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MEET THE LUMIN U1 MINI
#1
NEW,Why LUMIN U1 MINI

Following the huge success of LUMIN D2, we decided to investigate the possibility of making the LUMIN transport technology similarly accessible.

The result is a huge specification in a compact package.

Capable of upsampling and downsampling all the way from 44.1kHz to DSD128 and supporting playback of DSD256, LUMIN U1 MINI matches the U1 in almost every area - except price.


Transport-only unit combines the best of LUMIN U1 and LUMIN D2

Identical processor supports DSD256 and 384khz playback
Quad native clock system for precision timing
Low noise shielded switching power supply
5 types of digital audio output including USB
MQA Decoding
Resamping to every supported format up to DSD128
Supports DoP (DSD over PCM) for Optical, Coaxial RCA, Coaxial BNC & AES/EUB SPDIF


All the usual LUMIN refinements

From MQA to DSD, FLAC to WAV, LUMIN can play all the high-resolution formats you could ever want
Native support for TIDAL, Qobuz, Spotify and AirPlay, giving you access to tens of millions of songs
The unique and intuitive LUMIN App described as "the most convenient interface in existence" by Tinman
LUMIN programme of continuous development that has seen Roon, MQA, and Spotify support added in 2017 alone.
Roon Nuceleus + Core/Tidal > Rood Ready wired ethernet > Keces P8 LPS > EtherRegan switch > D250 PRO > Sonus Faber Cremona M
Nordost Frey 2 Power cable - Blue Jeans Speaker Cables - Audioquest Diamond and Supra cat8 ethernet cables
Other: Ipad air with ROON Control / Pro Ject ground base - ISO Acoustics Orea - Herbie Tenderfoots 
"and those who were seen dancing were thougt to be insane by those who could not hear the music"



"and those who were seen dancing were thougt to be insane by those who could not hear the music"
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#2
(10-Sep-2018, 21:03)Petter Wrote: NEW,Why LUMIN U1 MINI

Following the huge success of LUMIN D2, we decided to investigate the possibility of making the LUMIN transport technology similarly accessible.

The result is a huge specification in a compact package.

Capable of upsampling and downsampling all the way from 44.1kHz to DSD128 and supporting playback of DSD256, LUMIN U1 MINI matches the U1 in almost every area - except price.


Transport-only unit combines the best of LUMIN U1 and LUMIN D2

Identical processor supports DSD256 and 384khz playback
Quad native clock system for precision timing
Low noise shielded switching power supply
5 types of digital audio output including USB
MQA Decoding
Resamping to every supported format up to DSD128
Supports DoP (DSD over PCM) for Optical, Coaxial RCA, Coaxial BNC & AES/EUB SPDIF


All the usual LUMIN refinements

From MQA to DSD, FLAC to WAV, LUMIN can play all the high-resolution formats you could ever want
Native support for TIDAL, Qobuz, Spotify and AirPlay, giving you access to tens of millions of songs
The unique and intuitive LUMIN App described as "the most convenient interface in existence" by Tinman
LUMIN programme of continuous development that has seen Roon, MQA, and Spotify support added in 2017 alone.

I have a Devialet D Premier (not upgraded) with a Lumin D2. Was wondering if the Lumin U1 Mini would be a better solution to utilize the Devlialet DAC?

Thanks
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#3
Hi, I am considering purchasing Lumin U1 MINI or Esoteric N-03T. Currently, I use Mac mini, Audirvana Plus and Devialet Air with Melco N1A. Any comments from a user or someone who auditions the products would be appreciated.
Mac Mini Late 2012(Amarra Symphony/Audirvana)/DELA N1A Mk1 - [AIR Ethernet] -  Devialet 800 (Power Cable - AET HIN AC EVD) - [Speaker Cable - Nanotec Systems SP♯79MK2] - Wilson Audio Sasha
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#4
Anyone with a lumin (or other streamer) and use Roon...

Do you still need Roon Core installed on a pc or can you download Roon app and control Roon interface via the app to stream Tidal or quboz?
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#5
You need Roon Core installed on a computer. The app communicates with Roon Core over your network, it can't replace Roon Core.

Some servers/streamers can run Roon Core, for example my Antipodes runs Roon Core and I use the Roon app on my iPad to control it but the first thing the app does when you open it is to open communication with your Roon Core so without Roon Core running on a computer somewhere, the app is not going to do anything.

I don't know if you can load and run Roon Core on a Lumin.
Roon Nucleus+, Devilalet Expert 140 Pro CI, Focal Sopra 2, PS Audio P12, Keces P8 LPS, Uptone Audio EtherREGEN with optical fibre link to my router, Shunyata Alpha NR and Sigma NR power cables, Shunyata Sigma ethernet cables, Shunyata Alpha V2 speaker cables, Grand Prix Audio Monaco rack, RealTRAPS acoustic treatment.

Brisbane, Qld, Australia
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#6
Thanks David. I will have to investigate with lumin.


My next question, if the lumin can not run Roon Core and if I were to install Roon cOre on my Mac, would I need to connect via Ethernet to the lumin? If so that would be the deal breaker for my situation.

Each time I think I’m close to pulling the trigger on a streamer something else comes up that makes me step back. I’d rather not have to operate two things to run Roon

I honestly don’t know that I would use Roon. I think I would from what I have seen of the interface. And I’m uncertain if I would do mqa, but I would at least like the ability to do so if I chose, so I’d like a streamer that would at least do a partial unload of the mqa file. If I understand correctly the devialet will not do the unload and would only accept what I could process before sending to the devialet.
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#7
Let's put it this way:

Roon is server software. It's primary function is to serve up files from a drive somewhere to a DAC which can convert the digital data to an analog audio signal. Using it to access services like Tidal is icing on the cake. You could run Roon and not use it to serve files but it would be the most expensive Tidal or other streaming service interface you could ever hope to find. If that's what you want Roon for, my advice is to forget it and use other software.

