Lumin U2 or Aurender N200


Looking for thoughts on these two streamers: Lumin U2 and Aurender N200.

I’m fully aware of the limitations and features from UI and Roon integration to design concepts and implementation (power supplies, caching, display, etc.)


Hoping to hear from those who had compared these two streamers. I’m also absolutely not interested in hearing from “it’s all 1s and 0s” crowd - this isn’t that forum and I kindly ask you to please stay out of this discussion.

Thanks and Happy Holidays to you all!!!

128x128audphile1

@mclinnguy I have not heard Weiss 501 but I’m fairly confident that the N200 will beat its network renderer. As I stated earlier, I use stock USB cable and it sounds excellent. I don’t know what the AQ Diamond will bring to the table and will report later. But…I could easily live with the stock USB cable.

I considered two streamers - Lumin U2 and Aurender N200. I already owned Lumin a while back, a U1 Mini, and was always curious about the Aurender. Looking at design and implementation of the N200, I chose it over the U2. Right, wrong or different. Had no plans to experiment with boutique brands so Antipodes wasn’t on the list. 
 

As to the Furutech GTX-D NCF outlet…still like it. Have two now.
It starts out impressive so you will hear it right away. It then goes into a 💩 mode about 10-12hrs in. All kinds of bad sound and combinations of bad sound is what you should be expecting for few weeks. It will be fun. 

OP,

Thanks for reporting your results. I’m very happy to hear your results. 

There are few minor annoyances with the conductor 4 that aren’t deal breakers but nevertheless something that could be fixed. 
In example…when the iPhone locks or I’m in another app, the conductor loses connection to the n200. Have to reconnect to change tracks. 
It’s slow to update what’s playing - the track had already changed but it’s still showing either the artwork or the bitrate or both from the previous track. 
No resolution is displayed in the album covers. 
The app is practical and functional and easy to navigate/operate. It is few levels below Roon UI though. Not too far behind but far enough to notice these differences. Again, nothing deal breaking and it actually looks really nice on the iPad. Sound is what I’m after and it delivers. 

Conductor works well on the iPad as the OP says. This version of conductor is very new… a month or two, so it still has some bugs… fortunately I haven’t run into any of them. But there is enhanced access to cover art and album info… which over time as the data gets populated will get rid of the problem created when the art of vinyl was reduced in size, to be too small… on an iPad it looks great. Also, I think it is better for discovery as well. It is getting better.