I was sitting on the fence for a really long time when it came to digital streamers. I must have read all similar threads on the Gon a zillion times. I finally pulled the plug on a Lumin U1X. I was previously using a Cambridge audio Azur 851N as a digital streamer into my Esoteric dac. The improvement with the Lumin was not subtle. The three main areas of improvement have been blacker back ground, way better clarity and improvement of instrument seperation even during complex passages.I think it is a worth while improvement in my book.
I searched a lot, but could'nt find any head to head comparisons between lumin, innuos and aurender. Iam sure any of them will sound great. I have a system of separates, so wanted the same in the digital setup with no on-board storage, as I plan to add a Melco server for local library playback. But if i wanted on board storage, then both innuos and aurender would have been the main contendors. So you cant go wrong with any of them. And you wont find a definitive answer as to which is better. So you have to choose as per what features you want. And if you can get an in home demo, or buy from a dealer with a return policy, you will be in luck :)