Lumin T2 dac gone bad? distortion "spitting" "splatty" in mids/highs


I bought my Lumin T2 from Audiogon and noticed on many songs a mid/high distortion that sounds like a cable might be loose or a bad connection somewhere.  Finally after hours of switching out cables I decided to bypass the DAC and use my Anthem STR DAC (via usb) instead.  Spitting sound gone!  

Is this a common thing?  I found out that Lumin's customer service is in China and they don't have an 800 number so I had to email.  This ought to be very interesting.

Note: that most of the time the dac sounds fantastic!  It's only on those transients that I hear a "splatter" if you will at ALL volumes.    
dtximages
I also wanted to mention  my T2 sounded terrible on some songs until I set my Classe Sigma processor to  digital bypass..  It cleared up the distortion I was having in some songs and the music was much clearer overall.  It made quite a difference.
Make sure you set the Anthem to analog bypass, otherwise your T2 analog signal gets converted back to digital when it goes through DSP, which will degrade the quality.  The downside is you lose room correction and bass management, but you will get a cleaner sound.
The only known issue with the T2 is the mainboard. But this is an issue that you could get when you just bought it. We had one T2 with this issue. But the distortion problem you mention is just the load to the amplifier/pre-amp.
In the menu of the T2 you will find the setting: Analog Audio Output level.

It is probably set to normal. When you change this from normal to low you will hear that the distortion you had with some songs probably will be gone.

Almost all Lumin players you can use in the normal setting. It also depends on the system and loudspeakers you use. I used the Lumin S1 always to the normal setting without any problem. But when I received the X1 with some song I had the distortion as well. When I changed it from normal to low, all the issues were gone

Good luck!!
What input on the STR do you connect the Lumin to? I imagine it’s what ddude003 mentioned, according to Lumin.

Some systems (perhaps with a high-gain pre-amplifier) may be better matched using the ’Low’ setting. It uses a combination of DAC settings to lower the output level by around -4db.
You’re just giving it some headroom it’s probably clipping on the transients.

If you bypass the DAC in the STR you bypass ARC room correction. 
It sounds like a gain structure issue... Peter is a smart guy... I would listen to him and not worry about the "so called" Normal setting... It is all about matching voltages between components... If you really want to learn, search for "gain structure"... Google is your frenemy...
I have been talking to Peter on the Roon forum.  I never had DSP on but the thing that made the difference is setting the Analog Audio Output Level to "Low" which seems to have either fixed it or masks it, but i think it's fixed from my few mins of listening.  

Kinda frustrating that I can't leave it at "Normal".. I feel like I should be able to use all the capabilities of the unit.
I own a T2....very satisfied and absolutely no issues as the OP described. Some good suggestions provided. I have interacted with Peter Lie, who is the "head" software designer for Lumin....if you post on the Roon Community forum under Lumin hardware you will get his response plus others I'm sure. Please let us know how this turns out.
I assume you have tried just re-starting it. I have had this issue with my Lumin X1 a few times and that usually seems to fix it.
Also, check whether you are doing any digital processing either in your music software (Roon, JRMC etc ) or in the Lumin app, such as upsampling, EQ or conversion to DSD. I have found that this can cause digital clipping. If so, try turning all DSP off.

If that doesn't work, then wklie or your dealer are definitely your best bet.
Source Systems, Ltd. in California is the US Distributor. You need to go through them.

sourcesystems@cox.net