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Streamer Upgrade Bluesound Node To Aurender N10

Just got into streaming via a Bluesound Node running Tidal and Qobuz, streaming from an iPad Air via wifi. Very impressed by the simplicity, convenience, incredible choice of music and sound quality. My question is; if I replace the Bluesound Node with an Aurender N10 will there be a noticeable difference in SQ?

Rest of the system is a McIntosh C52 pre amp, MC312 power amp and Magico A5 speakers. I feed the digital optical output from the Bluesound Node to the C52. A/D conversion is done in the C52. If I do upgrade to the Aurender N10, what is the best way to connect the system together? A/D in the Aurender N10 or C52, type of cable connection between the two units etc?

mgattmch

Showing 2 responses by hilde45

hilde45's avatar
hilde45
4,821 posts
 

I would only consider upgrading the power supply in Node as suggested by @pedroeb if you plan on keeping the Node otherwise you’re better off moving to better streamer like Aurender N200 or N10 once you have upgraded the DAC.

I upgraded the power on my Node for $214 -- that includes the board from PD Creative plus an excellent deal on an Acopian LPS from eBay.

I see the Aurender N200 new out there for around $6000 and I'm seeing the N10 out there, used, around $4000 and up.

If your Node was $600 to start, you're only at about, say, $850 with the power supply upgrade. That's still a far, far way from $4000 and $6000.

 

hilde45's avatar
hilde45
4,821 posts
 

@lalitk

Thought I was being pretty clear. Looking back at my post, I see that I didn't say that the Node with PSU upgrade was just as good as N10 or N200, because I don’t know how much better the Aurender(s) would sound. 

My point is that it would be about 6x more expensive, and given that a DAC is not even part of the equation, that’s a significant upgrade. Maybe that extra expenditure -- on just the streamer -- would be worth it over or against other upgrades.

For me, that extra money would be better spent on other things to improve the sound, but I’m someone for whom money is not unlimited. Perhaps the OP would not suffer any opportunity costs by spending that much extra on just a streamer and could then go on and improve other things, too. I plead ignorance on that one! Cheers!

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