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Blue sound Node 2 vs Lumin D1

I am looking for a streamer with a built in DAC.  I have backed off my original plan to purchase the Aurender A10 and am looking for a less expensive option.  The Bluesound and Lumin players do essentially the same thing  BTW, my immediate interest is streaming Tidal, so MQA is a possible plus for both players.  The obvious difference between $500 for the Node 2 and $2000 for the Lumin distinguishes the two players.  Does that price difference translate to a significant difference in performance/sound quality? Both are within my budget but I would rather not spend the additional $1500 unless the improvement is fairly dramatic.  I would really like to hear from anyone who has had both players in their system and have had an opportunity to compare them.
randyhat
randyhat OP
156 posts
 
Thank you guys, this is very useful information.  I ordered the Bluesound Node 2 today.
mdelrossi1
79 posts
 
Which color? ;)

zek4u
45 posts
 
These devices are not all the same. I’ve had many: Dell netbook, Apple airport, sotm tx-USBexp with its own psu and others. You should have heard how bad the Dell netbook sounded. It’s garbage in, garbage out. I say, start with clean bits. I now have a Micro Rendu and have an Aries Mini on the way. It really amounts to the vendors USB/Motherboard implementation. These things pick up EMI/RFI and need good jitter performance or you will play the add on game.

My guess is that a Lumen/Aurender/MR/SOtM sMS-200 will beat a Aries Mini or a Blue Sound because of their motherboard/USB implementation. It’s also system dependent and what you might be hearing is colorization.
jaaptina
25 posts
 
Streamers do have a very noticible impact on sound quality. Upgrading from the old Pioneer N-30 streamer to Aries Mini with SBooster power supply did make a big difference. Since I can pinpoint instruments much better.

I’ve upgraded again to Sonore microRendu. With iFi powersupply it matches the Aries in SQ. With LPS-1 power supply the microRendu is again a big upgrade in sound quality. (Tested the PSU upgrade by using 6x1,5V rechargeble batteries before making the jump to LPS-1).

With all three of the streamers I’ve used the same dac (not the inbuild dac).
randyhat OP
156 posts
 
Well, I received my Bluesound Node 2 yesterday.  Listening to it now.  I am very pleased with it.  Listening to MQA and regular digital files.  Can't say that I can tell a difference though I haven't done an AB comparison of the same song in both formats.  In any case, the sound quality is great.  I am sure there are refinements that come with more expensive players but I cannot imagine a better bang for your buck addition to my system than the Bluesound Node 2.
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