Affordable alternativ to the PS Audio DirectStream DAC

Fair point, I must admit my mind was stuck on junior! Doh!

But the T2 only has network and USB input correct?
So if the OP needed any additional digital inputs he would SOL.

Just something to consider in the long run as far as flexibility goes.

Back to my vinyl corner now.

The Lumin T2 is based on the Saber ES9028PRO chip. I haven't heard one, but in general I don't care for Saber chips which sound digital to me. However, I know people who like them and YMMV. 

The sound of DirectStream Sr. is like analog as you know from your own audition. It can be had for USD $3k to $4k used, and as I said, there will be a glut of used units when the TSS is released this summer. Wish I could afford a TSS :(

Not a dealer.

The Auralic Vega G1 is $2k less and the Auralic Altair is less than a third the cost of the PS Audio. Both great digital products.

Jburden,

You are free to make any claim you like. However saying that you don't like a particular dac chip is an erronous statement.

You are not listening to a dac chip, it is one part of the equation, you have an input board, power supplies, clocking technology andof course  the analog output stage, all of these contribute the sound that a dac
produces.

The Lumin T2 uses dual ESS 9028pro dac running in mono which means you have 8 cores per each chip running differential computations this lower noise dramatically and gives you better dynamic range, many companies use only a single dac chip, two sounds and measures better.

One issue that some people have is being forced to listen to DSD on the Direct Stream series, DSD in general has a softer sound than PCM and the Lumin can be set to output everything in DSD as well. 

You can also listen to upsampled PCM which generally has a more incisive sound with greater dynamic snap than DSD.

As per analog like their are fans of the Direct Stream and people who don't like it it is a good dac among many good dacs sometimes one person's analog like is another persons rolled off. YMMV.

Uberwaltz, the Lumin is designed to be a streaming dac, it has always been a 100% purposeful device. The engineers directly ommited digital inputs as they felt that it can introduce noise into the product. 

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ Lumin dealers

If your looking for a DAC only the closest you make come to the DS at a lower price may be a used Aqua La Voce S2.  I own both and they are both in a similar vein.  My S2 is headed back to Italy for the S3 upgrade after the Munich show.