Chord or Aurender? Nac 282/ Nap 300

Are you saying that you intend to use the Aurender direct into the 300? It’s technically possible to do this and you free up some cash and lose three boxes, but it’s a controversial way to use a Naim power amp.
Not an option with the Qutest of course.

It’s surprising that you preferred the Aurender vs the Ndx2, specially in the context of your Naim system.
Both products are on similar price level, but the Aurender is an integrated server/ Nas/ streamer and dac. From what I could read, like the Stereophile review, the dac inside the Aurender is very average.
Aurender is most known for the quality of its servers.
Can you borrow an USB dac like Chord Hugo, Denafrips or Mytech Brooklyn, to see how it can perform?

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I am wondering why can’t you just do that yourself ?

The aurender isn’t by any means a competitor to a chord Dac.

So go ahead and do the test and tell us about the result.

In the end your cash ears and preference.

I had DAC V1 for about a year, used it as a pre amp. Loved it, I only got rid of it because I wanted to stream.

Happy new year to all.

In my opinion when musical instruments are similar to reality it means that we are on the right path.

currently my system consists of 2Hicap / 282/300 Wilson Sophia 3.

the source I am using now is the Mac with the Dac V1, in this case the Dac does not work from PRE but only from Dac.
l usb from mac to dac is Nordost blue heaven.
when I tried the same system with USB transparent premium the sound is improved. changing only USB.

I tried to replace the Dac V1 with Aurender A10 and the system has improved even more, especially on the singers’ voices. because they were much more real. seemed to hear them on the microphone in my room.

after this test I was determined to buy A10 but I came to know the Qutest and the microcheap inside.

Here I am curious to know if anyone has the Qutest in their system and if it is really that really precise and different from all the other DACs.

thank you.

I have heard the Qutest and it does many things really really well……great soundstage, vocals, lots of detail. But it did not engage me, i find my mind wandering away from the music to other matters, so not for me.
Hence the comments by others in this thread you need to listen for yourself if at all possible.

Well not completely

The tonality of instruments is one aspect but the way it is played and emotion conveyed is another

Timing pace rhythm these are also the basics of music reproduction

As the founder of Naim once said music is all about people. If you cannot hear how the people played the instruments then there’s little point

With the Dac v1 it played music in a way the Hugo didn’t and vice Versa. There’s still not a perfect Dac and one chooses based on a variety of factors

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