Took 27 hours to transfer all my music over. I’m glad I went with the 8tb version. With a little over 3TB of music, I would’ve been pushing it. The 8TB model is really 7TB, so I’m assuming the 4TB is closer to 3.
It has a temporary pairing with the the Bryston BDA3 until the K1 arrives early next month.
“Out of the box”... after 27 hours of music transfer... I can say that there is a noticeable change is bass management vs the BDP2. Childish Gambino’s Redbone was extremely bass heavy on the BDP. The N10 seems to have relaxed the bass, the sound stage expanded, and there’s a liquid flow to the sound. It’s so smooth.
Next up is Melissa from The Allman Bros. This is a DSD rip. This, as well as other DSD seemed cloudy on the BDP. I seemed to revert to all my high res FLAC because of that. Don’t get me wrong, the BDP did a fantastic job with high res FLAC. I just did a back to back FLAC vs DSD on the N10. The DSD sounds way better. It’s interesting this player made such a difference.
Donald Fagan’s Ruby Baby (24bit FLAC) sounds remarkable. The soundstage is far wider than the BDP2. The woman’s sigh at 25 seconds sounded like it was coming from behind my left sub, 3 feet behind and to the left of my main. It’s pretty incredible. There is a crispness to the high-hat I’ve never heard before.
Hendrix Machine Gun: Live at The Fillmore - Hear My Train A Comin’ (24/96 FLAC) gave me chills. The rattle of the snare when Jimi starts playing was always “there”.. now I’ve got Mitch Michell perfectly placed left of center and just behind Hendrix.Hendrix is more forward in the mix as he should be. The slam of the kick drum through my Kef Reference 5’s has never been this good. The shimmer of the crash is more lifelike. The end of the song audience noise had me looking over thinking one of my kids came into the room next to me.
Lou Reed’s Walk On The Wile Side is a go to when I audition speakers. It made me fall in love with Kef Reference. The vibration of the bass strings is crystal clear. The strings are perfectly placed. All of this is even more prevalent Witt the N10.
Last but not least LCD Sound system’s Dance Yrself Clean (FLAC) is a downright assault on any system. It can be a blur of instruments that can mud up quickly. It’s always sounded good in my room. But again the N10 defines a soundstage and placement of all of the instruments better than I’ve ever heard.
This may have gotten long winded, but I’m very impressed with this player. It’s well worth the price. If you need a media player/streamer this is the one to buy. I can only imagine how good it will sound a few weeks from now.
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