Lumin U1 vs Lumin U1 mini + sbooster?

"avoid stating or even implying that it is better than the U1 or the dCS Bridge based on what you read. "

I don't see whats wrong in saying that this solution 'may' be better than full size u1. There is nothing erroneous about that comment.

Also I don't see anything wrong in saying that Jimmy Chang on head fi found pi + di20he better than dcs bridge. And a number of other users on audiophilestyle found dcs bridge better than full size u1 (including a personal friend of mine who I really trust).
Just because these are not my personal experiences I am not allowed to state them?

"I just need to clarify that I didn’t state that the DI20HE increases noise and interference, I said that it could be possible that the perceived improvements were due to additional distortion and/or noise/interference."

Sure but you are doing the same thing as me. You are coming to a conclusion without personal experience (trying di20he). I think the implication here is quite obvious that ’hey man what I did is better than what you did... your setup is just more distortion, my setup is better’. If that is not your implication then thats cool, but thats what I got from your post. And I felt it was a bit arrogant to be honest. Like my cheaper solution is not as good as your more expensive solution and mine is just more distortion prone and therefore I like distortion.

" Additionally, I don’t need validation for any of my purchases, I’ve been humbled many times in this hobby that I’ve learned that more expensive doesn’t necessarily mean better, but in the case of the U1 and U1 Mini + S Booster, it is the case to my ears in my system. My intention was solely to share my experience. "

That was my intention too. To share my experience as well.

And by the way I highly doubt di20he sounds better because of distortion. Because when I put it in my chain what I actually hear is a blacker background, more detail, more air, better dynamics.

It’s just amazing how you give a twist to everything I said to make it sound erroneous. When I use the words “could be” or “might be” you proceed to give examples with “is”...and then when I suggest you to avoid making absolute claims with “is” you proceed to saying that you said “may be”.

I rest my case and once again, I just wanted to share my first hand experience with both units. I never intended to state that the DI20HE plus any given streamer couldn’t be better than the U1, I just tried to have more clarity about how could you make such claims without listening to the U1. As a reminder, I never claimed that the DI20HE isn’t better than the U1, I threw a possibility that there could be additional artifacts being introduced to the sound.

Anyways, happy listening and once again my intent was to actually contribute to the thread by responding to your initial question. Sorry for having to go through this “you said” / “I said” type of posts. They’re, in my opinion, unproductive and discouraging for the broader community.

I think the implication here is quite obvious that ’hey man what I did is better than what you did... your setup is just more distortion, my setup is better’. If that is not your implication then thats cool, but thats what I got from your post. And I felt it was a bit arrogant to be honest. Like my cheaper solution is not as good as your more expensive solution and mine is just more distortion prone and therefore I like distortion.

My apologies if I came across that way, I didn’t mean to “look down” at your system because it’s cheaper or because mine is more expensive. I also didn’t want to seem arrogant, again my apologies if I came off that way. One thing I ask though is to not imply things I did not say. I never stated that my setup was better than yours, I actually stated that I was glad and happy that you’re happy with your current system.

I don’t think that we need to be defensive or to point fingers at each other, after all we’re all here just for fun.

Once again, please accept my sincerest apologies for making you think that I was being arrogant and looking down at your system solely due to price difference.