Aurender

A streamer like N200 now or later will set you up good for a long while. How long it will be before you would look to upgrade your DAC? You may get N150 now and save towards DAC but very likely once you have your DAC squared away; you will be itching for N200 or something equivalent.

Building a good system, takes time and patience if you are on a limited budget. Those who says DAC is more important than the streamer; clearly not heard a high quality streamer. In the end, you wanna end up with a DAC and streamer combo that are like two peas in a pod.

I am finally there with my digital front end. Take a look at pic 9, this is what’s been in making for last 5 plus years. 
https://www.audiogon.com/systems/10630#&gid=1&pid=9

@navyachts

Nothing like trying and vetting devices like DDC in your system. But with N200, you may not hear any difference vs going direct. Just ask @soix what streamer being used before DDC.

@bikeboy52 

The audio shop you’re referencing, is it owned by Myron Hawthorne? 

@ronboco

If you would like to bypass external preamp and prefer a one box streamer/DAC with OCXO clocks then you need to step up to Aurender A20. While TCXO clock is quite good in lower end models like A200, A15, OCXO clock performance and precision is definitively next level.
https://aurender.com/home/a20

@ronboco

In that case, N200 with USB or SPDiF output would make an amazing pairing. No need to sweat about balanced outputs from a streamer as your B866 will decode digital signal (bits) internally from N200. 

And, if I may suggest trying a better Ethernet switch for your incredible system, 

https://www.beatechnik.com/lhy-audio-sw-8

@navyachts 

Congratulations on purchase of N200 and if I may say so, wise decision towards building a solid digital from end that will give years of joy. One of the things I appreciate about Aurender is shelf life of each model. I enjoyed the N10 for 5 plus years before I decided to step up to N20 and finally N30SA. I’m done for a while :-)

“I presume you use the AUDIO USB 5V - 0.5A output to the DAC?”
@navyachts

I am not using USB or vulnerable SPDIF/AES protocols. There are very few who realizes how well designed Aurender products are in their implementation of hardware and software. One of the very unique features of any Aurender streamer is their seamless integration with carefully chosen high end DAC’s. Merging Technologies, MSB and DCS are among the few I know of, I am sure there are more out there. My Merging Technologies DAC and Aurender allows seamless integration between the two over Ethernet. In addition, I am also taking advantage of amazing capability of external re-clocking available on higher end models like N20, N30SA and W20SE. I can stream files upto DSD256 from my Aurender server over Ethernet.

If you want to learn about RAVENNA protocol, read up on Merging Technologies DAC. The DAC with Ethernet Card are the way to the future. An important consideration since you are going to be looking DAC’s in near future.

@navyachts 

I completely understand. I have been at this pursuit for a while and believe that I have reached the summit as far as my digital front end. Technology keeps on evolving; for now, I am in a place where music matters more than the gear. 

+1, @ghdprentice on trying both SPDIF and USB cables.  

@navyachts

Most NOS (non-over sampling) DAC are pretty darn good. And LAB 12 DAC 1 uses one of my most revered tubes. If you can score a NOS pair of Telefunken ECC88, you would be in musical heaven with DAC1/N200 pairing.