Aurender N150 vs N200


Wondering which one I should do as my first streamer. I.e. how much better is the N200? I was thinking N200 at first, to just do this once, but now thinking (more responsibly), N150 would be good enough for my first.

The rest of the system:

  • DAC -- Denafrips Pontus II
  • Pre -- ARC Ref 5se
  • Amp -- Art Audio Px-25
  • Speakers -- Blumenhofer Genuin FS2
saulh

@jastralfu 

TMR sold one in black about 10 days ago. Setup an alert in HiFi Shark and grab the next one shows up in black. 

Given your system N20… but if you can only afford the N200 now… definitely the N200.

@saulh 

I  agree with the advice that has been offered to you here. Your DAC is a nice unit but I do think it is a step below your excellent ARC REF 5SE preamp/Art Audio SET amp/speakers. If I were in your shoes I would get the Aurender N200 and at some later point a higher level DAC.

Charles

I sent an email to Aurender earlier this year, when I was auditioning different units I had borrowed (N150 and N10); and wanted an opinion versus the N200......I too have a Denafrips Pontus II. Their general guidance was that the N150 would not be my long term solution, and the N10 and N200 would grow with my system and not be outclassed.

In my system the N150 was a noticeable improvement on my current set-up (BS Node 130/LHY LPS/Iris DDC, but not enough for me to want to upgrade immediately.

The N10 was another beast altogether, it just transformed everything to such an exciting level and made me realize that streaming is my future source material. At that time I also realized that I will be spending much more on a streamer than I initially thought, but I am okay with that......if I can have that level of SQ. Personally I think I'll end up with an Aurender N20, but I'm keeping an open mind on Lumin and Innous.....I just have never had them in my system.

Just looking around today, a used N200 can be had about $4,300 and an N20 for about $8,000.