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

Nagra tube dac owner here. A few thoughts:

1. the digital part of the Nagra -- with its DSD upsampling -- does a lot of lifting. I would say server/streamer matching is much less important with the Nagra, than it is with other dacs I’ve used.

2. the analog output stage of the Nagra is one of the best in the business. This is of course what Nagra is legendary for. Analog, tape specifically.

3. notwithstanding 1, there is a clearly synergistic streamer to pair with the Nagra, and that’s the Playback Designs MPS-X. Designed by AK, who designed the digital module in the dac. Just a streamer, so you can continue to use your NUC as the server. This replaced a Grimm MU1 in my system.

@essrand @ricky64 

For clarity on the Grimm MU1 via USB -- that was the Part Time Audiophile review. The reviewer's point  is that ONLY the AES (and at some point the S/PDIF, maybe they've around done that) is an optimized output on the Grimm, i.e. the output is re-clocked and re-sampled. The USB on the Grimm is ordinary and sounds exactly the same as the USB out of a NUC/Nucleus. Grimm is very explicit about what their server does and doesn't do. Do not buy their product if you'd only use it for USB.

@essrand Got it, understood. I’ll be trying the Grimm soon at home, I’m looking forward to it. If the improvement is minimal or subtle, I’ll stick with my simple NUC equivalent (small green computer).

The Grimm appealed to me because it’s brains over brawn. No massive power supply or 100 lb chassis, the claimed magic is all in the clock and FGPA, and it’s modular and upgradable over time (including via internet software updates), unlike so many other brands. They claim that their clock/software eliminates the sound difference between PCM and DSD (but not via USB). I haven’t verified that but it’s an interesting claim.

@david_ten excellent point, and will do (may take me a few weeks). Switching power supplies can be controversial, but I’ve heard some excellent digital products that rely on them, like the Weiss and Meitner DACs (Mola Mola also uses a switching supply). So I’ll be going in with an open mind/ears.

@lordmelton you make a great point, which is that you need to consider the server and your preferred DAC in tandem. The best input on my preferred DAC is AES and the best output on the Grimm is AES so that should be a good fit. Whereas it sounds like you prefer a DAC whose best input is USB, so the Aurender makes sense. I have an ok sized file collection but would strongly prefer to stream, to the extent the gap between streaming and pulling from local storage isn’t significantly. No doubt the local file sounds better in a direct A/B, but I’m interested in how good streaming can sound on its own terms.

@audiotroy thanks perhaps you might seek out Christiaan Punter to review the EVO again. He last reviewed it in 2015. He’s reviewed the Grimm, Antipodes and Aqua Linq relatively recently. So he’s got the requisite experience (it seems like some of these server reviewers don’t know what they’re doing!) and I happen to think he’s generally quite accurate in his assessments of products.

One technical point on the Plink / nagra link between the Playback streamer and the Nagra DAC. It’s not 100% compatible out of the box, a tweak needs to be implemented. Just saying this to manage expectations and to correct the record (if you read the excellent Hifi Advice review of the streamer, the reviewer says that’s it’s perfectly compatible, which isn’t quite true)

It wasn’t clear to me that the proprietary link was significantly better than AES, using my preferred reference level aes cable. The main advantage with the proprietary link is, I was able to get great sound without investing in a multi thousand dollar digital cable…the proprietary cable is “free” with the streamer.