can i get a significant dac upgrade over my Lumin d2 for 2k?

@akg_ca 

+1

My rule of thumb is never upgrade less that 2x. While you could argue this would be a 2x upgrade… i would not consider it to be. I would not go less that $3K - $4K. You want to be delighted with the sound improvement… not disappointed in a lateral move, just trading strengths and weaknesses.

I would save up.

Easy , check out all the great reviews of the Denafrips Pontus-2  

a great R2R dac that does everything well , even at $3k don’t know anything that is 

good in all areas , to get a Big step up. The Denafrips Terminator2  is 

like going Mercedes’ C class to S class !

Bluesound NODE with Teddy  Pardo LPS to Gustard X26 PRO via DH Labs silversonic USB connection. Sweet!

For those of you saying you need to spend more to get a meaningful improvement I’d encourage you to read the review of the Gustard R26 on soundnews.net. The thing is built to a very high standard from the power supplies to the resistor ladder, and the results according to the review are not far off the Terminator +. Sometimes the audio Gods give us poor folk a true gift, and this sure looks like one of them to me.

Gustard now doing the R2R thing because it is the talked about thing for analogue lovers. Smart of them. However the X26 pro is an absolutely thing of beauty sound wise, better than the Aries 2 I owned.