Comparing Aurender N20 vs eversolo dmp A8


 I replaced eversolo dmp A8 with aurender N20 for digital streaming over qobuz. I compared them playing through native apps. Both feed into Holo may nos Dac over a USB curious cable. Ethernet cable connected over etherregen. Stock power cables feeding from a dedicated 20 amp circuit. Signal going through Luxman amp, 805D4. Luxman is doing pre-amp volume control. Both streamers are broken in.

 

Result - I am shocked to see that 1/6th price, eversolo is actually sounding better overall. N20 takes control with vocals, however the body of music/instruments is leaner. Not sure why I am seeing this disconnect between powerful vocals and lean acoustics. 

 

I got n20 used, and hence my assumption on it being broken in. Not sure if I am missing something here.. need help from fellow audiogoners..

saurabhgarg

Showing 1 response by polyrhythm9

I also have the N20 which replaced an N200

I tried USB, and AES connections - and then it was recommended that using the Optical (toslink) connection may be optimal with a Chord DAVE DAC.  This provided a HUGE sonic benefit.  It’s much more transparent with much better high frequency accuracy and much more air to the sound.  
 

The cable is a ten dollar optical cable from Amazon.  This sounded significantly better than an a much more expensive AES cable that was tried, and  better than the USB cable.  
This leads me to believe that selecting the right connection type to your DAC maters quite a bit.  (Full disclosure:  I do believe in the benefits of better/more expensive cabling - in this case the optical cable happens to be cheap).