Suggestion for $10K soup to nuts digital?

My best selling digital source and DAC is the Aurender N200 paired with the T+A DAC 200. That falls a bit north of $10K, into $12.9K retail, but the combination parallels performance of over $20K rigs. The

DAC 200 has about 90% of the performance of the $38.5K reference T+A SDV 3100 HV streaming DAC preamp. It’s sonically natural, with great body, speed and detail. The soundstage is also considerably larger than many other DACs in its price range. 

The Aurender N200 is one of Aurender’s latest products, which features a very high quality power supply and very low noise architecture which results in a digital signal that has coherency and body without fatigue. It I think is the best performer in its class and has been claimed by many to unseat the even more expensive Aurender N10. 

Again, this combination falls north of your budget. As an alternative, the Aurender A15, also just new to the market in the last few months, is the equivalent of the N200 streamer with the addition of a DAC and volume control. While I would strongly recommend having a good preamp in front of the chain and leaving the A15 to line level output, its DAC performance is incredibly close to that of the T+A DAC 200. The A15 is just a bit more neutral in comparison, with just a bit less body, and a slightly smaller soundstage. This route retails for $8K and leaves you budget for decent cables should you opt for it. 

I’ve compared DACs and streamers for years, and I settled on T+A and Aurender well before I became a dealer for them this year. Both companies make incredibly satisfying products. Searching for T+A DAC 200 or Aurender N200 on these forums will bring up some good threads, and the Aurender A15 is up there with the both of the two and fits in your budget. Happy to chat options in private should you have more questions.

@fthompson251 I can see how it is confusing because they are both “200”. The A200 has pretty much the equivalent of the $3500 N150 streamer only architecture with added DAC, whereas the A15 has the equivalent of the N200’s streamer only architecture. Overall, the N200/A15 has a much improved and robust linear power supply, better isolation, and better circuit design. On the analog output stage of the A15, the implementation is also slightly better than that in the A200 while also offering true balanced outs, where the A200 is single-ended only. What this means is the A15 & N200 has more of the good stuff - body, texture, coherence, and larger soundstage, all while being less fatiguing and “digital-sounding”. It’s enough to make a substantial improvement in my opinion, a true step above, which enables it also to be a more future-proof solution compared to the A200/N150 tier  

I hope that helps. Let me know if you have any more questions.

@lalitk What Aurender unit are you using these days. Your virtual systems point to the ACS100, is that where you’ve landed? That is one I have not heard and would be curious how it performs against something like the N20 or N200. 

@lalitk Nice!

@baylinor Even as a dealer, I agree with your post. But whether we do so this in a professional capacity or in a personal one, everyone will list the brand ms and products they most advocate for. Some dealers may be doing it to try to capitalize on the situation, but most dealers (including myself) truly believe in the products they carry.

It’s a public forum and everyone should be allowed a say, but if there was some sort of badge or label under our usernames that show if someone is a verified dealer, I would be supportive of that. 

I also agree that the Aurender mobile app had some painful user experience issues, but the Aurender Lite 3 app was just released and is still accepting feedback from the beta community. It has a sexier user interface than the previous version and is a much better user experience overall. 

@baylinor Sorry for the confusion. The Aurender Conductotr app is now in production release for the last three days. The beta period is still active for those who want to submit feedback, but it is in a stable public production release now. And yes, legibility is improved for sure.

@m-db To support @david_ten ’s suggestion, I use the Netgear Orbi mesh router and satellite system, and it is very good. Much faster internet on top of helping your digital sound better. From there I use aftermarket ethernet cables with an audiophile switch in between. They really do help with “removing unneeded digital artifacts” but it requires a good DAC and streamer in place to make them worthwhile. Once a good DAC and streamer/server are in place, don’t hesitate to address the internet chain  

Also, many DACs and single-box DAC/streamer/servers, even expensive ones, have built-in attenuators, but it doesn’t necessarily mean those attenuators are any good. The Aurender A15 is very good as a DAC and streamer/server, but you’ll get the best out of it by bypassing volume settings and setting it to line level and having a great-performing standalone preamp in front of it.