Thoughts on N100C & Schiit Yggdrasil?
 

My system has had a Mac Mini since 2008 when we started. Back then the idea was to use it as a music server and video streamer, and also many of the normal things one does with a computer. We just moved into our new digs, and I figure it's time to catch up to at least c. 2015 with the music server and streamer side of things and want to up the quality of the sound, at least for stereo. I will be upgrading my preamp soon to a model that doesn't have a built-in DAC.

After reading a lot here and elsewhere, this combination seems attractive for the following reasons:
- The Aurender has 4TB storage (considered the N100H but the extra storage makes sense to me).
- The Aurender Conductor app is in the top tier of controllers.
- It supports Qobuz, which we enjoy on the Mac mini.
- A separate DAC provides some flexibility and upgradability on that side of things if/when things change in that space.
- The Yggdrasil sonically seems to be a complementary DAC for the Aurender.
- Aurender has the X100L model at the same price point with 6TB storage, but 4TB will be more than enough, and the SPDIF output provides some flexibility, although I'm expecting to just use the USB output, at least initially.
- Last but not least the sound!

One consideration I'm ignoring here is support for multichannel, either for the day I'll eventually rip my 5.1 SACDs or look to stream/download multichannel music.

As this will be my first dedicated server & streamer component, are there any other considerations I should think about?

I think this would be very good combination. I have an Aurender 100H, and Schist Gungnir Multibit (although not used for my main headphone system any more). The Yggy will sound a bit better than mine. Really excellent combo. I have done extensive research on the Yggy for a friend and think if I was in the market for a DAC under $5K I wouldn’t even consider anything else.

My comments are from my point of view and tastes.

Unless you are really addicted to the old paradigm of owning your own files an / or HD ones. I am not sure much disk space is required. Once I moved into the High def streaming world (Tidal), I no longer cared about disk space. I put a thousand albums on my Aurender for the occasional misbehaving wifi / internet provider. I never listen to them. While I own 4,000. albums, having access 60 million tracks has allowed me to explore far more music... and most of my own is there... sometimes in higher Rez. So for the price of one CD or download a month I have access to hundreds of thousands more.

I also own an Auralic Aries G2. To me they sound really similar... although I have never tried a direct compare (the Aries is in my main speaker based system). I like the Auralic control app way better than the Aurender. The Auralic was instantly obvious and useful for controlling music... after months with the Aurender it remains cumbersome and difficult to use. Switching back and forth between the two apps is a constant reminder of the differences. So, if you only have one of the two... it is unlikely to be noticeable.

I use the USB connections as I believe this allows use of the DAC’s clock to retime the bitstream. I have not bothered testing the different connections... I would rather listen to music. I directly compared red book CDs with the streamed equivalent on my main system, I could not tell the difference... they sounded like my DAC. I did not spend weeks making comparisons, but with my DAC / CD player I could do direct switching.