Roon USB to Luxman D-03X CD player

Is anyone else using their Luxman D-03x for a DAC for their Roon Nucleus Plus? I have my Roon connected to my Luxman via USB. It works great until I change the input on the Luxman then I lose the handshake. The only way to get it back is to unplug the Roon, what 30 seconds and plug it back in. At that point the handshake will happen and Iโ€™m good to go.

I find this frustrating and Iโ€™m confident the issue is with the Roon software. Anyone else experience this?

@Vadim_Lvov Have you experienced anything like this from Lumin USB output to D-03X ?

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I used to have a Lumin U1 with the separate power supply but I didnโ€™t have the D-03X then. I just picked up the Luxman on Friday.

When I had the Lumin I had a completely different set up.

@wklie Peter, when I used a direct connection from Nucleus via USB to Luxman, I had problems with identification and lost or disappeared depending on the firmware version, these are bugs in Roon. The sound quality with this connection is much worse than with the U1. @Mike_Tennant, I recommend using Lumin as the endpoint and Nucleus only as the server without connecting it to Luxman. With Lumin you get no problems and great analog sound. Lumin and Luxman are a great combination. I highly recommend U2 or U1 :+1:.

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@Vadim_Lvov Nice set up. I have the same gear for my 2 channel HT bypass. The Luxman 509X is an excellent preamp. I compared it to the Gryphon Diablo, Boulder 866, McIntosh MA12000, Krell 301, Accuphase 480, and the Luxman came out on top.

That said, I see you are using the U1 Mini. I had a Lumin U1 but sold it when I had my Lyndorf MP-60 2.1 which I used as my end point. When I switched to a Datasat LS-10 I no longer had a Roon end point so I had to run the audio to the Datasat via HDMI. Not the ideal situation!

This past Friday I finally pulled the trigger on a two channel set up that I could do HT bypass with. Iโ€™m incredibly happy with both the Luxman 509x and the D-03x. However now my issue is dropping the hand shake with the Roon whenever I switch inputs. I will also say the CDs sound noticeably better than streaming from the Roon. Sounds like that is a given the way I am running the Roon to the Luxman. With all that said, it looks like I am going to have to start the hunt for a new U1.

Thanks for the reply!

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I use U1 mini externally powered Teddy Pardo LPSU. Of course, this is not the older U1, but it is very different from the stock U1mini, the sound quality is better :+1:


@Vadim_Lvov Have you compared your modded U1 mini to the U1? If so was there much of an audible difference?

Compared, the difference is not critical at all and definitely not the difference in price. But if you have a good offer and funds, it is better to take U1. I bought U1mini on a special offer, and LPSU Teddy got a collaboration for free, I wrote a review about it.

I joined the Lumin U2 club today, thanks for the suggestion. Set up was easy and sounds good so far, but I know it needs to break in. Iโ€™ll report back in a week when itโ€™s had time to burn in.

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Please verify that the D-03X handshake issue with Nucleus Plus in the opening post is not present when you use the U2 Mini. Thanks.

Be sure to try the Roon only mode. Big improvement in sound quality.

@wklie
Yes the Lumin U2 has fixed the issue with losing the handshake. I can now switch between inputs the the handshake between hardware is fine.

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@Vadim_Lvov
Thanks for sharing this. Iโ€™ve only listened to half a song so far. I have installed it and am just letting it play so it can burn in. Once it is burned in I will do some critical listening before I switch to โ€œRoon Onlyโ€ mode. This sounds like a great option as I will only use Roon with the Lumin. Thanks again!

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Iโ€™ve got 72 hours on the U2 Mini now. Iโ€™ve also switched over to ROONONLY mode. Iโ€™m really impressed with this little streamer. ROONONLY cleans up the signal and everything improved a noticable about. The highโ€™s are what are most noticeable to me. When I first compared to Lumin to the Luxman playing a CD, the CD had better extension on the top. Now it is very, very close, but I still think the Lumin will open up a little more. I know my Lumin U1 (full sized version) needed a while to fully open up.

Does output from the U2 Mini (playing Roon) sound better than direct from Nucleus Plus?

Prior to adding the U2 Mini, there was a fairly noticeable difference between playing a CD and streaming into the Luxman from the Roon. I just compared the same song A/B many times, and while Lumin closer to the Luxman playing a CD, the CD is still better. If I had to explain what the difference is, the CD is just a purer sound. Vocals are just a touch cleaner and the symbols are more pronounced. I feel the Roon or the U2 is rolling off the highs compared to the CD.

Prior to adding the Lumin, it was pretty noticeable. With the U2 mini, the CD is still better but the gap is now smaller, For the record I am running a linear power supply on the Roon, so I would think that would be helping the Roon some, but the CD is still better. For the USB cable Iโ€™m running the Wire World Platinum cable. With all that said, the U2 Mini sounds really good and unless you did an A/B I donโ€™t feel you would notice the difference.

At some point I my buy another U1 with the separate power supply, and compare that to the Mini. Iโ€™m curious of the improvement between the two.

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Thanks for the report.

There is one more thing Iโ€™d like to you to test in your setup.

Please play DSD256 (with Lumin volume control disabled) and see if it works.

You may either get free stereo DSD256 music here:

Or you may use Roon DSP Engine to upsample everything to DSD256 and enable Parallelize Sigma Delta Modulator.

I used Roon to do the following test.

PCM to DSD- I used multiple PCM formats I preferred the PCM version over DSD on every track. DSD seemed more laid back. The highs rolled off more, and vocals seemed more distant. Some people may prefer this, but I did not. I tried with with both Sigma Delta Modulator engaged and not engaged.

I then tried upsampling the PCM to my DACs max which is 384 and if there was a difference from native format it was incredibly small, and Iโ€™m honestly not convinced I was hearing an improvement. Again I tried native PCM formats from 44.1/16 up to 192/24.