New streamer? N150 vs U2

@marco1 Me too!  All my analog (RCA) interconnects are Cardas Golden Reference. I moved up the Cardas family line over time but have never changed from Cardas. Phono amp to integrated amp, DAC to integrated amp, another DAC to integrated amp. I’ve only used upscale digital cables for a couple years.

Many are noting how important the software is and this is clearly significant. So, how does the Wiim Pro software compare in their new Wiim Pro? 

Just changed the LPS from a battery type to another 5v LPS and the improvement is not small. For the price of a few hundred, people can test the Wiim Pro and power it via the USB c input, and try it out for a little spin.

Throw in a new quality coax cable like World's Best Cables for $20 and you're in for a pleasant surprise. On my highly resolving tube monoblock system the results are quite excellent. No downside to the Lumin software and many people are comparing it to their previous BlueSound experience. 

The Wiim Pro is up on Amazon and they have regular software updates discussed on their community forum. IMHO, it's worth a look. Happy listening. 

The N150 is in-house and on its second day with 10 hours of total listening time.  I’ve got one main thing to say— the problem wasn’t my DAC. The Chord Qutest is a fully competent DAC when input by a really good streamer.  Wow!  I don’t have the N150 fully optimized and the improvement is easily heard, ESPECIALLY the much improved center stage. Imaging! Much more ‘fleshed out’.  Center stage depth is also much better.  Stage width is excellent.  And only 10 hours burn-in at this time.
 

It took me less than 2 hours to get an excellent understanding of Conductor. Advice for future owners is that Conductor is context sensitive like a Mac or iOS OS and can be somewhat confusing as a result.  Actually it’s much worse than a Mac or iOS device.  For example, if you are in a particular top menu, the sub-menu will have very different results even if it looks EXACTLY the same as something you did before. Seems obvious but it’s not.

‘Thanks to all and especially @lalitk for letting me know that Conductor was good!

For HiRes Internet radio jazz listeners, check out SuperStereo 7 in a search. There’s also other genres.  It and other “custom” high resolution entered stations are excellent on the N150 as are Qobuz and Tidal.

@txp1 

Great outcome! If you haven’t tried yet, power cord preferably with OCC Copper on N150 should provide a nice lift in performance.

@lalitk thanks for the cable recommendation!

For future readers: today I discovered that my confusion regarding the Conductor app menu headings was likely influenced adversely by the combination of my iPad display settings, the Conductor app display setting I chose, and room lighting conditions.  I opened the Conductor app from a bright sunlit room and had zero difficulty seeing which top menu and sub-menu I was in.

The menu arrangement is still somewhat context-sensitive but now I clearly can see exactly where I am in it.