Top music streamer for 2019? Aurender N10’s?


I will shortly be purchasing a Gryphon Diablo 300 integrated with its internal DAC module.  I’m now wondering what to do about a music streamer, as I’m doubting that my current stock Mac Mini with Audirvana will do justice to the Gryphon.  My budget is < 10k.  After scanning forums this is what I’ve found consistently:  1) Aurender is frequently recommended, seemingly more so than other brands, 2) the Aurender N10 sounds much better than the much less expensive N100H, 3) Any higher end dedicated streamer will elevate sound significantly over my Mac Mini.

So it appears my best option is the Aurender N10 other than the price tag.  My questions are:  1) Do people agree with the statements above?  And, 2) How do the much less expensive Moon Mind 2 and Bluesound products compare with the Aurender N10?  Is the difference large?  And, 3) How big is the sound quality increase going to a N10 from a Mac Mini, and what specifically are the differences I should expect? 

Thanks

nyev

Showing 2 responses by lalitk

Find a Aurender dealer and audition N10 with your Gryphon DAC. Once you hear it, everything else recommended so far simply pales in comparison.

Don’t sweat the MQA compatibility, Aurender does the unfold of MQA files upto 24bit/96khz resolution. Or you can stream full high resolution files (24bit/196khz) through Qobuz.

The Conductor app is excellent too. 
I have compared Roon with Aurender Conductor app and didn’t feel shortchanged in any way with my iPad music-browsing experience.

The app lets me seemlessy toggle between Tidal, Qobuz and it’s internal hard drive. I can browse top songs from my favorite artist or browse similar artist in that genre. One of the feature I really enjoy, creating playlist from my queue. And the Conductor app is free 😉

I just happen to care more about the sound and build quality of my streaming device over a fancy interface.