Quote:
Originally Posted by tdelahanty
I have been hesitant to reply to your post because my suggestion is far off the beaten path. I'll start with my experience with the U1 and U1 mini which is a great value. The U1 destroys the mini in every regard. The U1 has an external analog power supply and higher sampling rates and for me the extra cost was justified. The T2 has an internal switching power supply which is it's weak point. The X1 has an external analog power supply and much better dac. The T2 does not compare to the X1, no contest. If you are willing to spend money for another dac why not put it toward the X1 instead. You will have a better dac, better digital processing and better sound quality.  |
I appreciate your comments, so please don't hesitate to post your thoughts. A different point of view is welcome.
This hobby that we share, is always more interesting being able to learn from the experience of other fellow audiophiles. Theres not enough time in life to audition every single existing audio component, and there is not enough money (at least for me) to buy everything and try it in my system long term.
tdelahanty: Dude! what a nice system you have... Those serafinos are just in the very top of my audio bucket list...
Are you using the K01x as DAC connected to the U1? Having a good dac+transport paired with a streamer appears to be a smart choice since that covers almost all the corners of the digital needs of a system.
I concur that the weak point of the T2 is the Power supply, I found very significant improvements, after the addition of the Sbooster linear power supply mod.
And don't get me wrong, in my opinion it sounded very good with the original power supply after the proper burn in process. but after the sbooster installation, the noise floor and sibilance dropped significantly making it much more refined.
For the price of the T2 + $400 of the sbooster kit, is not that easy to find a device that can produce that detailed and transparent sound, plus it can be used as a very capable streaming device. That makes the search for a better/different sound more challenging and expensive.
I haven't had the chance to audition the X1, for sure it should be a great improvement over the T2, however the X1 is $13990, placing it in the same price range of a DCS Bartók with no HP amp that the Lumin X1 doesn't have anyway.
Last year I had the chance to audition In Audio Concepts Dallas a DCS Bartók connected to a pair of Sonus faber Olympica nova 1, and it really impressed me. the sound was beautiful, coherent, natural and tonally different to the sound of my system.
In contrast, last month I was Invited to audition sim audio components in "Listen up" Denver. In one of the rooms they have a very resolving system connected to Focal Grande Utopias.... Man It was amazing!! Big soundstage, ultra detailed with perfect slam.(obviously far superior compared to my system). But you know... Even when the implementation of a DAC is the most important fact over the chip by itself. I believe the sound signature of a Sabre chip in the mix was perceptible. (not necessarily a bad thing)
I am not saying that the simaudio was inferior by any means. The 680D is amazingly good. It is just that my limited experience agrees with some of the guys here in the forum, that FPGA and R2R DACS have perceptible differences in sound characteristics compared to the "off the shelf chips".
Perhaps with the T2 I have 70% maybe more of what a Sabre can do according with its particular sound.
Aside of the big investment needed to get the X1, theres a chance of having more of the same, much better perhaps but very similar.
For the budget I am trying to stick to; and in consideration of all the guys recommendations. I am looking to audition:
-Terminator or Venus II (adding a Gaia in the future)
- Rockna Wavelight
- Hugo TT 2 (with the benefit of saving some money and getting a Mscaler in the future)
If I could get back at least 3/4 of what I Invested in my T2 surely I would consider the Bartók. In the other hand, keeping the T2 leaves me with a very good streamer, very capable sabre dac and the option for exploring other dac approaches.
At the end it makes me very curious to audition the X1, after somebody with your good taste ( nice choices in your system) recommends it. That speaks really good regarding to the quality of the lumin’s flagship.