OPPO Sonica DAC to Lumin D2 Upgrade

Actually no, the D2’s upgraded processor allows for higher rate DSD transcoding which makes the D2 sound better providing you are using the transcoding feature if you are not then yes their would be less improvements sonically.

Other improvements include new routing for the internal power supply and other circuit optimizations iin the board which make the D2 sound better over the D1 direct quote from the Lumin engineers.

Sorry if we were a bit presumtous and we never had the Sboster with our D1 the D2 in our shop sounded way better then the D1 we had initially.

As per major improvements the later T1 has substantially revised hardware and was a huge improvement over the D1 platform.

So you never did a D2 vs a Teac combarison however and AKM dac chip set sounds very different then the Wolfsons. If you prefer a more detailed sound then the AKM does that if you prefer a warmer sound then the D2 with its wolfson dac chip does that. 

@audiotroy

I will give you that the D2 out of the box will outperform the D1 sound wise connected as supplied out of the box especially with your four figure Wireworld power cable which would not be an option on the D1. Other than that I will believe what I was told by the representative of Lumin that other than the change in power supply, brought about as the result of complaints from customers having to buy an LPS to get best performance as opposed to the wall wart, the only change was with the ability to play DSD 128. Since you can’t sell a D1 with an upgraded power supply it is a mute point so you need to say the model you can sell is better. I have two friends on another forum that own the D1/SBooster that borrowed a D2 and both kept their D1 combo. Regardless I don’t sell anything so I was only providing an alternative to your choice that I do own as I did the D1 and the Sonica.

You need to realize that as a dealer who already has issues with many of the members here that it might be better to make your point one time and walk away unless someone contacts you for further information. Just my opinion which I doubt you will pay any attention to if history tells us anything.

Oh and don't look at my post count and think I am some audio newbie as that would be far from the truth with over 50 years experience even some in the "business."

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

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.  

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.