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OPPO Sonica DAC to Lumin D2 Upgrade

I’m considering an upgrade from an OPPO Sonica DAC to a Lumin D2.  I’m generally satisfied with the OPPO sound and appreciate its simplicity of use (there is little doubt that it’s an absolute bargain at its price point).   

However, I briefly owned an Aurender A10 and found that it provided marginally better sound over the OPPO at a significantly higher cost.  Its only benefit, in addition to Aurender’s decent user app, was it’s on-board storage which was of little benefit to me.  So once again I’m considering an upgrade-this time at a more affordable level.   I prefer a unit that has similar functionality to the Sonica DAC.  

My basic question is this:  how much of a sonic improvement might I expect going from the Sonica DAC to the D2?  Also, how good is Lumin’s user app when used with Tidal streaming?  My OPPO was $799, the D2 lists for $2300.    The streamer/Dac (w/Tidal) will function as my sole source feeding a Belles Aria integrated and PMC twenty5.22 speakers.  I’ve found the Aria/PMC combo to be wonderfully satisfying and they will not be subject to change for the foreseeable future.  Any thoughtful advice will be much appreciated.
jreale
audiotroy's avatar
audiotroy
3,782 posts
 
Jacked not inferring you are a newbie, however, did you use the D1 or D2 without transcoding? Many people don’t play with that function.

Also you may be correct that the upgraded power cord which we did use with the D2 and its circuit improvennts did account for its far better performance in our shop.

As per upgrading a D1 to a D2 we wouldn’t make that upgrade either as the D2 would be better but perhaps only a marginal upgrade if you had the Sbooster with it, as mentioned we never had an Sbooster on our stock display unit. The D2 sounded a lot better than the stock D1 we had initially.

The Teac units are very good, it comes down to taste we sold Esoteric for years and the Lumin products consistantly were chosen over many of them by our clients who were lured away from spining CD's into the owrld of streaming


Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ
jackd
1,068 posts
 
If by transcoding you mean upsampling yes I did and not for me with either the Lumin, Teac or Aries.  The advantage of the Teac to my ears is that the AKM 4497 chipset is more advanced than the no longer made Wolfson chipset still used in the Lumin D series.  The Lumin reminded me of the Aqua La Voce with it's BB 1704 chip.  Plus the Teac gives you the option of using it as a DAC/Streamer plus the option of using it as a DAC for other devices. As Onkyo USA is now the Teac distributor you might want to get one in for a listen. Also I have no doubt that the D2 with my Triode Wire Labs Digital American power cord would beat out a D1 with the wall wart.  
jreale OP
8 posts
 
Jackd, thanks for adding the Teac recommendation.  No doubt, the functionality of use as a separate Dac is certainly an added benefit.  Your opinion on the sonic differences between the Teac and Lumin units is is exactly the the kind of info I was looking for.
jackd
1,068 posts
 
Glad to help. They are both great units and I agree with the description of the Wolfson based Lumin's as being the streamer for the Vinyl first guy.  The Teac just gives you a little more in terms of performance and functionality. 
junzhang10
252 posts
 
Trade Sonica to Oppo 205. Then you can stream Tidal MQA using 205 MQA decoder. You would get 192/24 or 176/24 from Oppo. The oppo Oppo runs at black market for $2500 (doubled from origingal $1200 MSRP)
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