Lumin U2 or Aurender N200

@mclinnguy 

Agreed with your take on these updates. The implementation of software + hardware and little bit of diligence with LAN connectivity is the key between these streamers/servers sounding amazing to good enough. 

@audphile1

You may appreciate this update….I recently inserted Telegartner Opt Bridge 1000M Optical Isolator between my Merging +player and Apple router. You may recall I have experimented with Fiber Media Converter and SFP fiber optic transceiver previously and came away unimpressed as it made my streamer sound dry and thin.

The important distinction between Opt Bridge and any other fiber optic solution is use of fiber optic cables between fiber optic transceivers. IME, fiber optic cables are very effective in preventing the noise transmission but at the cost of dynamics. The Opt Bridge provides optical isolation and 100% galvanic isolation with normal RJ45 LAN cables. With Opt Bridge, I am hearing a definite uptick in harmonics and transparency. The sound is more relaxed and organic without any loss in detail. This is by far the best tweak among all the LAN filters and switches I’ve tried in my system. I am using a pair of stock Telegartner MFP8 Gold IE LAN cables in and out of Opt Bridge.

If you ever get an opportunity, try the Opt Bridge.
https://telegaertner.co.jp/_cms_/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/OPT-BRIDGE-1000M_catalog-english.pdf

@lalitk very interesting! So this basically cleaned up the signal. I have only tried cheap converters from Amazon and didn’t like the effect - it thinned the sound. 
It’s interesting you never know if something will bring by an improvement. I recently moved my EERO away from the system and the improvement is very audible! You just don’t know how much smearing is going on until it’s gone. 

Audience FrontRow USB is in. I got a feeling it’s pretty new and needs some time. I’ll keep cooking it and evaluate in couple of days. I will not be putting my AQ Diamond back until I am done with the FtontRow. 

@audphile1 

Looking forward to your impressions!  

BTW, I just came across this unique cable from Melco. Is this the ‘first’ silver plated copper cable with SFP connection? Also interesting to see Aurender on the compatibility list…does that mean a SFP connection on future Aurender models. 

https://melco-audio.com/c1/