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Lumin D2 Dac/Streamer Vs 2021 Node/Denafrips Ares ii or Chord Qutest

Hello Gang! So I'm picking up my first actual system tomorrow, and the final piece of the puzzle besides cabling is a Dac and Streamer. I've seen a lot of positive write-ups regarding the Lumin D2 dac/streamer so I would love to hear from some actual owners about its positive or negative performance. I listen to a lot of obscure heavier music, industrial etc. The production quality can occasionally be poor, not to mention that a lot of the source material is of low quality. (Wish I still had my cd's but will be  revisiting that down the road) So I would want a forgiving DAC, polished, not too revealing, and with an overall energetic  to make the most of these kinds of recordings. I also listen to a lot of 80's rock, such as Talk Talk, Genesis, and Mr.Mister, which I imagine would  would best be suited by an  R2R  DAC like the Ares(just making an educated guess here, I could be wrong). Vocal emphasis is significant to me too. I've heard mixed things about the actual functionality of the Lumin APP, but I intend on bypassing any proprietary app for the streamer and just use Tidal Connect,Spotify Connect and Airplay for my personal music library.
I'm an IOS and apple guy, so maybe the Lumin app would gets along better with the mac stuff. I've also heard excellent things about the Denafrips Ares ii. It seems like many characteristics of this DAC would align nicely with the music I listen to. I am on the fence w/ the Chord qutest since it's often described as being overly revealing with poor recordings and picky with gear pairing. If I went Ares/Chord I  would pick up the Bluesound node and call it a day. 

 Max Budget for streamer/Dac right now is 2600.  I would greatly appreciate any observations, suggestions, or firsthand experience with the above-mentioned gear! Also, I just wanted to add that Auditioning Dacs/streamers isn't really in the cards right now. I just want to get something up and running that would best compliment my system and musical tastes!

Thanks in advance!

 

Amp: Luxman 507 Mark II

Speakers: Dynaudio Evoke 20's

Cabling: Not sure yet. Will probably get everything I need from Blue Jeans so I can get up and running.

Turntable: Technics 1500 with stock Ortofon Red.

 

 

128x128mrcorky
mrcorky's avatar
mrcorky OP
11 posts
 

I definitly miss playing actual CD's and I don't plan on rebuying my entire music library again. Just stuff that isn't available in higher quality streaming formats elsewhere. With the prices of CD'S so low it would be cheaper for me to rebuy what I wanted instead of downloading. I haven't really explored the "other means" of finding high quality Flac files. I've been using soulseek for a long time and FLAC formats are slim pickings for what I listen to. 

mrcorky's avatar
mrcorky OP
11 posts
 

So since the D2 and U1 Mini are around the same price I might as well just stick with the D2 and just by-pass it to use as a streamer but still have the option to play around with the internal D2 dac if I wanted.

hambon
33 posts
 

I suggest you look at a Raspberry Pi4 with an Allo Digione Hat. Feed that into a Chord and call it a day. That is the best setup hands down. Regardless of cost, which is substantially less. 

mrcorky's avatar
mrcorky OP
11 posts
 

Hi Hambon. Do you have the qutest? I'm a bit concerned about how it would do with the type of music mentioned above and poor source/lower quality formats. I'm basing this all off reviews and user observations though. The Ares just seems like it would be more flexible in that regard and maybe a better fit for Rock oriented music.

 

@audphile1 Would you consider the qutest  a good all rounder in terms of good performance regardless of genre and source quality? Do you listen to any rock/electronic oriented music?

lukemaximus
38 posts
 

I run Bluesound Node --> optical --> Chord Qutest to play my library via Airplay. As I understand, Airplay is CD quality (which Qutest receives as 44.1kHz.)

A nice bonus with the Bluesound Node is their 4 Radio Paradise MQA radio stations (Main Mix, Mellow Mix, Rock Mix, World/Etc. Mix) each with very well curated and great sounding content (which Qutest receives as 88.2kHz.) I also like local radio via TuneIn. 

If you go with the Qutest I highly recommend a linear power supply. I got an Sbooster with the add on dongle. To be honest I was not happy with the Qutest until after adding this power supply, so figure an aftermarket power supply in the cost of the Qutest. 

This set up is great for resolution, clarity and sound stage, which I value. The level of sound quality is so great that I am happy with this as my end game digital. I also think poorly recorded material sounds better through this set up than through my previous Marantz ND8006, maybe just because the sound stage is better?

Enjoy your new system!

Cheers!

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