Lumin or Aurender

@ozzy, I am happy I was able to help. I hope everything is working okay. I own the Aurender N10 Music Server and like it very much. As I stated above, Aurender Customer Support is excellent, their Conductor App is easy to use and Aurender offers Remote Internet Technical Support, if needed. Of course, its sound quality is excellent (my opinion).

I am not familiar with Lumin products and cannot comment. Some people above posted they like the Lumin unit very much. I also have no comments or experience with the modified products that @bo1972 mentioned above.

I suggest you audition both the Lumin and Aurender products in your local store and see what unit sounds best to you. Please use my server check list above to help you make a decision.

Please do NOT rush this process. Take your time and listen.

I hope the above helps you make a decision. Thanks....

"So, I ask again.
I have about 6TB of music on a external hard drive. Can this hard drive be accessed/ utilized with any of the Aurender or Lumin units?"

A bit late for Ozzy maybe; but as I have been researching these digital players, they seem to handle attached drives differently.  In the Lumin, the attached drive can only be browsed via your folders, as it does not index the music into its own database.  If you want that (because you have full metadata on your music files), you need to run a NAS into the Lumin, then it uses UpnP to provide full search by metadata.  Aurender does index attached drives, so their app will let you do full metadata searches with just any attached USB device, the NAS would be just an option.  So for people who just folder browse... they both work.  For people who want full metadata search, they are different. 

@ozzy

I have a couple of BDP-2s and a BDP-1. Both BDP-2s have factory IAD upgrade. MPD is great, and if you use Roon, it works well. I just picked up an Aurender A10 player/server. It is not Roon capable, but it’s sound reproduction is outstanding. Aurender Conductor firmware is solid. If wasn’t for Roon compatibility, I’d sell at least one of BDP-2 transports.

You can place music on the internal hard drive, access via NAS, or external USB drive.  Tidal and Qobuz services are also available.   

Cheers ——-Robert

I am very satisfied with my recently acquired LUMIN T2, SBooster and L1.  Won't go into all the superlatives and have never owned or used Aurender but I doubt you would be dissatisfied with LUMIN. 

ducks2007,
I previously owned the Bryton BDP-2 and I liked it.
But sound quality wise the Lumin X1 is way more musical with a depth and width in the soundstage that has too be experienced.

I have a 8TB hard drive connected to the Lumin via the usb.

ozzy