Music Server Advice

@in_shore Could you share your secret sauce that beats out Evo 432 Aeon? From what I gather home brewed solution doesn't have the custom software as 432, Grimm and others do. 

As an early adopter of Roon, with a lifetime subscription, and one who enjoys having multiple Roon endpoints, I have steered away from Aurender.  But the word about their Roon integration is intriguing.

I now have the Grimm MU1 and love it.  It replaced both my Nucleus+ and my Aries G2.1 and sounds fantastic. So much so that I am considering a second MU1 to use as a second endpoint only, an update that Grimm says is coming this year.

Aurender going with Roon will just complicate my brain!  Would the top Aurender best the Grimm as both Server and Streamer?  Then I could use my existing Grimm as the second endpoint!

I had an absolutely wonderful weekend listening to music. The N200 has surpassed my expectations and has allowed me to enjoy classical/orchestral music for hours on end. In fact, practically the entire weekend was spent listening to my favorite composers! I found myself not fiddling with apps and listening to works in their entirety...with a big grin on my face. I didn't even miss the turntable (Hope not to anger the analog gods!) To me, this is what it's all about..the music! I can only imagine what The Grimms and Playback Designs of the world bring to the table. But this is rabbit hole I'm not going down...at least not yet!

@communique1 The N200 is the best bang for the buck on the Aurender line, congrats! IMO the N20 and N30SA are even better than the Grimm, so if ever the time comes that you are itching to upgrade, talk with your Aurender dealer to see if there is a path to do so. I offer this for many of my customers who want to start with an N200 and work their way up to the N20 or N30. 

Also, the certification timeline for getting Roon on Aurender is on Roon. They are working to meet Aurender’s requirements, which is why Aurender cannot be certain on a completion date. It will likely not be at least for another 3-4 months. 

“Would the top Aurender best the Grimm as both Server and Streamer?”
@fastfreight 

After listening to MU1, I can say MU1 is not in the same league as N20 and N30SA. 

The N20 clearly excels in terms of low frequency extension and slam. Based on my listening impressions, the N20 a step or two above in terms of transparency and coherency. The MU1 is good but for me, N20 offers lot more and one may prefer over another based on downstream DAC and personal taste of the sonic signature in the context of rest of the system.