Subjective N10 vs N20 Opinion

nc42acc

nc42acc

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My thoughts on the upgrade of my N10 to a N20. Yes the N20 is better and extracts more data, but at what cost? My N10 was like a soft warm blanket and the N20 is more like a Vegas neon light show experience. Both present you with the musical info but in a different vocabulary. Personally I like the more detailed and analytical side of the audio spectrum but the N10 is very relaxing and listenable. To me the N20 sounds more like ROON now, not that it is a bad statement to be made. I only have a day of relearning my musical library on the calendar so I am sure there will be many more surprises.
 
nc42acc said:
My thoughts on the upgrade of my N10 to a N20. Yes the N20 is better and extracts more data, but at what cost? My N10 was like a soft warm blanket and the N20 is more like a Vegas neon light show experience. Both present you with the musical info but in a different vocabulary. Personally I like the more detailed and analytical side of the audio spectrum but the N10 is very relaxing and listenable. To me the N20 sounds more like ROON now, not that it is a bad statement to be made. I only have a day of relearning my musical library on the calendar so I am sure there will be many more surprises.
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Oh God, don’t say that! N20 to me does extract more micro detail, but it still retains the analog sonic nature.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
Mike the N20 still retains the Aurender magic but with much more detail retrieval.
 
Mike said:
Oh God, don’t say that! N20 to me does extract more micro detail, but it still retains the analog sonic nature.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
Click to expand...

I agree, and think the N20 sounds fantastic.

Superb product.
 
I have a sort of similar experience when comparing my demo N200 unit with my own N100H. I like the N100H’s easy going fluid sound. The N200 is better but also sounds different by being more detailed whilst in my view losing somewhat of that organic fluid sound of the N100H. For example with the N100H I can listen for hours with no fatigue to internet radio whereas the N200, being much more honest, exposes the low bit rate stream more and that is not always so positive. Still have a week to decide on the N200 or just keep my N100H or look for 2nd hand N10.
 
My progression was the N100H to a N10 and then my N20. Each step was an improvement and with improvement in audio is higher resolution typically. I think it is easy to mold our systems around the whole of all components to create synergy to our ears. When you add a new component to the mix I found I had to make adjustments to bring back the synergy. Once I did this I was rewarded with a better audio outcome. Easiest thing to try is moving your speaker position. If you have access to cables that is another way to meld synergy. For me it was speaker placement and a more neutral interconnect. Hope this helps.
 
On your N10 and now N20 were you using the USB or coax output? I have the impression the coax output on my N200 sounds more to my liking by keeping very good timing while being more fluid and smooth. For a lack of a better wording via its coax output it sound less digital.
 
I have always used the USB output since I have a large amount of DSD music. I have never tried the coax or AES option.
 
Update. Compared my SonicTransporter i7 with MicroRendu running latest version of ROON to the N20. Hands down no comparison the N20 is the better of the two in my system.
 
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