You can usually find high spec used ones on Hifi Shark below $10k. Since the OP prefers CD over streaming, I gather that he prefers a more palpable and sequential sound. Most servers concentrate on the electrical components but I haven’t seen one that tackles the data bits like Laufer Teknik. The sound is very satisfying and very likely you will no longer have the urge to upgrade.
To my ears it was nothing special at all. It had the smack of snake oil and the sound was bang average.
You seem very enthusiastic about it, but don’t appear from your profile to actually own one. Certainly their website could win awards for meaningless twaddle.
I have spotted another Novafidelity X14 model ,which could actually be the best option for me.
Firstly it is a nice and compact unit, which I would prefer to sit alongside my compact chord Qutest
It has a full colour 5" display.
It has a processor twice as fast as my X12.
Has both coaxial and toslink digital outputs.
Bluetooth receiver with A2DP, AVRCP profiles / support AAC and aptX.
Supports 2.5” SATA HDD, SSD and 3.5” SATA HDD up to 8TB inside the unit.
Supports external USB Drives and external CD drives.
Supports all of these audio formats –
MQA, DSD64, DSD128, DXD(24Bit/352.8Khz) HD FLAC (24bit/192KHz), HD WAV (24bit/192KHz), APE/CUE, CAF, WAV,
FLAC, ALAC, AIFF, AIF, AAC, M4A, MP3, WMA, Ogg, PCM, M3U, PLS, etc
Supports all of these streaming services –
TIDAL, Deezer, Qobuz, Napster, Spotify Connect, Amazon Music and Highresaudio
And the price is an absolute bargain.
And it will only be used as a digital passthrough Storage/Server for my Chord Qutest
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@EazyRyder Hi EZ I have an Auralic G1 works great, sounds great! I also have it running into Chord gear.
Novafidelity X14 also has a 30 wpc amp… You might even consider the new Bluesound Node. Personally I’ve found the LED display not all that important but it is pretty.
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I have updated my system profile to add in the Laufer Teknik, which I purchased last year. It drives a Naim DAC V1 and XS2. It definitely beats my Mac Mini/HQ Player/Synology NAS combination/Sonore UltraRendu.
I agree they are not widely known. They do have a MP64-Mini model configured in a smaller Intel NUC chassis that also do DSD, of which I have not auditioned. A year ago it listed pricing starting at $5k. The website now says price to be announced soon.
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