Lumin U2 or Aurender N200

so to help answer your question I used to own the lumin x1 and I now own the lumin u2 (love lumin as a streamer but wanted to try different dacs)

I setup a fiber connection with the x1 for very cheap. I think with all the parts it was just over $100

Now, today I will (depending on the weather since its been snowing a lot) take possession of an etherregen switch with afterdark linear power supply and external dedicated clock. I will also be trying out the u2 configured with fiber optic. apparently, even the Transceiver Module makes a difference and has sonic characteristics so I have upgraded versions of these as well

Hopefully over the weekend after a long listening session i will be able to give you feedback but even with the dirt cheap switch and parts on the x1, it sounded great and noticeably better than its non optical counterpart.

so rest assured and dont be worried it will sound fantastic and you honestly dont need to spend very much money on a switch, cable, and transceivers

will the upgraded network parts make a difference? stay tuned and i will give my feedback 

Thanks @questforhifi looking forward to hearing your results.

We really recommend you look at a 432evo Aeon

we outperform the much more expensive aurrender n20

check out this post:Discussi Audiogon on For

"Fast forward to December, I had the pleasure of meeting Dave/@audiotroy and doing the Aurender shootout he mentioned above. We put a 432 Evo Aeon Mk 2 (which was not even the latest version—the latest is is the Mk 3) against my Aurender N20 in the same setup. Despite the Aeon’s much lower price point ($7,800 vs $12,000,) and to my surprise, I heard what Dave heard—the Aeon came out ahead. It did not make the N20 sound broken—it held its own—but it did make it sound flat and lifeless in comparison. The soundstage on the Aeon, the spatial cues, and the dimensionality were dramatically better. The only thing I think the N20 did a bit better in was the slightly deeper and tighter bass. Overall, however, going from the N20 to the Aeon felt like an upgrade; going the other way felt like a downgrade. I did not miss the slight loss in low end extension when listening to the Aeon. With the N20, however, I did miss the Aeon’s soundstage and imaging.

we have tested vs aurender, innous lumin and grimm.

so far only one 25k server was found to better

unlike lumin or Aurender our servers can be upgraded to a higher also we are both A Roon core and End point.

Dave and Troy

Audio Intellect NJ.

US importers 432 EVO Music Servers.

My initial feedback of fiber connection

the overall sound is mostly that of a lower noise floor/blacker background

my issue however is the sfp+ modules. They all sound drastically different

ive tried a few different ones out. No matter what it sounds higher resolving than plain cat 6 Ethernet. Very clear and detailed

however, some modules sound thin. with the finisar im currently listening to all the bass is gone

there is one particular Cisco module that has a nice detail and separation. Very clear but the soundstage is flat

i opened up a new can of worms here! considering switching back to cat 6

Fiber didn’t work for me although it was only to convert to fiber then back to copper before the streamer (doesn’t have fiber in). I heard glassy, artificial sound with reduced bass. Reverted it all back.