Bluesound Node130 LPS upgrade...

paulcreed- I cannot determine, but you may have missed the point here?  Soix gets it, and he is right on the money.  I presume you are trying to help, but I don’t see your system listed, and I can’t tell how you arrived at your conclusion, or how you came to know it.

Based upon encouragement from several folks who really seemed to ’know’, based upon journeys of experience, I decided to max-out my Node N130 before deciding to move upstream.  And now I don’t feel the need to move upstream.  This streaming rig sounds really impressive.  Please describe to us your methods to max-out your Node before selecting the Lumin, also listing details of the improvements- I am truly interested.  I presume you have a true high-end DAC and preamp to make a good comparison?  And a very revealing system that brings out the finer points of complex music?  Please offer the details of your journey, so that we might benefit in evaluating your conclusions.  Many thanks.

I've had quite a few hours with the LHY psu and I can report back that it's a considerable improvement to my ears. Wider soundstage and clarity. Also did an easily switchable A-B test between two node 130s running through my SLI-80. The non-LHY was courser(etchier?) and suffered from less dynamics.

Another comparison made was to run the upgraded node through the R2R dac in my Hifiman EF-400 that was pulled from my pc desktop system. The node was formerly run through the dac of my Marantz 30n SACD. What a huuuuuge difference... for the better! It must be an R2R thing, because I've put other chip-based dacs in my system and they couldn't pull off what the Hifiman has done. The sound is brought to the level of "where did the time go" listening sessions. Can't imagine what an upgraded streamer and R2R will do for my system over what I'm running now - but, eventually, I'm going to find out!

Thanks for your comments, snowdog57.  Your experience and thoughts are similar to mine, although I am using the Weiss 501 (chip) DAC.  I am old enough to embrace the "You don't know, until you know" mindset.  And it just leaves me to wonder, same as you, just how much better can this get?  I asked a similar question on the parallel thread "Streaming Rabbit Hole", hoping to hear from folks who actually "know".  Just to give me an idea..........

Thank you, as well, @rtilden... Since I'm not familiar with the Weiss 501, I looked it up and found there are certainly a lot of very satisfied consumers and reviewers. I'm guessing you're on a level of audio bliss that words are hard to come by in describing it. It does give me pause to consider it as a future upgrade.

As far as a streamer goes(I'm looking, as well, to upgrade from the Node) most roads keep pushing me towards Aurender and Innuos  - this is all based on value-for-the-buck, as I want to keep the search within $5k or less. I hope your search continues for that "perfect fit" streamer and, should you find it, let us know!