Great question. If I had my system as is and got used to it like I have at this point I could give an opinion based on having a reference system. Honestly I don't know since I was new to all of this. I do remember the Lumin units were quiet like the esoteric. The Node 2i was hooked to a Freya Pre-amp then Aegir amp, then First Watt and pass labs. When I used the Lumin easy to notice how quiet/dark the background was. Other than the quiet I don't recall hearing more or less of this or that. When I bought my NSMT 100's the sound changed substantially. I didn't have them when I was playing with streamers and dacs. At present I would be able to hear the differences in units easily.
Thanks JH