For what it’s worth, I’ve tried both an Aurender N10, and an Aurender W20SE connected directly to my Berkeley Alpha Reference Series 2 DAC via a Shunyata Sigma V2 AES/EBU cable, and I have also connected both streamers to a Berkeley Alpha USB using a Shunyata Sigma V2 USB cable, then to the Berkeley DAC using the aforementioned Shunyata Sigma AES/EBU cable. To my ears, both Aurender units sounded “more musical” when connected via the Berkeley Alpha USB, as opposed to being connected directly to the Berkeley DAC. I am usually a proponent of less being more, but in this case, I feel having the Berkeley Alpha USB in the chain improved the sound in terms of smoothness and imaging. The W20SE also sounded significantly better than the N10, but that is another topic.
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