does it sound as good as the Zen Stream? never heard one but had the Zen Stream for a bit and i was very impressed. i would be buying the Lumin on spec. since there are no dealers in my area
I have no experience with Zen, sorry can’t comment specifically. But, Lumin… is great. Don’t think you would regret adopting one into the family.
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Compared, the sound of Lumin is much better than the ZS. Order, you will not regret it.
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will see if i can get my refund from TREO first. thanks
Miles ahead! I upgrade from the Zen Stream. Sold the Zen Stream and didn’t look back!
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Could you elaborate what the improvements are? Thanks!
Hi all,
New to this forum, because new to Roon, still in my trial.
My purchase of a Lumin U1 mini recently (great product and sound btw) made me explore Roon and how i may benefit from it. So I started to read and talk about its features with some other people. One question i was asked was: with roon and it’s streaming power, why did you buy the Lumin transport in the first place? A very good question… Why not connect a Core directly to my DAC (Mytek Brooklyn DAC+) via USB? In the end the DAC is what converts the bits to waves.
How is my Lumin U1 mini beneficial soundwise in my setup compared to leaving it out completely? Will the sound be different/better and what exactly is it that a streamer/transport does with the Roon signal path before sending it over to the DAC?
Some clarification is appreciated in order to be able to justify my purchase of either Roon or the Lumin or both!
Thanks everyone!
Most find the USB outputs of a computer carry a lot of electrical noise from the PC/MAC/Nucleus/etc so using via a network connected streamer isolates this…but you can certainly try it both ways and see if you ears say differently.
Roon recommends NOT connecting your DAC direct to the Roon Core or a PC, but it will normally work unless your DAC has specific windows driver needs in which case it might not perform at its maximum capability.
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Rule 1:
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In my setup, Roon Nucleus plus was originally connected via USB directly to the DAC, good wires, regenerators and filters were used. But as soon as Lumin U1mini was added, the sound quality increased greatly, the magic of Roon and Lumin together brought an excellent result.
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You can feel the sound upgrade in all aspects! You just can’t compare the 2! They are from a different league. It will be miles ahead if you feed your Lumin with a LPS. Way better highs! Wider sound stage way better mid-range and deep bass! At the end of the day iFi is really a budget brand and when you compare their products with a real HiFi tier brand then there is really nothing comparable! Cheers!
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A dedicated streamer transport will produce way better sound quality vs your computer. The noise generated by your computer alone will never give you a decent HiFi tier sound quality. As those noises will travel through your connection to the DAC. Not to mention digital transport is not only transferring 0s and 1s. If you connect through USB the continuous timed transport of timed data to your DAC is another critical factor for good sound. Streamer > Bridge transport > Computer. To me, the computer is only capable of delivering the data to produce sound. Nothing fancy and enjoyable.
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Thanks everyone, sounds all plausible to me, I go with that. I set up a ROCK today and will dive into the labyrinth called Roon. Very happy with my setup so far…
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How does the Teddy Pardo compare to the Sbooster in terms of performance with the U1 mini? The TP definitely looks nicer that’s for sure.
TP is more interesting as a finished product and in sound quality. The competitor for TP is probably only Farad.
A question about the U1 mini’s display info:
When streaming an MQA-track from Tidal, when the original file is shown in the signal path to be 16bit, the Lumin’s display will show 24bit, whereas the DAC is showing 16bit again. What is happening and where, if at all? Is there an actual conversion taking place twice, or has is to do with the authentication in the Lumin? Same thing in Roon as with Tidal Connect as via Lumin app.
DAC is a Mytek Brooklyn DAC+ configured in Roon as decoder/renderer, MQA core decoder enabled.
Thanks!
No. For MQA file, the display is governed by MQA rules - although I’m sure the Lumin implementation is correct as per our MQA certification in 2017, I think I need to recheck the latest rules for 16-bit MQA files in case there are any changes.
Please post a signal path screenshot. I also need to know the what the specific Tidal track is.
Is your Mytek indicating MQA?
Hey Peter,
Thanks for looking in to it, here’s my signal path and Tidal track. MQA green dot is showing on the DAC, as I have the Lumin volume control off and MQA in passthrough.
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@wklie This happens on my T2 also - here is the signal path for a 16bit MQA file, and the display on the T2 reads MQA 44.1 kHz 24 Bit just like @PeterTB’s U1 mini.
@PeterTB @Rockhound I’ve checked this issue.
I’ve found that with Tidal Connect (i.e. Tidal app), Lumin shows 16 bit correctly. In Roon, Roon Core sends a 24-bit stream via RAAT, that’s why it’s shown as 24-bit in the front panel.
I’ll investigate this further and discuss with Roon Labs offline.
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