Lumin U2 will be announced today

[wklie (Peter Lie)]

U1 / U1 Mini: With a USB DAC connected, the other outputs have incorrect timings

U2 / U2 Mini: With a USB DAC connected, the other outputs are off

[2muchgear]

Ok. Thanks.

[Dewald_Potgieter]

Hi @audiom3
Any further listening impressions with U2 now that you’ve had it for a while?

And I open this up to anyone else that has acquired one since the release.

[audiom3]

Hey, @Dewald_Potgieter. Thank you for the question. I’m still very much enjoying it. To put things into perspective, this U2 made a larger sound quality impact in my system, than upgrading from an older Ayre preamp to their current KX-5 Twenty preamp. I am still amazed that a digital source could bring about this much change in sound - and for the better… much, much better. It’s a keeper for me.

[Marco_Mueller]

From which streamer did you go to the U2?

[audiom3]

IFi Neo Stream (using the fiber direct input) I returned it after the 30 day trial because it didn’t sound much (if any) better than my prior PS Audio Bridge II card.

[Marco_Mueller]

Any experience from users upgrading away from U2 oder U1 mini to U2 or U1 would be welcome, I dont have the possibility to test it.

[Paul_Blaik]

I finally got my Lumin U2, running it using my Roon Nucleus as the core and a McIntosh MCD12000 as the DAC with an AQ Diamond USB. I am very happy so far… but I’m having trouble finding information or feedback as to weather its worth setting up the SFP Fiber for networking… Anyone with input or experience would be appreciated!!

[wklie (Peter Lie)]

Firstly, the Lumin sample fiber setup page is here:
https://www.luminmusic.com/support-fibre.html

Whether it’s better, worse, or no change depends on your setup and your preferences. You’ll need to do it and make an A/B comparison for yourself.

Some previous discussions, some specific to Finisar FTLF1318P3BTL:

Comparing the T2 and X1 - what should I listen for?

Peter, I just switched from multimode to the Lumin-recommended Corning single-mode fibre and Finisar transceivers. There is, indeed, an uptick in micro details. A question: Robert Harley observed in his September 2022 review of the P1 in “The Absolute Sound” that Lumin said the fibre input would take a long time—many hundreds of hours—to break in and sound the best. Do you know whether this is a reference only to the physical Lumin input or the combination of the input and the associated SFP…

Comparing the T2 and X1 - what should I listen for?

I did swap to Finnisar modules and they absolutely sound better - I am now in the fiber input camp!

Ethernet to Fiber media converters

A user said he went through two network reconfiguration and improved SQ each time by adopting fiber isolation: NUC8i7BEH ROCK - AirPort Extreme - RJ45 of Lumin X1 NUC8i7BEH ROCK - AirPort Extreme - MC210CS FMC - (SC-LC fiber) - TL-SM311LS SFP - SFP port of Lumin X1 NUC8i7BEH ROCK - MC210CS FMC - (SC-LC fiber) - TL-SM311LS SFP - Cisco SG95-24 SFP switch - TL-SM311LS SFP - (LC-LC fiber) - TL-SM311LS SFP - SFP port of Lumin X1

[Paul_Blaik]

Thanks for the link @wklie - Happy with the U2 so far, SFP switch, modules and cable on route, I should know soon!

[Paul_Blaik]

I was successfully able to get the U2 going with fibre

[Paul_Whittaker]

What are your thoughts on it?

[Paul_Blaik]

This hobby is a lot of subjectivity, diminishing returns and anticipation as minor changes are made . That being said, I believe my system would be considered a reference system and I think it’s quite revealing…. To me there is an improvement, listening to my favourite tracks it seems more detailed… although that could be because I had a good sleep!!