I’m currently in process of chosing my audio source. I have Lyngdorf TDAI-1120 as my amplifier and it’s Roon Ready so I don’t need separate endpoint.
I’m thinking about two paths:
Intel NUC + Roon ROCK which will be streaming directly to my Lyngdorf
Lumin U2 Mini connected via COAX cable to Lyngdorf
Second solution means no Roon at all, just Lumin.
Lumin would cost more than 2 times more than NUC + Roon license, would there be a sound quality difference better with it? I know that Roon app is far superior over Lumin app but let’s talk about sound quality first.
It isn’t possible to talk about SQ because of its subjective nature. But if you search here you might find anecdotal commentary about SQ with Lumin vs. Roon using the Lumin as a source. The coax connection will skew matters somewhat too.
I’ve read some topics saying that Lumin sounded better for some people. Not sure which connection they used. In my case this would be the same DAC but two different connections. Network vs COAX.
I know SQ might be subjective if there is slight difference. And I’d like to know if there is objectively significant SQ difference worth getting Lumin.
You can research coax vs network connections. I much prefer network connections as ethernet is gavanically isolated (assuming you use CAT 5e or CAT 6 UTP cabling. The shielding on higher CAT cables actually can ADD ground loops)