The combination of Boulder and Spendor both are new to me, and together they have a wonderful soundstage. The first thing that got me was clarity, figuring out every word sung and separation in instrumentation. I am registering even a small jive somewhere. I had enabled Parametric Equalizer in Roon, which adversely affected Focal's high range, so I switched it off. This made the sound through Boulder even better, reinforcing that I don't know how to equalize well. Though I don't listen to classical, I played the 'coffee cantata' and 'Habanera', and I could feel the large orchestral presence even though my living room is far from acoustically sound. It's equally good with rock and jazz, purely because you can hear pretty much all the instrumentation and feel their lovely vibe.
You get digital out when you use the Ethernet. Otherwise, it's all in. I was planning on getting a Lumin U1 which is just transport, but when I spoke to Peter Lie of Lumin, he asked me to buy T2, which also has a DAC. In fact, what is interesting is he had an issue with the way the 866 DAC processes DSD, which is to convert it to PCM. Boulder has an answer for this "On a more technical note. According to our digital designer and engineer here, there is a large noise floor in DSD tracks which can add noise to the architect. Our algorithm helps reduce that noise; though you aren’t getting native DSD, it could be argued that it sounds “better” and you are still able to play the DSD music that you had purchased". So now I am thoroughly confused as to whether to opt for a U1 or T2.
On your question of lacking, nothing is lacking. Honestly, I am moving from a very average system to a complete high end one, so no complains there. I just wanted more streaming options without compromising quality.
