Lumin U2 Streamer in 'da house

Just got a Lumin U1 used with the external power supply. It is really beautiful sounding. Also tryin out Roon using my PC as the core and server, I have to say it sound really good

 

External power supply? Is that a U1 mini?

 

No a U1 with the Lumin external LPS power supply

 

and

Yeah, LUMIN makes really great products. I love how well they really think through the design, engineering, functionality and features of their products. The sensibility I get from LUMIN is: "What is the BEST way to design, engineer, and implement a feature or function for a component? Whatever it is...DO THAT."

A good example is their licensing and implementation of the LEEDH digital volume control. Licensed from Swiss engineering company, LEEDH

A good intro to LEEDH is here: https://www.processing-leedh.com/presentation and here: Analysis of an alternative approach to digital domain volume control claiming high perceptual audio quality Heeb Thierry1 and Leidi Tiziano2

 

Dude you got bailed out of the Bakoon and now you buy this...

 

I may have a problem

 

I took delivery of a U2 Mini yesterday that I picked up off of USAM and connected it via USB to a Technics SU-R1000. My primary use case is as a Roon endpoint via LAN. Previous solutions I've used on this setup were iFi Zen Stream w/ iFi Elite power supply (good), the Allo USBridge Signature w/ Shanti LPS (better) and the OpticalRendu Lite w/ Teddy Pardo LPS (best).

First impressions of the unit - the app is easy to figure out and it had no issues getting assigned an IP on my network and showing up in Roon as a 'Roon Ready' endpoint. I wanted to try upsampling, and the DAC in the Technics can accept up to DSD256, but I quickly found tracks where Roon would play but no sound would come out so I turned it off.

I did a little research and a suggested fix is to do DSD upsampling in Roon or via HQ Player, but that defeats the purpose of having a unit like the U2 Mini that can perform the upsampling. My Roon core is on a $50 NUC that can manage a convolution filter and that's about it. I will experiment with local files via thumb drive and a direct Qobuz integration later and see if that leads to easier upsampling.

First sonic impression was that sound has more energy and was "hyped up" over what I had been hearing from the Allo, iFi and even the Rendu, almost like it was being propelled out of the speakers. This is almost certainly expectation bias to some extent, but the perception did not dissipate over the course of the first listening session, and I'm looking forward to listening to the system again to experience that sense of urgency in the sound.

The second most noteworthy first experience is that this is the rare component that I've added to any system where a perceived increase in resolution of micro-detail, leading edges of transients etc. didn't obviously trade-off in some way with tone, "fleshiness" of images etc. I was aware of being able to hear more detail without finding it distracting, and could readily hear more elements of a song without having to concentrate on any particular parts of it to the exclusion of experiencing the wholeness of the work. I identify this 'ease' with an actual improvement to my listening experience over any particular perceived difference in the frequency response, 'blackground' or improvement in imaging. Ideally all of those things should add up to my brain being able to more readily relax and enjoy music, and this one did that even though I was most tempted to try to listen to the gear instead of the music.

I'm already curious what the LPS mod could do for it, but I plan to live with it in stock configuration for at least six months before giving that a try.

 

Nice write-up, thanks for posting. In my experence, your U2 Mini will get better and better as you get hours on it with respect to burn-in. It will continue to sound as good as you described, but will likely sound more natural and organic while providing all the improvements in musical attributes you've described above.

Actuallly, these attributes will also improve qualitatively and quantitatively with repect to their quality as you get more hours on the clock, as it were. I'm also 100% confident that the LPS will add even more to the qualities you've described as well as the organic qualities and the naturalness of the presentation, so I'd give that upgrade serious consideration.

I'll just add that I'm listening to my Lumin P1 as I write this, and it's one of the most impressive components I have EVER heard. My P1 functions as my streamer, DAC, and preamplifier, and I use it's innovative LEEDH digittal volume control technology as my volume control for my system, whiich is also the *best-sounding* volume control methodology I've ever heard. Love, love, love my P1.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Lumin has got it...f**ckin' GOIN' ON. Love this company's innovation, engineering, and products.

Cheers.

 

Am I the only one here that doesn't appreciate the sound of Roon server? I know that there's no good reason but I prefer things like the Naim server (though dedicated) or even Minimserver, though it's trade off with that one. I do appreciate what Roon can do in terms of organization and play options but just don't find it as transparent. Yes, I know I may get grief as they're all bit perfect etc.

 

Not sure if this applies as I never had a roon server. I tested Roon for a month two times and I found the Lumin app and a PC based streamer running Quboz app to both sound much better, cleaner, less hash in the sound, better delineation around the instruments, better defined bass. All the stuff roon does is not appealing to me I want the best sound I can get.
best,
Josh

 

I found that running the Roon core on my Wavedream NET made a noticeable improvement over the Mac mini M1, both for devices attached directly to the WD NET and other end-points (Magna Mano Ultra mkIII.5 in the bedroom and LS60 Wireless in the living room).

 

I found the same thing when I replaced my Mac Mini-based Roon Core with an Akasa-cased NUC Roon Core (which I've dubbed, Alita, Battle Angel), shown here:


Instaling Alita made for quite a notable improvement, I'd say on the level of a preamp upgrade. I've come to conclusion that generic industtry-type computers, e.g. Mac Minis, laptops, etc., add a lot of noise because of all the ancillary and unnecessary computing functions that a dedicated Roon Core or comparable music server (e.g. Minimserver) doesn't require. Plus, I'm sure their power supplies, which are usuallly SMPS, contribute a lot of noise and garbage, as well.

 

Howdy,
I sold my U1 and missed it so I just bought a U1 with the X1 power supply excited with have it soon. Can I use fiber with the U1? Is there a benefit to having fiber on the last meter of cable? Appreciate your thoughts
best,
Josh