There will always be different... and better. But at what price? And what difference? I have owned the N-01XD and although a great product, its more expensive and nowhere near as well integrated between the hardware and software or even supported. I should not have to use the physical front screen buttons to makes changes to the device, by navigating 3 sub menus, before I can control and operate it the way I want on my tablet. They could've simplified this by including a remote control, but they didn't. So its not such a simple comparison. Its not all about just the sonics, which always have and always will be completely subjective, the operation of a device is objective.
I agree with you in that Esoteric could have simplified the menu and setup interface. This, I find, to be a minor inconvenience since after the component is fully setup (filters, oversampling, etc.) I haven’t had a need to use the menu; I just play the music using my iPad.
Yes, the N-01XD is more $ than the X1 but in the world of high end audio, the $5-6K difference is not that significant.
Now, my apologies for changing topics here. Back to the LUMIN subject.