dCS Bartok vs Aurender A20


These two appear to be direct competitors in functionality and price, yet I can find no comparison discussions or reviews. Any A’goner’s with experience care to chime in on SQ and amp synergy?

They are both TOTL streamer/dac/pre’s with headphone output. with different but excellent OS’s. dCS does MQA but that’s a distraction not a comparison point. Pros and cons of dCS/roon vs Aurender Conductor are well documented, no need to rehash that.

If you’ve listened to both and found good amplifier pairing, please share your experience.

128x128tcbrinkley

I sold my Aurender A10 due to the horrendous Aurender app. Also the DAC in it wasn't as good as I was hopping.  Not sure what improvements are in the A20 but if it was me and my money I'd go for the DCS their DAC's are very good. DSC uses roon ? that's the way I'd go. 

My A10 did MQA as well not sure if Aurender has dropped it in the newer ones though, also not a concern to me either. 

@tcbrinkley Did you ever get any more info?  I ended up with an A20 and it is great but still want to try a Bartok APEX.  Let us know if you get the chance to compare or get any intel