Aurender n200, talk me out of signing on the dotted line

@fastfreight Aurender finally announced that Roon Ready capabilities are now in the beta versions of Conductor, at least for partners/dealers, but perhaps all beta testers. As a reminder, Aurender cannot be run as the core. Roon Ready mode will be a free upgrade available for all Intel-based "N-Series" (N150, N200, N20, N30SA) and "ACS-Series" (ACS100, ACS10) models. 

From Aurender: The "A-Series" models (A200, A15, A20, A30) are currently undergoing Roon certification. Due to the complexity of the certification process, we find it challenging to provide a precise timeline but we will share updates as soon as we have more clarity. Stay tuned!

Previous generation, AMD-based models, including: S10, N10, W20, W20SE, X100, X100L, A10, A100, N100H, N100C, N100SC will not be compatible with Roon Ready mode.
 

@wlutke The N200 presents sonics in a very linear, neutral way with lots of snap and dynamics. As a dealer that has had one on my floor for years, I have not heard it be grainy, but you also do get considerably more tonal richness and organic presentation in stepping up to the N20. That said, I believe the N200 is one of the best value propositions in the Aurender line, as with the rest of high end audio, diminishing returns are evident the higher up you go.

My suggestion would be to work with a dealer that can offer you an upgrade program, such that they will take the unit back in trade if after some time you want to jump up to the N20.

One other suggestion, having had a lot of experience with many of the components in your system, is to try different tubes in your Audio Mirror DAC. NOS Telefunken, despite their high reputation, deliver a hotter, more overdriven sound (not really overdriven, but very textured and gritty at times), that many people crave. The Audio Mirror itself is a very neutral DAC (Vlad is a close friend of mine and lives fairly close by), so perhaps try some 6922 variants that have a sweeter tone.

@blisshifi 

Thanks for update on Roon certification. I honestly don’t care for Aurender’s compatibility with Roon. If I did care for Roon, I would have bought Taiko Extreme by now! 

As someone else has mentioned -- you're thinking of spending thousands on a new streamer and you're using internet radio and Spotify as your sources?

Qobuz starts at $11 a month and everything is CD quality or better - tons of hi-rez material. Tidal starts at the same price (but charges a bit more for the hi-rez plan.) 

If you're nervous about spending over $6K on a new streamer, why don't you first try out one of the better streaming services and see what that does for your sound quality.  Just a thought....

😁   Now waiting for delivery.