750$ Intel NUC vs $6000 Aurender N200: I don't hear the difference

Since you have Tidal access, can you switch to Tidal in Roon on your NUC, to at least keep the source the same?    I know audiotroy and others say USB is generally always best, but I hear decent differences between USB and SPDIF in my system so comparing using the same interface and digital cable with your DAC would at least remove one primary variable.

That being said, and I'm a believer in tweaks making a relatively and worthwhile difference in my system, but at an almost 10x price difference in that price range if I didn't hear a BIG difference between the two, I know what my response would be; it wouldn't be trying to tweak the 10x product to sound a little better than the NUC.

@milpai, I also run a NUC with Roon and it sits with all of my noisy computer gear, but I end up running the audio stream over a MoCA 2.0 coax network and finally over fiber into the listening room right up to 1M to my endpoint and DAC (Bricasti then Mojo Audio).    Maybe a $6000 server sitting in my rack would sound better, but maybe it wouldn't and I haven't felt like trying the comparison the OP just did :)  If my NUC dies every few years, $500 to $700 grabs a new one with up to date hardware and my music is still carried by light before hitting my DAC...

Most streamers, not all, don't have the necessary CPU and memory to run roon core. That's the main difference. I keep my NUC in my office and a streamer in the audio rack, both on the same network.  I have used a NUC directly connected to a DAC via USB. As long as you have a good modern DAC using asynchronous USB,  for instance a Benchmark DAC 3, noise shouldn't be a problem. 

If you don't hear a difference then there's no difference to you. I wouldn't care about others opinions if I were you. I've tried streamers from about $4500 and down and heard no difference. Buy a streamer based on features (do you need AES, USB, etc.?) and usability. Someone is going to tell you it's your USB cable or your system (not revealing enough has already been covered above). Ignore them and enjoy the money you save. 

   In- have not been good at all ,I have spoken with several people have had horrible customer service ,with Innous,and  getting back to customers , that is one reason I have not considered them what’s up with them ,covid is no longer a valid excuse things are getting back to normal.

@lordmelton You got me confused with someone else, I have never posted about Aurender. Also I have no affiliation with audiotroy, he was just the first to respond to my thread with his promotion.

@auxinput My system is revealing enough, it can detect minor USB cable changes, leave alone whole component changes. Please google. Nagra Tube DAC is one of the top 2-3 DACs in the world right now.

@grannyring Agreed, which is why I put the caveats, but even though the cables are different, so is the output, it doesn't explain why there isn't a big difference in the sound. From what I read and all big noise about source being as important or more important than the DAC, I expected the massive kind of upgrade that you get when you go from a $500 Allo DAC (or a similar $500 DAC) to a Bricasti M3 (A 6000$ DAC). In which case relatively MINOR CHANGES like Tidal vs Quoboz, or USB vs SPDIF, as well as USB cables or isolation won't matter. But is a shock that even a minor change like a IC, speaker change would have more effect than changing my digital source.

BTW No Isolation on both servers, but Aurender has some decent footers, the NUC none.

I am still trying hard to get Qobuz working on Aurender, will report back or might get desperate and subscribe to Tidal to make the comparisons even more legit.