Lumin U2 or Aurender N200

I have two Aurrender and have had the Grimm in my system, and listened to Linn in several systems. So… that kind of gives me a feel for things. I have not heard the Lumin… I had eliminated it via extensive research.  I also owned a Aurlic Aries G2 for about a year… not in the same league.

I think I would put it this way, all are good at their respective prices… organized by best sounding first: Aurender N20, Grimm, Aurrender N200, Linn. Aurrender has the lower noise floor and a a more natural treble. It is important to have a DAC that is up to the task, so you can benefit fully from the sound quality of the streamer.

I was looking at the same choice a few months ago. I have a Holo Audio Spring3 KTE DAC and I've been using a Sony UBP-X800E 4K Bluray player to play SACD's and as a CD transport. I also have an Intel NUC as a Roon Core. I listen to a mix of LP's, CD's and stream from my NAS drive. I felt that CD's sounded better than streaming from the Roon core to the DAC so I wanted to get a streamer to improve the sound. From dealers I spoke to I was given the impression that the Aurender N200 was the better streamer with a more natural sound. I was told it would support Roon in the future. I liked the fact that the Lumin U2 supports fiber and Lumin says it has a USB interface that connects directly to the system. I was able to get the Lumin U2 for about $2K less than the list for the Aurender and the Aurender would have cost close to twice what my DAC cost, which I have been very happy with. I couldn't hear either, so I ended up going with the Lumin U2 for the lower price and the known Roon support. It definitely has been a significant upgrade in sound for streaming and I can use the Lumin app, which seems decent and also use Roon, which I own a lifetime license for. I think the Lumin app and Roon sound different, but I couldn't say one is definitively better. I especially like the Roon feature of viewing info about artists and albums, so I'm glad I haven't lost that. I would say that CD's sound different than streaming, and although I wouldn't say the streamer sounds definitively better than CD's, I would say they're on a more comparable level now. I'm still curious how the Aurender N200 would sound, and don't know if I made the best choice, but I am happy with the Lumin U2 and plan to try the fiber networking soon.

You M U S T hear the Lumin U2 with Fiber optic. It is superb!

AQ Diamond USB is here! I’ll let it cook for a week or so before I know what it’s really capable of, but it’s an immediate improvement in soundstage and tone over the stock cable.