed with understanding of RAAT then it would be a ROON READY endpoint. The reason Aurrender has not done so is likely because they are direct competitors to ROON.
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Roon would be decisive for me. Roon adds greatly to the experience and I've found no better way to discover new music. Like everything in this hobby, it's subjective and not for everyone but having been a Roon user for a couple of years I'd hate to be without it. Otherwise either would be a good choice. |
Roon would be a major factor for me, too. Another would be the separates v. integrated issue. If you want to integrate streamer + DAC + preamp, and are ok with the price, then either of these products appears to be a good way to go. I suspect you'd get even better sound and more flexibility with a good separate preamp for volume control between the DAC and power amp. Possibilities: the Matrix Element X2 Pure (streaming DAC) + Benchmark LA4 (or HPA4) line amp, with the sonicTransporter i9 music server/streamer. That gets you Roon Ready, HQ Player, dual ES9039 PRO DAC chips, a top of the line analog preamp, more versatile I/O (including HDMI ARC, i2S, WiFi) and a fanless Intel i9 server, all for much less than $15K. But then, I have not heard the Aurender or Lumin products. Unfortunately it'd be hard (impossible, even) to audition them all side by side. A single high-end integrated component does result in a lot less clutter, as well as more streamlined operation from a single app or hand-held remote. The SQ ought to be great from any of these alternatives. |
