Digital front end upgrade options
Hey everyone,
want to get some opinions and advice as to what may be the best upgrade path for my system.
my digital front end is currently lacking quite a bit. It’s my primary playback out of pure convenience. I currently stream tidal and qobuz through a MacBook Pro into a dragonfly cobalt. I would like to invest into a dedicated streamer. I have been looking at two units that are in different leagues. The first option would be the bluesound node 2i (more budget option) and the second would be a lumin u2 mini. So with that being said if I went with the cheaper option of the bluesound node 2i would I see any real sonic improvements over my current setup? Or would I be better suited to just pony up for the more expensive lumin u2 mini? And if I went with the u2 mini would the sonic improvements be significant over my dragonfly cobalt? I would like to think either option would be a significant upgrade but unfortunately I don’t have the option to test gear to find out for myself. Hoping to get a little insight here. Thank you all!
I had a different experience. I found my Node to be very very engaging. I got a better streamer via a friend who built a nice Roon server and I use that now, but the Node was quite wonderful, especially since I sent the digital out to a good separate DAC. If I had not upgraded from the Node, I'm not sure I would have thought about it very much. |
@christianb5s4 christianb5s4
I'm curious if you compared just the streamer in the Node (to an external DAC, and with the better power) supply to the Lumin. I have a Node with an external LPS and I'm sending it to an external DAC. If you have compared, what qualities, specifically, make the Lumin better? Any thoughts? |
@christianb5s4 Thanks for your answer. |
