750$ Intel NUC vs $6000 Aurender N200: I don't hear the difference

On some other comments, i know ROON makes a big deal about plenty of CPU etc. But it comes down to two questions:  1) do you employ DSP? and 2) do you simultaneously stream and synch multiple stream? If no, it runs on about anything (e.g.: i ran it for a while on a 2009 macbook pro laptop with  Core 2 Duo chip and also running plenty of other apps - ancient!).

Now that i employ a little DSP and sometimes synch 3 zones, i need more power. I have a quad core i5 NUC, a bunch of RAM (32? 16? forget) and two SSDs - one for Roon and one for music. Truth is that 99% of my listening is Tidal.

I would not expect a difference between the two servers.

That said, i would expect a difference between USB and COAX, although, i guess the Aurender has a very good clock (if its master).  I would also guess you can get an improvement by having ROCK --> bridge (e.g.: RPI or other with very good LPS and isolated USB output (isolate both signal and ground, separate power).

I do this, and have been for a couple of years.

Its often useful to also isolate the SMPS brick of the NUC from the rest of your AC with a decent passive filter.

mmmmm Petrus....nwo with that ANY server will sound better

{. . . }  does not think bargains exist, they just think the expensive one is over priced. There is a difference.

precisely my thought.  Its true that 'too good to be true' generally isn't rue, but let's be real - what do you think is inside that streamer?  A computer.  Maybe a NUC.  Maybe a Pi.  Maybe something else. A LPS, a nicely isolated SPDIF and USB interface. All well and dandy - bu you are paying a lot for it and the fancy faceplate (generally the fancy package is the single most costly part of any high end component, followed by power supplies).

Now, i do think that you ought to be comparing the price/cost to a NUC, +LPS, +isolation between the NUC and the USB I/F and if possible a separate power supply for the USB.  +Excellent clock if SPDIF is used and in source master mode.  That begins to add up.  But not to $6k

The isolation may well exist at the DAC's input. Not all methods of isolation are created equal - i believe in using a transformer to fully isolate including split grounds.  I have also found, and cannot explain, that even with most "isolated" USB inputs isolating the driving USB from the computer/Pi still makes a small, but real, difference.  My only explanation is that the isolation is good, but imperfect.

I re-iterate that a 3- layer solution with server, bridge and DAC is my preference (Roon core, roon bridge, roon endpoint). It forces more isolation and moves heavy processing away from the audio signal (processing = power draw = power supply and ground noise).

The new Pi4s are leagues ahead of Pi3s in terms of USB bus powering BTW.  Alas they still draw a LOT of power at startup, as do NUCs.  Like 2+ and 4+ amps respectively.  So actually i power the Pi in split mode - noisy side with SMPS and audio side with LPS (~< 0.5A)

@cindyment

Thanks, and yes, either could impact sound, and neither is completely easy to 100% eliminate.  All the power supplies and isolation i refer to are custom designed and built by me - as are some of the interfaces and clocks.  So with luck, that's not the issue. I do believe i mentioned that isolation quality varies and I strongly prefer good transformers.

But what i experience is really not the issue. I wish i could say "do this, the rest makes no difference. But it does not appear to be that clear.  I am hoping to point to issues that others may experience, and why "cut and dry" technical answers give me pause.  I have spent my career helping giant tech companies overcome technical sclerosis that is bred by engineers becoming comfortable with one paradigm or another - things they are invested and expert in.

I suspect that we have a difference in perspective. You seem very comfortable with what you can measure.  I find Audio just full of the "unknown unknowns", things I can hear, but have difficulty measuring.  This is nothing new - once (40 years ago) clocking and jitter was totally swept under the rug.  We had the same problems in the 80s and 90s when we applied compression to both video and audio, often with studio processing as the consumer. They are not forgiving, nor are blue screens.  And traditional measurements either misled or indicated "it wont work" when in fact, it did.  My objective is to slowly learn what to measure, or at least what design concept correlate with good sound.

“if it measures good, and sounds bad, it is bad. If it sounds good, and measures bad, you’ve measured the wrong thing.” – Daniel Von Ricklinghausen, HH Scott to the Boston Audio Society, 1954

@Cindyment

Thanks, and yes, either could impact sound, and neither is completely easy to 100% eliminate.  All the power supplies and isolation i refer to are custom designed and built by me - as are some of the interfaces and clocks.  So with luck, that's not the issue. I do believe i mentioned that isolation quality varies and I strongly prefer good transformers.

But what i experience is really not the issue. I am hoping to point to issues that many may experience, and why "cut and dry" technical answers give me pause.  I have spent my career helping giant tech companies overcome technical sclerosis that is bred by engineers becoming comfortable with one paradigm or another - things they are invested and expert in.

I suspect that we have a difference in perspective. You seem very comfortable with what you can measure.  I find Audio just full of the "unknown unknowns", things I can hear, but have difficulty measuring.  This is nothing new - once (40 years ago) clocking and jitter was totally swept under the rug.  My objective is to slowly learn what to measure, or at least what design concept correlate with good sound.

“if it measures good, and sounds bad, it is bad. If it sounds good, and measures bad, you’ve measured the wrong thing.” – Daniel Von Ricklinghausen, HH Scott to the Boston Audio Society, 1954