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?
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.
+1 on the Innuos. I have a ZenMini (with optional linear PS) and was astounded by the quality. You can certainly afford the top of the line Zenith MKIII. I think you cant go wrong for sound and price, as well as ease of use. It does come in 1TB ($4250) but can go as high as 4TB ($5650). Awesome piece of equipment
grannyring--did you audition the Zenith vs the Zen? I can't decide between the two-- was wondering if the extra 2K for the Zenith was worth it. To me, that is a big price gap. I'm comparing what would be $2,749 for a 2TB HDD Zen to $4,899 for a 2TB SSD Zenith.
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