Headless MacMini vs Lumin U2: I'm never going back

[sidvee]

Not sure what others are experiencing but I use Qobuz studio plan and it sounds excellent through my Aurender n200 or lumin u2 mini. In fact I have many 24/192 files stored on my Aurender, and there is very little difference when same files are played through Qobuz streaming - compared to the local storage. Yes local storage sounds better, but not so much that I can't listen to streaming. In fact the bulk of my listening is streaming via Qobuz which is 360 degree change for me because 3-4 years ago, I used to only listen to locally stored files. Haven't used a computer in a long while for streaming, so not sure about that as a source.
Cheers,
Sid

 

[sidvee]

I also did a lot of finagling with router set up, lan isolators, Linear psu's etc etc. but after I switched to a mesh network and the ISP to ACT fibernet service, I have excellent connectivity & speed. Now all I use are 4 linear PSU's (HDplex/smsl), one for the main router and 3 where the mesh units are connected and find this to be more than adequate for my needs.
If I want top sound quality, for any particular album that I like a lot, then I just play a locally stored file - there is no router, streaming etc etc. involved, so there is no question of noise etc. being introduced by the playback process (And this is recommended as the best method by Aurender as well). Although I am doing this less and less now and just listen to streamed files most of the time.
Cheers,
Sid

 

[Yelamanchili manohar]

I went through the review and it does what it is supposed to do but I will never spend on this seeing an SMPS inside. These guys make most of their profit from this area, and are definitely, not serious about music how I want them to , in my personal opinion. Though it is hard to put a number, but just for the sake of convenience in fathoming the gap, an SMPS, degrades the potential performance of a piece by almost 50%.

A casual browse on ebay china shows decent LPSU's at 200 usd with a nice metal case. For lumin to include one inside and save on the fancy case, will probably cost 100 usd, considering their manufacturing scale. So omitting one at the L2's price point is unforgivable in my opinion too. And it is my biggest bone with the L2.

 

[Sugar]

Am also using Mac mini with Audirvana for streaming - mainly Tidal and ripped CDs. Have two of them - one for each system. Just keep sitting on the fence to pull the plug for a proper streamer. Anyone experienced the Eversolo DMP A6 Master Edition? Looked good on paper and reviews.

 

[jai1611]

Am also using Mac mini with Audirvana for streaming - mainly Tidal and ripped CDs. Have two of them - one for each system. Just keep sitting on the fence to pull the plug for a proper streamer. Anyone experienced the Eversolo DMP A6 Master Edition? Looked good on paper and reviews.

Depends on the use case. The onboard dac has the typical sabre sound. Whether you like it is dependent on personal preference. As a transport it retains some brightness in tonality but manageable. As a transport it’s a bit better than a Bluesound Node but not by much. Which feature set and software you prefer is individual choice.

I sold my Eversolo in a couple of months. Found it overhyped as a transport

 

[Arvind Mathur]

Depends on the use case. The onboard dac has the typical sabre sound. Whether you like it is dependent on personal preference. As a transport it retains some brightness in tonality but manageable. As a transport it’s a bit better than a Bluesound Node but not by much. Which feature set and software you prefer is individual choice.

I sold my Eversolo in a couple of months. Found it overhyped as a transport

So after Eversolo which other alternative is good only as a transport? Lumin U2 mini is even prices than Eversolo DMP A8?

 

[jai1611]

So after Eversolo which other alternative is good only as a transport? Lumin U2 mini is even prices than Eversolo DMP A8?

Competitive would be the Bluesound. Cheaper and very close in performance

U2 mini is generally discounted in India. I picked mine up used for a good price. The new purchase invoice showed it was originally bought for 1.5. Have heard 1.65 from others. It’s still much more than an Eversolo though

 

[Yelamanchili manohar]

So after Eversolo which other alternative is good only as a transport? Lumin U2 mini is even prices than Eversolo DMP A8?

Another option is to consider adding a DDC before the dac. It usually gives very good results when it comes to cleansing usb feeds.

 

[Arvind Mathur]

Competitive would be the Bluesound. Cheaper and very close in performance

U2 mini is generally discounted in India. I picked mine up used for a good price. The new purchase invoice showed it was originally bought for 1.5. Have heard 1.65 from others. It’s still much more than an Eversolo though

Is Lumin u2 mini still available for 1.50 lakhs?
Who is offering?

 

[reignofchaos]

I recently did a comparison between SOTM SMS-200 and Lumin U2 mini at my place. The SOTM was powered by a 9V Linear PSU and the Lumin used its internal SMPS. Both were used as roon endpoints connected via USB outputs with any volume control or processing disabled on the Lumin. I couldn't honestly appreciate the Lumin - it sounded a bit noisy compared to the SOTM streamer. While it had more detail, the decay and harmonic richness present in the SOTM was completely absent in the Lumin. The mids on the entry level SOTM were also more palpable. In both cases, my server was a NUC running Roon ROCK located outside my listening room. Music was my own rips on the SSD and Qobuz. The local switch was a fiber isolated Ubiquiti ER-X SFP with routing disabled, isolated on an audio data only VLAN, fed by an LPSU. DAC was my usual AMR DP777.

