# Is there someone who has experience with Lumin S1 and Aesthetix Pandora Eclipse?



## trcns (Sep 15, 2015)

I am in the market looking to buy a DAC and I work with two different Audio Dealer, one is Lumin dealer and other one for Aesthetix.

My intreast is in Lumin S1 and Aesthetix Pandora Eclipse both are exactly the same price. I auditioned both but in separate showrooms and at different times. Also I am not that expert to look for every single detail. In the mean while both dealers claim that their device will beat the other in no time.

I need a neutral opinion from an un-biased source, some expert auditioned both, since the cost is same, which one is best?


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## Lumen (May 17, 2014)

Hello and welcome to HTS! 
Honestly, it's a slim chance that someone here will have auditioned both units, but hopefully someone with the experience you need will check in with specific comparisons! :bigsmile:

In general... Competently designed outboard DAC's will sound identical. Where you run into differences is in the implementation of the analog output filtering. Brick-walls are mostly a thing of the past and many manufacturers now offer a user-selectable choice of apodizing/non-apodizing filters which change group delay and pre/post ringing. _The effect is subtle_ and you can really agonize over which is best for a particular song, instead of just enjoying the music. 

*CAVEAT!*
If the DAC's sound drastically different, then one or both have been deliberately "voiced" for a particular musical "sound." What sounds impressive at first may become irritating in the long run. Also as you know, both dealers' claims can't be true. Have them put their money where their mouth is by arranging for an apples-to-apples comparison. Either ask to borrow the demo model, or be sure to understand their return policy on a new unit; then take it to the other dealer for comparison on the same system.


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