Ready For Digital Source...Computer?

If you are looking for an all-in-one that is pretty decent, the Lumin T2 has gotten great feedback in the industry. That being said, you need to think of the Lumin T2 as a $2000 music streamer combined with a $2200 DAC, both powered by a shared $300 switching power supply ($4500 total price). To get the most out of this, you really need to upgrade the power supply to linear power supply by getting that Lumin Connection Kit $60 and the Sbooster external linear power supply $400. Is it going to sound good with this? Yes, I think it will sound very good. The DAC section uses two ESS9028PRO dacs, which is good. However, the I/V section and analog output section are all op amps. This is not the best sound quality, but with a $2200 DAC you are not really going to get any better.

There are a lot of very excellent DACs in the $3,000 to $5,000 range that would totally outshine the Lumin T2, typically all using discrete analog stages instead of op amps. You can look at products such as Audio-GD, Holo Audio May DAC, Denafrips, LKS MH-DA005. All of these have different approaches to power supply, analog circuit and sound signature, but they are all excellent. If you combine one of these with a Roon Nucleus you would be doing better than tha Lumin T2. But it would be separate devices (not an all-in-one).

auxinput - WOW exellent (aux) input, thanks so much for pointing all this out to me! I was just about to pull out my check book for the T2 (at the discounted price) and you have made me re-think this.

I have limited space for audio equipment in this house and trying to keep everybody happy (it’s just me and my wife here), hence the thought of the one (or in my case) two box solution. But yes, I could get a better DAC then a smaller server (Nucleus, Innous Mini or?) and tuck it away behind or under the amp stand, on the floor.

With all the rave reveiws of late, I was considering the the Deafrips Pontus. I would go with the less expensive but still highly rated, Ares II but it doesn’t come in silver.

adasda - agreed, laptop out, working on the DAC now (see above).

I'm just pointing out what I see on the Lumin T2.  It is definitely not a bad product if you want a single all-in-one-unit (but also with that Sbooster power supply that you could put anywhere, even on the floor). 

A note on the Innuous products.  Even as just a server/streamer, they do changes to the sound via their DSP.  It is a type of waveform smoothing that changes the sound somewhat.  Many people love this affect from Innous and think it sounds better then other products.  I heard the Innous and I did not prefer this sound.  I compared it to an Antipodes streamer and the Antipodes sounded a lot better (since it was neutral).

There is a youtube review comparing Innous and Auralic streamer where they commented the Innous sounded more lush and silky.  The Auralic sounded more dry.  I actually think this is because the Auralic is completely neutral and is not changing the waveforms from the audio.

Like I said, many love Innous.  Just something to be aware of.

auxinput - How do you know all this stuff, amazing and great information, thank you again. No, I do not want coloured music, but I'm afraid the Antipodes is way over my bugdet.I will keep researching.

I was not trying to "push" the Antipodes product. I was just stating what I compared the Innous to when I listened to it (it was an audio shop in San Francisco). There are a lot of streamer options. I’m sure there are going to be competing arguments here, but I think you would be extremely happy with a Roon Nucleus with linear power supply. You don’t necessarily need to spend $5k+ on just the streamer part. It’s all about your budget. My point was that the Innous is definitely coloring/changing the waveforms and most other streamers are not doing this (unless you forcable enable some sort of DSP in your streamer). Like I said, many people have listened to Innous and think it’s the greatest thing on earth. Everyone has different points of view of what the "best sound" is.

Also, depending on what you want to do. the lesser priced Roon Nucleus ($1459) might be good enough. If you don’t need to do DSP on DSD audio files or have a need for multi-channel audio, then you probably do not need the Roon Nucleus Plus ($2559). The lower priced Roon Nucleus will still do DSD, but you won’t be able to apply much DSP to that. Lower priced Roon Nucleus will still do all DSP functions against PCM audio (such as CD, 24/96, 24/192, etc.).

The Nucleus is using an Intel i3 processor; the Nucleus + is using an Intel i7. This allows Roon Nucleus + to do all the extra DSP on DSD files. Some examples of DSP functions are Sample Rate Conversion, Procedural or Parametric EQ, Convolutions, Crossfeed, some Speaker Setup and Headroom Management. I’m not exactly sure what the Roon Nucleus provides for DSP.

As far as how I know this stuff, I’ve been in this audio game for 22 years at this point. My hobby also includes rebuilding/upgrading audio electronics (replacing/upgrading capacitors, internal wiring, rectifiers, audio stages, power supplies, etc. etc.) I’ve been doing that for about 15 years now.

I don’t know if this is something you want to consider, but there’s a used Roon Nucleus Rev A on audiogon for $995. It’s Rev A which means a limit on SSD thickness size and you only get one HDMI output, but this item does include a 1TB internal SSD for song storage. It’s used, of course.