Since this SOTM was a loaner, I returned it to the owner and bought a used set of SOTM SMS 200 Ultra Neo, sPS-500 PSU, tx-USBUltra reclocker for a very good price. It is quite obvious whoever used it earlier had no clue how to use it. The firmware on it was from 2020. Flashed it to the latest firmware and optimized it as told on audiophilestyle forums.

The sound is the best digital I have heard so far - period! It has incredible detail without being harsh, outstanding tonal balance and harmonic richness, This includes an Aurender X100, Lumin U2 mini, Opticalrendu and a whole bunch of lower cost options like Node N130, Eversolo, SMSL SD9 etc. The sound is much closer to my TT than what it was before. Absolutely fabulous!

 

[bornfi]

I recently did a comparison between SOTM SMS-200 and Lumin U2 mini at my place. The SOTM was powered by a 9V Linear PSU and the Lumin used its internal SMPS. Both were used as roon endpoints connected via USB outputs with any volume control or processing disabled on the Lumin. I couldn't honestly appreciate the Lumin - it sounded a bit noisy compared to the SOTM streamer. While it had more detail, the decay and harmonic richness present in the SOTM was completely absent in the Lumin. The mids on the entry level SOTM were also more palpable. In both cases, my server was a NUC running Roon ROCK located outside my listening room. Music was my own rips on the SSD and Qobuz. The local switch was a fiber isolated Ubiquiti ER-X SFP with routing disabled, isolated on an audio data only VLAN, fed by an LPSU. DAC was my usual AMR DP777.

Since this SOTM was a loaner, I returned it to the owner and bought a used set of SOTM SMS 200 Ultra Neo, sPS-500 PSU, tx-USBUltra reclocker for a very good price. It is quite obvious whoever used it earlier had no clue how to use it. The firmware on it was from 2020. Flashed it to the latest firmware and optimized it as told on audiophilestyle forums.

The sound is the best digital I have heard so far - period! It has incredible detail without being harsh, outstanding tonal balance and harmonic richness, This includes an Aurender X100, Lumin U2 mini, Opticalrendu and a whole bunch of lower cost options like Node N130, Eversolo, SMSL SD9 etc. The sound is much closer to my TT than what it was before. Absolutely fabulous!

In fact, the more smps you replace in the chain, you get more of what you mentioned above. By powering my isp modem, I got more out of my system. This is the ugly reality of this hobby - power supplies are the key and the expensive ones are really better and most of the time costing more than the equipment itself.

 

[reignofchaos]

In fact, the more smps you replace in the chain, you get more of what you mentioned above. By powering my isp modem, I got more out of my system. This is the ugly reality of this hobby - power supplies are the key and the expensive ones are really better and most of the time costing more than the equipment itself.

Completely agree - there are two issues so far that I have noticed - first is noise from poor quality switching power supplies and wall warts. The second is noise from the network/phase noise from clocks, EMI, RFI etc. Most of us forget that there are no true digital signals and digital as we know it is just 1s/0s on an analog carrier signal. If the underlying carrier gets polluted, we hear it during the process of D/A conversion. Noise manifests in various ways - some of which we just can't measure or take a very long time or effort to measure. But the effects of these are highly audible almost instantaneously. We only have two choices - isolation of the device or reduction of noise. Generally it is a tradeoff and a combination of both.

 

[ajuvignesh]

I came across a video where Hans found minidsp shd studio to be very close to SOTM SMS 200 Ultra Neo. The advantage here is you get Dirac live too. But I keep wondering how come a multipurpose device beats sotm that is almost double in price.

 

[reignofchaos]

I came across a video where Hans found minidsp shd studio to be very close to SOTM SMS 200 Ultra Neo. The advantage here is you get Dirac live too. But I keep wondering how come a multipurpose device beats sotm that is almost double in price.

Very close is not the same as equal in audio. Plus there are personal interpretations. Also doesn't look like the device you linked to has any usb output. I only see input.

 

[JaideepGiridhar]

Is Lumin u2 mini still available for 1.50 lakhs?
Who is offering?

I recently bought an unboxed U2 Mini with LHY power supply for just over 2 lakhs, from Sugumar in Chennai.

 

[ajuvignesh]

Very close is not the same as equal in audio. Plus there are personal interpretations. Also doesn't look like the device you linked to has any usb output. I only see input.

Yes, it doesn’t have any usb output. Only coaxials and AES-EBU.

 

[reignofchaos]

Yes, it doesn’t have any usb output. Only coaxials and AES-EBU.

Yes I just went through the review - he mentions he fed the output of the SOTM to the minidsp. So that will anyways be the bottleneck.

 

[ajuvignesh]

Yes I just went through the review - he mentions he fed the output of the SOTM to the minidsp. So that will anyways be the bottleneck.

Usb has an advantage over coaxials?

 

[reignofchaos]

I recently bought an unboxed U2 Mini with LHY power supply for just over 2 lakhs, from Sugumar in Chennai.

Wonder how good U2 mini will be with LPSU. With stock power supply, it is noisy. Lots of high frequency details but the output doesn't feel clean - at least over USB.

 

[ajuvignesh]

Yes I just went through the review - he mentions he fed the output of the SOTM to the minidsp. So that will anyways be the bottleneck.

Sorry, I couldn’t comprehend. What could be a bottleneck? Lack of usb output?