Upgrade from U1 mini to T2?

Audio Gear Talk Lumin
1

At the moment, I’m using as primarly Roon endpoint an U1 mini with USB out to a Primare PRE35 Prisma and sometimes to a Topping D70.
Sound is ok, but not really better as from a SOtM Neo to the same DACs.
In Roon I’ve activated the DSP from resampling to DSD256 or DSD512 (only for the Neo), which makes the sound a little more analogue.
Room corrections are not needed, because I’m mostly using Headphones (Stax SR-009, HD-800, Hifiman HE-1000 V2, Audeze LCD-2, Audeze LCD-XC, Campfire Audio Solaris 2020, Beyerdynamic T1,… on an AudioValve Luminare) and also my hearing room is optimized.

Now, I,'ve got a really good offer for a Lumin T2.
Is this really an upgrade? I’m using for the connections between DAC, Pre and headphone amp XLR and all the equipement is symmetrical.

2

T2 adds DSD512-supported analog output with full MQA decoding, along with our best implementation of Leedh Processing Volume.

If you are not going to use the T2 analog output, you’re better off staying with U1 MINI instead of getting the T2.

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That are the known facts. Surely I want to use the DAC of the T2, but should than the SQ really better, than with the DACs from the Primare or Topping?
For MQA there isn’t any need for me (I’m not using Tidal but Qobuz) and also the streamer will not become a pre.

4

There is no question the DAC in the T2 is substantially better than those other DACs.

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The T2 will be a significant upgrade from the DAC’s you are currently using. I’ve found the T2 is easily as good as gear costing twice as much from other high end manufacturers.

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What they all said…
Another happy T2 customer here.
The Topping D70 certainly measures very well as does a lot of the Topping products.
But… I don’t care what the science crowd say… measurements are NOT everything.

If you have a great deal to hand then go for it, even if you decided it was not for you the T2 is in demand so a resale would be easy I think.
Good luck!

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Thanks for the (expected) answers, but I’m just wondering, that you all know the Primare PRE35 Prisma (this Pre has included a DAC and is used for the U1 Mini at the moment) and have compared the U1 Mini with the T2.

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I haven’t compared your gear, but a Lumin T2 replaced a Bricasti M21 in my system and I have ZERO complaints. That’s no small feat, for the Bricasti gear is fantastic.

I’ve also compared the T2 with the Simaudio DAC built-in to the 430HAD and the standalone 280D. The Lumin bested them as well.

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So, now I’ve ordered the T2 and will try to compare…

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Excellent, let us know how you get on with it. I’m totally sceptical about burn-in periods etc., but I have to admit the T2’s SQ did improve over the first month or so I had it.

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The burn-in on Lumin is real. Don’t skip Peter’s recommendation for a thorough and lengthy burn-in. You can still enjoy the unit during this time, just don’t do an evaluation/comparison until it’s complete.

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Play it 24/7 just turn the amps off while it’s running in when you are not listening to it.

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Now (the T2 is already burned in) I can start the comparing (Lumin T2, Lumin U1 Mini, SOtM Neo, two MiniPCs and some Raspberry Pis):

lumin_rack
lumin_rack3624×2240 1.37 MB

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Finished with testing:
At first I thought that I’ll preferr the U1 Mini (more substance) but (it seems, that the T2 needs more warmup after transporting, we’ve snow here) then my mind changed, because the T2 shows much more details and also a deeper more defined bass.
So I’ve to sell a nearly new U1 Mini…

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15

Congratulations.
And with more hours on it, the better it gets.
I leave mine powered on all the time but in standby ready to rock

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Thanks for the report.
One question: which DAC are you using with the U1 Mini and how do you connect to it? Thanks!

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@Kevin
the T2 was a demonstration device and (the dealer told me this) burned in.
But it seems, that it had need another warm up…
And I’m also not powering off the Lumin, only using the standby.

@Philip
I’ve used the U1 Mini primarly connect through USB to the DAC of my Primare PRE35 Prisma and let Roon upsample to DSD 256.

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Cool. And you used the internal DAC of the T2 as comparison? Or did you just compare the streaming units?

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I’ve only compared U1 Mini through USB to Primare and T2 through XLR to Primare.
My whole test system was symmetrical (Primare through XLR to AudioVale Luminare and Stax SR-009).
By the way: As Peter told, I don’t think, that the T2 will sound better than the U1 Mini, if you’ll use for both an external DAC, but the U1 Mini supports “only” DSD 256 and the T2 DSD 512, which I’m using.

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I really noticed a difference between 256 and 512, much more than I was expecting tbh.
It stays on 512 all the time now

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