Media streamer

[Projectman]

I sold my Aurender N100H and bought a Lumin S1 streamer/DAC and the Lumin L1 NAS. A very big sound and huge improvement over the Aurender. To be fair, the Aurender doesn’t have an internal DAC and isn’t in the same league as the S1.

[1KW]

The Aurender through a good DAC has a large sound stage

[Jimmy64]

I've been using a Sonos Connect thru my MDA1000 DAC for years and was happy. Then I stumbled upon a Modded Sonos Connect from some outfit in Cali...I thought that was a big step up in Sound Quality. This weekend I picked up a new toy, A Bluesound Vault 2 running thru the digital in of my MA8000...I just started playing with it so an update will be forthcoming but I'm looking forward to listening to MQA off Tidal...

Jimmy

[clpetersen]

We use a variety of Sonos products, including the Connect. I use the coax output into the outboard DAC. So, if you like your DAC then you should be good.
Sonos does very well with 3rd party integration (Spotify, etc) - something to consider.

But, if you want to move to the newer formats (e.g. MQA), then a switch could work out very well.

[kzhtoo]

Originally Posted by Projectman

I sold my Aurender N100H and bought a Lumin S1 streamer/DAC and the Lumin L1 NAS. A very big sound and huge improvement over the Aurender. To be fair, the Aurender doesn’t have an internal DAC and isn’t in the same league as the S1.

You can’t really compare N100H with S1 as they aren’t even the similar product. What DAC were you using with N100H?

[ejr1953]

Originally Posted by John Jordan

I have a fairly simple self contained set-up.

2010 MacBookPro with a 500 gb SSD and 8 gigs of RAM that's fed into a C2500 dac via USB or Toslink. CD's are ripped on a 2008 MacPro via dbpoweramp in the AIFF format.

With over 800 albums there's only about 40 gb left so a 1 tb ssd would have been a better choice. Easy to change out; a 1tb is around $250 at newegg.

Also using Amarra 4.0 luxe as the player. The revision of the last month or so had some initial glitches but now it's been flawless.

I do from time to time think of "upgrading" the server but overall a lot of bang for the buck!

I have used iTunes as my app for storing my CDs and purchased downloads, in AIFF files. I use Roon to play back that, and my streamed content from Tidal...on a Windows10Pro machine. Before I got going with iTunes, I purchased a pair of 4 TB Western Digital external USB-connected hard drives (one I store the music files on and have attached when Roon is running, the other just with the music files...a backup, which lives in my fire safe). Since these drives are so inexpensive, having two of the identical model made sense to me...never to lose any of the files I've stored).

The Western Digital drives I own are no longer a current model. It looks like they've been replaced with this:

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...82E16822236807

I usually wouldn't go for "inexpensive" drives, but having two of them, I feel protected from a catastrophic failure...or if my house burned down.

[John Jordan]

EJR1953-

Agree on the back-up. My rips are direct to an external drive and backed-up to a second. They are then brought over to the laptop. Haven't thought about a fire safe...humm...

Good price on the WD external drives you linked to.

[sgbroimp]

Originally Posted by edkoz

I went with the Aurender A10 and have been VERY pleased. It is a one box solution that I am confident will meet my expectations for years to come.
Ed

And you kept your MS 300? I still see you still have it listed.....

[edkoz]

Originally Posted by sgbroimp

And you kept your MS 300? I still see you still have it listed.....

Yup! Still have the MS300. Just don't want to let it go.
Ed

[ejr1953]

I purchased an Autonomic MMS-5A a few weeks before the McIntosh MB100 was released. The MB100 is basically a modified MMA-5A, with the software from Autonomic.

For the time, that was a great option, but the Autonomic iPad app is somewhat "dated" in it's appearance.

I do like the way Roon operates, and it's excellent at integrating the metadata, album art, and the way it combines the "purchased" library with Tidal is very good.