Lumin U2 or Aurender N200

I was hoping to demo a Lumen and that didn’t work out.   Have heard a lot of positive things about the hardware and SQ.    
 

I bought a N200 and have zero regrets , it is a great machine 

I have two Aurrender and auditioned others. I research Lumin and went with Aurrender… I have also owned a Auralic Aries G2 and auditioned in home, Grimm, Linn. I love Aurrender… it is all they do and includes the very best streamers, great and quick customer service.

@audphile1

I may sound like a broken record but given your rest of the system, I honestly believe N20 is a much better fit and return on your overall investment. If you’re buying new, ask your Aurender dealer to arrange N200 and N20 audition side by side. IME, N20 edges N200 in terms of low frequency extension and slam. And slight but very noticeable edge in perceived detail and noise floor; it is spooky quiet. Should you choose to further elevate the performance of N20, there is an option to add external clock. In my system, adding an external clock to N20 was no less than a revelation.

Also check with Aurender support if you can ‘slave’ your Bricasti DAC via Ethernet. This will eliminate the need for a USB or AES/SPDIF cable. Aurender selectively offers this capability in their advanced menu settings for MSB and Merging DAC’s.

Good luck!