Lumin X1 latest Review like we have been saying

@grahamsphillips we have the Lumin AMP here, normally paired with the Lumin X1 but of course it can accept any line-level source. If you like the Lumin sound, particularly the ESS-based units with output transformers, then I would expect you to like the sound of the AMP as well.

@mgrif104 I'm not aware of a similar ES9038PRO + Lundahl LL7401 DAC implementation, against which you could perform a comparison. Even then that's just two primary components of an overall design. But you could probably test your theory in the other direction, but picking some other DAC as your constant and using multiple network streamers to feed it.

Audio doc have you evaluated $2k Teac NT-505?

i have been told it destroys $2.3k LUMIN D2 (no contest) and is just as good as $4.5k Lumin T2.
My guess is you will say you haven’t heard Teac.

Teac is parent of Esoteric so yes in digital they have access to superior tech than Lumin.
NT-505 at $2k is amazing and if add Teac external clock for total of $3.5 k for both performance jumps that much higher and still 1000 saved over T2

Teac even compatible with LUMIN app so interface is identical between the two under comparison

Kren we were Esoteric dealers for years, the NT 505 is considered a competitor to the Lumin D2 and some people may prefer one or the other but these two units are of a similar level of sound quality.

As per the Lumin T2 it is dramatically better sounding then the D2 in every way, The T2 is closer to the X1's design than the older D2, the D2 by the way still sounds extremely good even compared to more expensive dacs. 

As per Esoteric having superior tech than Lumin the fact that Esoteric can't even engineer an app and went to Lumin for their app shows what exactly?

The Lumin X1 is $6k less expensive than the Esoteric NS 01 and most people who have compared the two prefer the Lumin.

We did a comparison of the Lumin A1 vs the KO3 and the Lumin A1 was nearly as good for 1/2 the price and in terms of musical engagement the Lumin was more engaging even setting both to DSD. 

Lumin is a company of broadcast engineers they use a totally different design standard in how they design their products, every aspect of the circuit, every part is evaluated to how and to best utilize that part. 

The Esoteric is in a huge case that is not necessary to make it look more impressive, that case is made out of plate metal, vs the Lumin X1 is machined out of billet aluminium the X1 uses an outboard power supply which is quiet and located outside of the case, Esoteric puts the power supply internal. The X1 use SFP to remove noise from transmission  Esoteric didn't even think about this, the design of the X1 shows a remarkable attention to putting money into areas where you will get the best performance for the dollar, and in every test the X1 has been considered to match or exceed digital front ends that are $25-50k.

In our shop you have to go up to an Aqua Formula/Statement package or a T+A SD 3100 or a Light Harmonic Davinci/Statement package at $30-50k to really move into something  better. It is interesting to note that the Esoteric NS 01 has not been lauded as a giant slayer nor a product to compete with many more expensive digital front ends. 

If you look at the Lumin X1 it has been lauded around the world as being one of the best sounding products on the market and true reference digital for far less than the competition. 

Does that mean someone might find something else they may like more in their system? Anything is possible but the Lumin X1 has a totally engaging sound, throws a huge sound stage, has excellent resolution and hits the tonality side with a big warm musical presentation, a great feature set, OTA upgrades, MQA, Roon, Airplay, from a company with a track record of producing streaming/dacs which are what is held up as the gold standard to which everything is compared against. 

Kren go listen to an X1 and judge for yourself.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ Lumin dealers

T2 vs NT505 was the question and you quickly tried to change subject by changing to D2 which uses 13 yr old dac and then to X1 which is different level.

The nt505 competes with T2 is what I’ve been told by people who’d compared them and costs less than half as much.

I’d never spend $14k in such a rapidly advancing area where will be obsolete in 3 yrs. much different than amps or speakers where change is slower. I prefer to spend $2k and get dac just as good as $4.5k Lumin

Kren we have never done a shootout between these two, however, all the reviews on the NT 505 find it a good sounding dac but none of the reviews on the piece we have ever seen, have said that the NT 505 is a giant killer, it is on the recommended list of John Darko we do believe.

The NT 505 will be a good piece in the same way the Lumin D2 is also really good, which one you would prefer is up to your tastes and system preferences, these are two very different products with the Lumin being a dedicated streamer vs the Teac piece which is also a headphone amp.

On paper the NT 505 offers more, how ever as noted by Nutella the D1 as noted by Nutella sounded extremely good in his setup:

"The lumin D1 outperformed Benchmark and Chord dacs in my setup. Don’t discount having a one box solution. Dac tech has slowed down while streamer tech seems to be seeing the most room for improvement. That lumin humiliated the blue sound I was using as a streamer only. "

Your preoccupation on the dac chip of the Lumin is rather silly, the chip is just one aspect of the sound of a dac, in the case of the Wolfson Dacs Lumin uses that chip with the D1/D2 platform because this chip in this hardware produce an exceedingly musical sound.

This is no different than other dac designers using a 30+ years old Philips TDA 1541 double  crown chip because they love the sound of this particular chip, there are other companies using Burr Brown 1792A chips even in 2020 there are designers using the ESS 9016k which is a far earlier version of the ESS Sabre chip series including the 9028 and the 9038pro. 

As per your feeling that the NT 505 with an outboard clock would sound better then the Lumin T2 is again just speculation, just because you use an external clock doesn’t mean the sound quality of one product will necessarily sound far better the sound will be different.

The fact that the Lumin D2 and the T2 continue to be the Gold Standard to which all modern streamers are generally being compared to.

In our shop we have tested the Lumin D2 vs the Nad Blue sound, as well as the Cambridge Streamers and the Mytek Brooklyn Bridge and the Ifi DSD pro, most people love the sound of the D2 even in comparison to all of these fantastic dacs and dac streamers.

The Lumin T2 is receiving rave reviews from everyone who has heard it again in our shop we compare the Lumin T2 to other dac streamers which are $6.5-7k products which makes the T2 a bargain compared to these more expensive products.

Lumin is a very sophisticated company and they have world class engineering, when you are talking about all of these products your personal preferences and system synergies all come into it.

As per your comments about not wanting to spend more than $2k on a piece that is up to you, the reality is that the difference in digital front ends can make a gigantic difference in the overall sound quality and level of performance a system.

Lets say you have a $20k pair of loudspeakers and a $10k set of electronics on a great $2k dac do you think the overall system’s sound quality will be fantastic and you will be able to derive every bit of performance from the rest of the components, or is it very likely that the system’s sound will not necessarily be outstanding until the level of quality in the source is brought up to a similar level of performance.

This is the perfect example of the weakest link, if you have great components you need an equally good source component, and if you really think there are no differences between a $2k dac a $4k one and dacs that are $7k and above you need to visit a good store and really experience this for yourself.

As mentioned we specialize in digital audio and have played with dacs from the $500 Node to the $35k Light Harmonic’s Davinci and the oustanding T+A SD 3100HV which Robert Harley just reviewed and said it is one of the best dacs on the planet, a better source can make the difference between an expensive bunch of components making sound vs the same components making real music.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ Lumin dealers