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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's avatar
navyachts OP
654 posts
 
@bigby

Try adding a Baaske MI2005 or MI1005 to the ethernet cable to clean up the signal before going into the Bricasti.

Will this affect the quality of my Purist Audio Design CAT7 Ethernet Cable, making it irrelevant? I guess I would have to purchase another to plug in downstream. Or, would I be better to go with a couple of Fiber Media Converters and a patch cable set up?

@fpomposo

Personally I would keep the Aurender because of the hard drive capability

I don’t have so much music so if I want to listen to my ripped CDs they are on my Seagate hard drive and I can play them from there.

 

navyachts's avatar
navyachts OP
654 posts
 

@rbstehno I sold my Roon Nucleus but still have some time left on my subscription so the only way to access Roon and Audirvana would be via a computer, which is supposedly a no no. Is this what you suggesting?

audphile1's avatar
audphile1
5,246 posts
 

@navyachts as long as you are running roon core on a computer and streaming to bricasti over network it will be fine. If Audirvana site is accurate about Bricasti compatibility, it should work exactly the same way - audirvana on your computer, streaming over network, computer away from your system. 
 

Somehow I have a feeling Audirvana sound quality may be better than Roon but I can’t check that in my system as I mentioned earlier my DAC is not equipped with network card. 

As to the difference between M21 and your M1S2, I’m pretty sure the delta sigma and DSD sections are identical and the 2 DACs will sound the same. What sets the M21 apart is the R2R section. And many who own M21 prefer its R2R DAC over the delta sigma. Don’t take my word for it though if you’re looking to upgrade confirm this with Joe. 

navyachts's avatar
navyachts OP
654 posts
 

@audphile1 

as long as you are running roon core on a computer and streaming to bricasti over network it will be fine

lol, this was the answer that I was looking for on my last post regarding streaming quality. Thank you!

And also thank you for clarifying the difference between the M1 and M21, I did not know this. I don't think I will be upgrading any time soon, but if I do, I will most certainly check with Joe.

bigby
159 posts
 

My suggestions in reply to your questions about my post are:

1) Leave the other cables in-place. No need to change them.

2) I decided not to go with fiber optic.   It seems like Baaske MI1005/2005 devices do the same thing using a different method.

3) I don't know about putting one downstream, but it can't hurt.

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