Lumin U1 Mini and Roon MQA Capabilities settings not sounding as good as Lumin app

[Andrei_Stirbu]

Hi everyone,

I have just a simple question.

Maybe my ears are tricking me, but it seems to me like no matter what MQA setting I use in the Roon app settings, my Lumin app still sounds better with MQA songs.

Is there a setting that leaves the sound quality 100% to the Lumin app/device?

• No MQA support
• Decoder and Renderer
• Decoder Only
• Renderer Only

Many thanks in advance.

Andrei

[wklie (Peter Lie)]

Try Renderer Only, or No MQA Support only if you are not using a MQA DAC.

In Lumin app, turn off Lumin Streaming and Spotify Connect if you don’t use AirPlay and Spotify respectively. Also turn off unused outputs (BNC / coaxial / toslink / AES).

[Andrei_Stirbu]

Thank you for the quick reply Peter.

Here you can see my full 5.1.4 setup. I’m not sure how good the Denon x4500h supports MQA as a DAC.

I know, I know, the Denon it’s not the best setup for music but for the time being it is still giving me enough quality that I can hear a difference between the different MQA setting in Roon.

I really like the combo of the Lunim U1 Mini and Roon; I’m just being paranoid that i might be loosing something due to these MQA settings.

Next month I want order the Atoll IN 300 and run the Lumin U1 Mini over it. Hopefully the Atoll will be enough of an upgrade so that the MQA setting don’t bother/make me as paranoid anymore.

[wklie (Peter Lie)]

@Andrei_Stirbu

I’m not sure how good the Denon x4500h supports MQA as a DAC.

It does not. You will have to rely on Roon or Lumin U1 MINI built-in MQA Core decoding.

If you don’t already have a standalone DAC, I think you’d be better off with T2 or D2 instead of U1 MINI.

[Andrei_Stirbu]

Exchanging the U1 Mini is not an option anymore unfortunately. Originally I’m from Canada but now that I live in Germany… the return or exchange policies here are not as easy going as in Canada.

Are you familiar with the Atoll IN 300 (intergraded amp)? This is what I plan to pair the U1 Mini with. Unless you have a better suggestion around a 3000EUR budget.

Integrated IN300 – Atoll Electronique

[wklie (Peter Lie)]

No. Some search results:

Need advice: streamer+DAC, minimal box count

I have a Blue Sound Node 2 hooked up to my integrated DAC amp Atoll IN 300 and use it with Roon and Qobuz. Works fine but unable to stream over 96kHz despite what the specs indicate. I haven’t tested the sound from the Node 2 analog variable output but, although not up to the best DAC’s, I have read that it does a decent job. Good choice at this price point in my opinion.

Question on U1 and U1 Mini

A question for you, I found when playing Hi-Res files that when the volume of my dac/preamp is low I hear a lot of noise to even distortion, now I have been able to solve this by setting the Simple Rate Conversion to Enable in Roon, I find this strange. Is it disadvantageous to have the Lumin U1mine connected to the dac/preamp with both AES/ EBU and USB or should I not do this?

[Andrei_Stirbu]

You are right that I should have bought a different product from Lumin. To be honest though, I like the Lumin U1 Mini a lot.

The only things that annoys me at the moment is this DAC issue. Just looked into Helgel H190 and H390.

The H190 says nothing about MQA, the H390 does but it costs almost 6000EUR.

Anyways, I’m very thankful for your help! Great to have someone like you on this forum.