Why I Sold My Aurender N200


People seemed more interested in why I sold my N200 than wanted to answer my questions in my last post on streaming quality, so here ya go:

I recently sat down with my wife (who has a much better ear for sound quality than I) and we A/B tested back and forth between listening to the N200 and the Bricasti M1 SE II’s network card and heard no difference.

Just before selling the N200 I contacted a very well-known and reputable dealer for his opinion on this. If anyone would know about the sound quality of streaming, he would and I asked what streamer he would recommend. He sells Bricasti, Playback Design, Lumin and Grimm streamers. his response to me was:

"In my humble opinion, there is no need to get a dedicated streamer if you have the network board in the Bricasti"

Most member’s comments are very positive on their N200, maybe you guys have much better ears than us, so please enjoy, but in my case, I sold it and gave the much-needed funds to my daughter who is just about to start her last semester at law school.

End of story.

Hope you all had wonderful Christmas and here’s wishing you all a Happy New Year!

128x128navyachts

@navyachts that is the best destination for the money you got back from the N200 sale. Enjoy the Bricasti it’s an awesome DAC that will bring a smile to your face every time you listen to music. Best part about this hobby is if you realize you have made a mistake when you sold something you can always buy it back for around the same price you sold it. I did this with my Bricasti M3 earlier - sold it, went thru 2 DACs and one SACD player with a built in DAC that I used for streaming only to buy the Bricasti M3 back again. All part of the game. 
Be safe and healthy this holiday season!


Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I've asked my dealer if I can do better streaming from my Bricasti M3 and has told me "maybe" for 15-20k additionally. He said just enjoy your music and if you really want better or different try the Bricasti M21. Love honest dealers.

@navyachts  The worst part about your story is that you used it to fund the creation of another lawyer.

(I keed -- I was a lawyer --just retired)

I heard all these great things about the N200 as well and wasn't impressed when I got one as well. I sold it as well. 

@rsf507 not to take this conversation elsewhere but I’ve owned the M3 with network card and used it as roon endpoint. I also tried it with Mconnect.
It compares well with Lumin U1 Mini that I had and sold because I couldn’t distinguish it from the M3 network card. But I’ve taken the musicality of my system to a completely different level when I bought my Aurender N200. I came to a realization on how inferior streaming with that network card is when I compared it to a cheap Audiolab 6000CDT transport and got the doors blown off the M3 network card. Good streamer is essential at least for me in my system. The Bricasti M3 I bought back is a straight DAC without network. 

I have a Bricasti M21, Aurender N200 and Roon core running on a Dell PC. I also hear little or no difference between the Aurender via USB and Roon on the Dell via Ethernet to the Bricasti.