Aurender Model Choices

@jfrmusic please note the statements about your Benchmark kit stated up this thread by others, while worded with authoritative tones, amount to nothing more than anecdotal opinions and do not constitute facts. I do not argue their collective conclusion of your not needing a highest-priced streamer, however! 😅

The paradigm of proportionate prices among kit in a chain is never well explained or validated empirically by folks who promote it. You may not want evidence-over-opinion, in which case just disregard this reply. 😁

I would ask why a 3-figure streamer would not be sufficient for your chain. Also remember that with a dedicated streamer you are paying for software/user interface and future OS support from the company. You’re paying for a niche computer, most of which have not existed (in this form) as any model for a decade yet. Proceed with scrutiny, IMO

The reason you like the files on Qobuz could be as simple as they’re using preferable source files than those from your CD library; many folks complain about dynamic compression in newer masters / remasters, but many of these new renditions can sound surprisingly “present” through some systems. Source file should theoretically matter more than anything downstream in the chain, at least until you get to your speakers. So you might try to identify why Qobuz sounds better to you than your CD’s instead of trusting a particular dedicated streamer model to take things where you hope for them to go. Or not… 😉

audphile1

3,646 posts

02-18-2024 at 01:42pm

Pretty bad assumptions are made above, @benanders

Heyya @audphile1 then you misunderstood my intent in that reply. I don’t prefer to segment quotes bc of how that can be misleading, but for expediency’s sake:

1. I owned Benchmark DAC 3 HGC long enough to know it

I believe it. You are N = 1 (sample size). And you gave no empirical evidence as to why that model was unfavorable. That’s not in contrivance to what I stated above.

2. I’ve used several streamers - Mac Mini, Auralic Aries G1, Lumin U1 Mini, Bricasti M3 built in network renderer, tried WiiM Pro Plus just to see what the hype is all about and to confirm its all hype. My current streamer is an Aurender N200.

Also fine. But also full of bias as is most any similar pursuit. Shouldn’t be stated to come off as factual evidence because it’s not. Nothing wrong with such an opinion so long as it’s worded accordingly. IMO. 😉

Few other points worth notng - the N200 has a slot for an internal SSD and that is the absolute best way to set up your local library. I loaded a Samsung SSD with my CD rips and it sounds amazing - much better than with an HDD connected via USB cable.

Aurender is not unique in this distinction. I do not argue the superiority of SSD implementation for file storage and retrieval - from a software standpoint alone it makes hypothetical sense. So opinioN = 2 here. 😉😉

The difference between the streamers is very audible and the components in the OP’s setup will reveal it. If there’s a three figure streamer as good as the N200 with the same features and build, I’d like to know what it is and where I can purchase it.

And now we’re back to limited hearsay. I feel the same way only in reverse - I didn’t hear any 4-5 fig streamer that offered predictable audible improvements to justify price such extreme price discrepancies, but if such a thing is properly demo’ed (with evidence-over-opinions) to exist, I’ll be interested.

“Source file should theoretically matter more than anything downstream in the chain, at least until you get to your speakers.”

Source file is extremely important. But what you’re saying here is streamer, dac, preamp and amp don’t matter as much as the source file and I disagree. I can airplay a song from YouTube to my N200 and with its low resolution and quality it will sound a million times better than the best version of it played thru a garbage chain of components feeding the same speakers. Yet another bad assumption on your part.

Just because someone holds a differing opinion doesn’t make it a “bad assumption”. The tendency of using “trigger” terms and overly-authoritative tone seems to go hand-in-hand for some folks. Why? This is just music kit for fun, whatever prices one talks oneself into.

lalitk

4,974 posts

02-18-2024 at 10:37pm 

@benanders

The evidence is in the pudding. Try yourself and you may be in for a pleasant surprise. The $6K (N200) and $12K (N20) are not for everyone…OP asked for opinion between the two and the members with direct experience chimed in.

If I may, why ask for properly demoed evidence from members here than trying the two aforementioned streamers in your system? IMHO, If you’re happy with raspberry pi and don’t have any inclination to try a streamer like N200 in your system then no amount of empirical evidence would convince you or anyone. Plenty of users here are quite content with using their laptops as a source for streaming.

…

@lalitk I don’t want to digress from the purpose of this thread, but I want to acknowledge your thoughtful comments.

I did have one or two Aurender units through my system some time back along with several other streamers - I’d need to rummage out my notes (literally) to recall model(s). Not a proper double-blind test or prolonged exposure, rather just for fun of the units’ owners who wanted to compare on bigger speakers in a “bigger” room. I turned a blind eye to the swapping processes and couldn’t track predictable differences. People (including myself) can usually perceive differences when switching equipment in the chain, but prior experience suggests to me it’s rarer for those differences to be predictable if confounding factors are properly controlled for.
Be that as it may, I surely wasn’t having guests over to rain on their parade - they seemed to have fun. I would still be curious about any properly designed comparison of streamer units. You’re probably correct in the assumption it wouldn’t make me want to spend 4 figs for a single-task computer with a small company-dependent OS, but that wouldn’t make it any less enlightening, and would certainly be useful to those actually interested in such purchases.

When all this is discussed openly as personal opinion (as you clearly did) I see no issue. Thank you.