The Esoteric N-03T looks like a nice piece too. It uses the same app as Lumin? That is interesting.
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Yes, only Esoteric calls it the Esoteric Sound Stream App. Itās the same, I can use either App on the Esoteric. The problem with the Esoteric is it has two USB inputs for external hard drives and the USB cable that runs from the hard drive to the streamer matters in SQ. I use a Nordost Vahalla 2 USB cable and it made considerable difference. And add in the ChordMusic USB cable and you have $10k in USB cables. With servers with internal hard drives, you can save a few thousand dollars.
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That is right, Aurender N20 has an internal SSD option, so is Innuos. N20 occasionally shows up in used market so I will wait.
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Aurender N200 I heard is not much difference in sound quality to the N20 for much less money. You can do a little research on that one also.
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I opted for the N200, and so far Iām very happy with the purchase. in between I bought a RED Holoaudio, but I didnāt take the time to configure the I2S output correctly. I would have loved the N20 but my budget didnāt go that far.
Maybe I missed it. I havenāt been following the RED Holo threat. Did you compare how close in sound quality the RED is to the N200? They are completely different price categories.
What did you do with the Red?
On your Esoteric N-03T, will a Samsung portable SSD T7 or a similar external SSD works on the USB input? Or you need a powered SSD device to play music files?
Any USB hard drive will work. A portable hard drive will just get the 5v power thru the USB cable from the streamer, but I find a hard drive with itās own power supply sounds better, especially powered with a external LPS like an ifi Elite LPS instead of the wall wart. Even a memory stick will work just like on a PST, if you just want to play a few songs, but the sound quality will not be as good.
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That is probably the same with Lumin U2 then. This is great help, Thanks!
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The resolution on the Esoteric is extremely high, I can easily hear differences even between HHD and SSD drives, the solid state drives sounds a bit cleaner. I now have a bunch of IronWolf and Toshiba HHD drives laying around for backup. Also the SSD drives sounds better than the Synology NAS drives I use to use, even with the SR Ethernet Switch and WW Platinum 8 Ethernet cable was no match for the Samsung SSD.
They are different, in RED he defends himself very well. According to my perception, I did not find much difference with the bridge II. Also consider that I used it for a couple of hours with I2S, and it sounded dull and boring, so I bought the N200. then they lent me an AES/EBU cable and things got much better. You probably had the pins misconfigured. When comparing them, the Aurender obviously sounds better: more natural and organic, better definition. But he Red has his thingsā¦
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Heās sleeping in the boxā¦
I wouldnāt think the Holo would be in the same class as the N200, they have to cut too many corners to bring the price down to Redās level. The worst input on the MK1 DAC is the USB, I find that input unusable, so I use a DDC to I2S, which is much better. On a much better DAC like the MK2, you will hear much more difference in the different streamers, even with the USB input. The better your DAC the more you will appreciate the better streamer.
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It would be interesting to hear how you think it sounds next to something so much more expensive. 
The switch settings have since been made very clear in this thread.
in N200 it does not have I2S, I use USB with the MKII and it sounds great.
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Indeed the configuration was very clear. The thing is, I already have the N200 on my main system, so Iāll probably use it RED on a secondary one for my apartment at the beach.
All my music files are saved in a couple of 2TB Samsung exteral SSD t7. I can connect it to Euphony Summus2 server/streamer to listen to the music files. I also download the music files to its internal 2TB SSD, and I could not tell the SQ difference, frankly.
I donāt know if using a SSD hard drive with PS will improve the sound or not, but using external SSD is so easy and cost effective.
I am traveling to Taiwan and Japen in next week, and I would love to bring an empty suitcase to take home a Accuphase or Esoteric streamer. But I know there is no way my wife will let me get away with that idea. 
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Just tell her you will love her even more if you can take home one of those beautiful streamers from the East, and you will repay her for her kindness the next very chance you get. Women are very sentimental creatures.
The Aurender actually sounds better using itās internal storage, so if you do decide on one, just use the internal storage.
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@tony22 They asked me to make that comparison a few weeks ago, and I gave myself the job of comparing them. he RED is a very good streamer for the cost involved. I might have stayed with it in my system, if Iād been a bit more patient. and the extra money I spent on the Aurender, I could have used to change the Gryphon Diablo 250 for the 300ā¦
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