Hey Peter, I’m happy to share the first impressions after 4-5h of listening with my new U1 Mini.
The setup was simply U1 Mini > [USB] Chord Dave > Focal Utopia, more details at the bottom for the gear-heads like me.
I compared this to the sound using my PC to stream music to the Dave via Optical (my favorite so far with Dave). To be honest I didn’t have big expectations considering the claimed “immunity” of Dave to jitter and, to some extent, to RF noise.
So I started the listening session with some electronic music (Rone, Mirapolis) and at first I thought “mmmh, ok, no difference really”, but wait… that bass on the U1 is so much fuller and defined. Ok, good, let’s try something with more instruments in it.
With classic rock (The Rolling Stones, Blue & Lonesome and Rory Gallagher, Top Priority remastered 2017) the hints of a better sound continued: snappier bass, increased soundstage depth, definitely more realistic instrument reproduction.
But it’s with live music, especially with piano and guitar, that the U1 Mini really blew the PC out of the water.
In Band of Horses’ “Acoustic at the Ryman”, with the Lumin each piano note felt richer, you could really tell there was “more music” in them, if that makes sense at all. I guess it might have something to do with a better transient reproduction or a lower noise floor.
The U1 Mini also improved the feeling of space, and soundstage depth, as opposed to a flatter presentation of the PC.
Final result? More realism, no doubt. I found myself tapping with my hands on the desk more often, and this is a good sign!
Bravo Lumin, well done, I like this.
Other gear details:
Roon Core: NUC 10 i7 running as ROCK, with two SSDs (1 for OS, 1 for music storage)
The U1 Mini gets the Ethernet signal from a Netgear GS108 switch, powered by an iFi iPower 12V
Cables: stock power cable for Dave, Audioquest NRG X3 3ft for the U1 Mini, Norne Audio Draug Silver 5ft for the headphones, QED Reference USB 1m.
All the power chords are connected to 3 x Opera Audio Consonance PW-1 Mains Filters