Lumin D2... Could it be a perceivable upgrade in sound quality?

[David_Crosbie1 (David Crosbie)]

This interests me… and I’d welcome the thoughts of others in this thread.

I’m currently Home-Demoing a D2 as a replacement for my Matrix Element I.

Now they’re not vastly different class levels in DAC land but the Lumin felt like a worthwhile step up in terms of build and feature set for me. Whilst looking nicer.

My thoughts here are copied from another thread:

@David_Crosbie1

It’s very easy to be pulled in by the Lumin. It presents a lovely warm cuddly blanket of sound. It’s rich, cosy and like a mug of cocoa it certainly soothes with the right music. Acoustic, late night jazz etc.

However. Therein lies a problem. In its pursuit of this sweetened vision of things it’s given up a little on the way. The soundstage is both narrow and flat. It creates a ball of sound stuck between the two speakers. Musicians in live recordings sound bunched together, like they’re all in the same flat plane from front to back. The sense of depth and the feeling of the rear wall disappearing beyond the speakers to reveal the venue is totally lost. This is very “flat earth”.

Second, leading edge transients are softened so that quicker rock and electronic music lacks the necessary bite and snarl to get the foot taping convincingly.

Lastly, as above, it’s bass is tremendously soft and shy. It’s ok with the bloom of a plucked double bass, but anything needing big depth or punch is rendered a little hollow and flat.

It sounds like I hate it. I don’t. There’s much to be commended here. It’s silky smooth, has a glorious top end and a lovely well integrated midband. The product is built well, has a great little screen and a snappy interface. It works with roon flawlessly.

But, my little matrix which is some £700 cheaper, is more dynamic, more spacious, more weighty, and yet doesn’t really add any unwanted hardness on anything but the worst tracks. It’s also just as good with roon, albeit is nowhere near as nicely built as the Lumin.

So a few questions here really. For those that have had either of the other options (power supply, or upgrade to T2) can you talk to me about how that went for you.

Does a new PSU in the D2 wake it up a bit? Did you feel it brought any tangible improvements in bass weight, impact and speed. How about soundstage?

To those that went T2, did you feel you kept the glorious smooth midband and sense of ease that the D2 had, but gained any of what I feel is missing?