Wow, that’s a very strong argument Lol. Thanks for your advice!
has anyone compared the Lumin U1 Mini to the iFi Zen Stream?
From all reports I wouldn’t touch a zen stream…there is a zen stream thread in the community here
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Mr Wizard it all depends on the your use case.
If using Roon and/or HQPlayer alone, it is a wonderful device and I would recommend it to most users.
There were issues on the early days with Power supplies being swapped out or not getting the right ones shipped.
The issues now is the other streaming protocols just not being reliable enough or working at all in many cases.
Again it doesn’t affect anyone using it for Roon or HQP, but it is incredibly disappointing to not seeing it mature as quickly as most owners would like.
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I beg to differ. Given how immature the Zen software currently is, with many updates ahead of it (before they abandon the product and move onto the next), the chances of a software regression is probably higher than usual. Roon & HQP may work at the moment but…
Anthony that is a bit of stretch as they don’t develop the Roon or the HQP side, they are provided to them by Roon and HQP respectively. So it’s not quite under their control to break.
Hence my thoughts that it is only recommended for those two class of users.
Its still a very good device, with very poor first party software which they did not even write.
In theory they can break the whole thing, but that really doesn’t help their brand at all.
I am actually thinking about buying another one to feed another DAC and Amp, but again I will only be really using it for Roon.
My friends and I compared Zen to different streamers and to Lumin. They changed power supplies, wires, etc. to him. The verdict is such a normal streamer in its price 
, nothing more. It makes no sense to invest in power supplies and wires with it. Not suitable for a serious stereo system because of the sound quality. It is not even worth comparing with Lumin, of absolutely different levels.
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i am leaning towards the Lumin U1 Mini, i have more money than time and it has a long trouble free track record. i also listen to Spotify which is not available via Roon. it’s a good back up since sometimes Tidal will not have the complete album of a certain artist. so waiting for my refund. who knows when the Zen Stream will be completely sorted out. i am not a young man anymore.
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A good choice! With the power supply upgrade to an external unit, the sound quality flies into space! 
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i think even without the PSU upgrade it should be better than the Zen Stream?
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That is a bit of an oxymoron @Michael_Harris.
iFi are responsible for the reputedly-shoddy software, because they commissioned it.
You get what you pay for in the end. And Lumin’s are in a different league.
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i am waiting for my refund from TREO in Singapore. boy did they give me a hard time. had to ask IFI to intervene. i will buy the Lumin. i was sold a bill of goods.
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Martin I don’t disagree with your Lumin comment and would love to own a Lumin device. I almost never hear a bad word about them and Peter is wonderfully helpful here on the forum’s.
I have said many times that the Zen software developments have not been good, but thankfully Roon and HQP still work great (my use case) and the only time I touch the interface is when I hear there is an update.
Like many hardware companies they are really bad with software and have shot for the moon and barely hit any altitude with this device yet. This problem seems to be there with Hegel and Dutch and Dutch, but they have had the sense to hold back the non working features (or got blocked by Roon from shipping them) where Zen have thrown it all out there
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Can anyone here speak knowledgeably about Lumin’s QC, service, and support?
China is producing some very advanced, feature-packed HiFi products these days.
However, 3 of my purchases in a row have developed problems within 2 years.
I returned the first two for refunds during the warranty periods. The third is out of warranty and I’m not satisfied with the service. Lumin does seem to have a much bigger sales network in North America but I wonder if that translates to better support in case of a hardware or firmware problem.
My feeling is Lumin is not a regular Chinese HiFi manufacturer.
The build quality of their products is top notch and they don’t put in fancy but useless features just to sell their products.
I don’t own any Lumin so I could be wrong.
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Close to U1 which is 3x the price?
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U1 mini
The pleasure of sound quality is worth more than money. 
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Tom, my T2 has been nothing but rock solid. No issues with hardware or firmware. It is manufactured to a very high standard indeed, and is all round a most excellent piece of gear. It is a great Roon endpoint, and has Tidal/Spotify Connect. Sound quality is exceptional. Any firmware issues that one or two users on here have had with Lumins have been sorted immediately by Peter (@wklie) through the forums. I can’t speak to service support, but I’m sure Peter can. I have never heard of anyone here regretting buying Lumin - yes it was an expensive purchase (almost as much as my Hegel H390), but it has been worth every single cent.
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ditto here for the U1m. love it. zero issues. peter is great - very knowledgeable, reliable and concise. couldn’t ask for more. i personally find no need for an ‘upgraded’ PSU either. sounds fantastic, and through an mscaler/dave i don’t think a lower noise floor is even possible. it wouldn’t know what to do with an upgraded psu if i had one. 
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If you have your Mscaler / Dave bundle, external power supply is not critical, the specificity of Chord components. I use with Luxman via USB and the difference in sound quality is very significant.
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