RS130 Vs. Aurender N20?

Hello all,

I have had the RS130 for about 2 years now and its been great. Especially since connecting it to my new MSB Reference DAC!

The nagging question is (always) can it really get better?? I’ve always had my eye on the Aurender N20 streamer, and I wonder if others here had the opportunity to audition both before pulling the trigger on your RS130?

Could I expect that the performance would improve along with the several thousand dollars added to the equation? Or, is the HiFi Rose that huge a bargain given the performance Ive experienced?

Thanks

@Hubbman

Thank you very much for your continued support of HiFi Rose, and we’re especially delighted to hear that your RS130 has paired well with the MSB Reference DAC — that’s truly a world-class combination.

As for your question — can it really get better? — it’s one we often hear from experienced users like yourself. The Aurender N20 is certainly a highly regarded streamer with its own strengths, particularly in terms of its hardware architecture and integration with its proprietary software ecosystem.

That said, the RS130 was designed from the ground up to deliver reference-grade digital audio performance, and many of our customers — including those with ultra-high-end DACs like MSB, dCS, and Esoteric — continue to be impressed by its transparency, stability, and versatility.

When comparing with significantly more expensive alternatives, whether the performance “improves” can come down to very subjective factors such as system synergy, listening preferences, or even the type of music you enjoy. However, many users and reviewers agree that the RS130 delivers exceptional value and often competes with or exceeds streamers in higher price brackets.

We believe the RS130 represents a sweet spot in performance vs. price — a true high-end streamer that doesn’t require compromises or unnecessary premiums.

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I had the same choice and chose the Rose. When set up and functioning properly ( for me, by USB through a McIntosh 170 or a higher end dac) the sound is pretty much as good as you will get. But the software is terrible which ruins the functionality and reliability even stability of the Rose. There is no real support either, although they are very polite. The Aurenders are better in those respects certainly, but they are very expensive. I confess I may have made the wrong decision and I rgret it every day I have to struggle to get my Rose to play the music I spent an eternity and fortune downloading to it

Of course if you use Roon, then the software question goes away.

The new Rose connect works flawlessly on my 130, but roon has the nicer interface to enjoy your complete music library.

I am confused by these software stability posts. I have had my RS130 for 3 months now and the software has been rock-solid - and versatile - I have tried multiple configurations, DLNA, Roon, Spotify Connect and they have all just worked exactly as I would expect. Configuring inputs and outputs is also very powerful - I have tried USB and I2S with multiple different DACs - all work flawlessly.

Can somebody please tell me what bits are bad and unstable?

I haven’t had issues with the software stability, but the layout and functionality when it comes to music playback is not intuitive.

I agree with you regarding the user experience of Rose Connect, it’s not the best, but it’s getting better and better and up to now it is more than usable and absolut stable in use. For sure, Roon is better (I use mostly Roon). But I also agree with @ROSEHAN that the RS130 is the sweetspot if you like to have State of the Art in sound & build quality. And the flexibility in connectivity is awesome. I was complaining a lot after buying, especially regarding the software. But with latest updates I don’t have any real complaints any more. Enjoy what you have, in my opinion the RS130 is one of the best streamers you can buy.

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I also pested on this application when I had the Rs150b and over the updates it is well arranged and after buying the Rs130, I first used Roon but finally I use the Rs130 application

I will be doing a head-to-head comparison of the Aurender N20 vs. the HiFi Rose RS130 very soon. I will connect both streamers to my MSB Reference DAC via USB and AES/EBU to see if there are any true differences. When connecting the Aurender via AES/EBU I will be bypassing the internal clock, using the clock in the MSB DAC, as it is my understanding that this is the best possible connection to make.

I own both streamer’s, in the end, I will keep the one that sounds best in my system.

The associated equipment used will consist of (as mentioned) the MSB Reference DAC, Gryphon Audio Essence Amp to Wilson Audio Sasha DAW speakers. Cables are a mix of Gryphon Vanta (XLR) and Synergistic Research Galelio speaker cables. USB cable is a Cardas Clear.

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I have the Aurender in the system now and I’m giving it some time to settle into the set up.
I will say that out of the box the RS130 is VERY much in the hunt! I can already say that both devices have strengths and weaknesses.
From what I’m hearing so far this is going to be very material dependent.

More to follow…

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