The first thing you need to do is to work out what you want to do. Do you just want to stream a service like Tidal/Qobuz to your Devialet and use a disc player/turntable to play music from CDs/LPs or do you want to stream a streaming service and files from a hard drive. You can stream Tidal/Qobuz without the software/hardware involved in streaming files from a hard drive.

The second thing you need to do is to work out where the gear is going to be located. If your computer and internet connection are in the same room as your Devialet you can easily run a wired connection from the computer to your Devialet. That can be ethernet, USB, or possibly even an optical or coax digital connection. If the computer and internet connection are in another room you need a network connection, either ethernet or wifi. There are ways of streaming directly to your Devialet from the computer or you can use a streaming device like a Lumin or some other product and connect it via a wired connection to your Devialet if that device is in the same room as your Devialet.

Once you know those things you can start to work out how you're going to connect everything, what you're going to use to control what you stream, and how you get the signal from whatever your source device is to your Devialet.

There's lots of streamer/server products out there. Some come with their own software and control apps, some use software you can load on the steamer/server, some software can be loaded on your computer. Depending on where the software is going to run and what kind of source material it's going to send to your Devialet you can start to work out your software needs. You may not need software if you're using a streamer or server and it comes with its own software. You may even be able to stream to a Blu-ray player or AVR if it's near your Devialet or connect an Apple Airport device or Google device to your Devialet by an optical connection. If you're going to load software on your computer or on a server or streamer you need to look at what operating system that device uses. The OS could be Windows, MacOS, or Linux and some software only runs on one of those platforms, some on two, and some on all three. Some software/device combinations can send music to your Devialet over wifi, some over USB, some over ethernet, some over optical or coax digital connections and some over a combination. I'd recommend finding a software/device combination that can send music to your Devialet over at least 2 or more of those options so you've got some choice but if  you want to use a particular combination you just need a combination that can use the connection you want.

Some software/hardware combinations can also send music to other devices such as a Sonos or other wifi or Bluetooth device so if you want to send music to something else other than your Devialet you have to take that into consideration as well.

Some software products offer an iOS or Android app you can use to control things which means you can have the actual software running on a device in another room and control it from an app on your phone or tablet. If there's no app available then you're going to have to use the device's own touch screen/remote if it has one or use the computer's monitor, keyboard and mouse so if you're going to be running devices in another room to your Devialet, make sure you can control those devices from the room with your Devialet or you'll be doing a lot of walking which may be good exercise but can be annoying.

So work out what you want to do, where you want hardware devices, your internet connection located, and where those things are going to go in your house in relation to your Devialet and anything else you want to send music to, work out what connections you're going to use, and then work out how you're going to connect things (a physical connection of some kind or wifi) and how you're going to control things and then start looking for what you need to make that work. Don't start by buying things because someone says they're good and then find out that you can't use them the way you want to or that they don't all work together. Work out what you need first before making purchases.

When it comes to MQA, Tidal offers you the choice of the same music with MQA encoding and without (normal FLAC encoding in most cases). Some software such as Roon can do the first of the 2 MQA decoding steps which is the main one. I think the second step can only be done by some DACs at the moment and I'm  not certain if any of them offer digital output with both decoding steps done, I suspect the output after the second decoding step is going to be analog. I've tried MQA with Roon doing the first decoding step and I prefer using the straight FLAC stream instead so I don't bother with MQA. If you're interested in MQA I'd try to get a demo somewhere, either at a dealer's or at a friends, and compare the MQA version to the FLAC version and see which I preferred. If you prefer MQA then that will limit your hardware/software choices to those which offer at least the first decoding step. If you don't prefer MQA you can choose from products which offer it as well as those which don't offer it because you can always choose to stream the non-encoded version of the music anyway. The Devialet currently doesn't do any MQA decoding. That may change in the future but Devialet haven't made any promises about MQA so I wouldn't bet on them adding MQA decoding and who knows how long it will be before we see it if they do decide to include that capability in the future.
Roon Nucleus+, Devilalet Expert 140 Pro CI, Focal Sopra 2, PS Audio P12, Keces P8 LPS, Uptone Audio EtherREGEN with optical fibre link to my router, Shunyata Alpha NR and Sigma NR power cables, Shunyata Sigma ethernet cables, Shunyata Alpha V2 speaker cables, Grand Prix Audio Monaco rack, RealTRAPS acoustic treatment.

Brisbane, Qld, Australia
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#8
I just ordered the u1 mini and it was shipped today. Hopefully by mid week next, I will have it on hand. Ended up ordering a usb cable since according to the specs, usb appears to be the best connection.

DIGITAL OUTPUT STAGE:
USB:
DSD256, 11.2MHz, 1-bit, Stereo
PCM 44.1–384kHz, 16–24-bit, Stereo
OPTICAL, COAXIAL RCA, COAXIAL BNC & AES/EBU:
DSD (DoP, DSD over PCM) 2.8MHz, 1-bit
PCM 44.1kHz–192kHz, 16–24-bit
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#9
mmorrison55 - Look forward to hearing your report on Lumin U1 MINI!
Mac Mini Late 2012(Amarra Symphony/Audirvana)/DELA N1A Mk1 - [AIR Ethernet] -  Devialet 800 (Power Cable - AET HIN AC EVD) - [Speaker Cable - Nanotec Systems SP♯79MK2] - Wilson Audio Sasha
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#10
(30-Jan-2019, 05:10)mmorrison55 Wrote: I just ordered the u1 mini and it was shipped today. Hopefully by mid week next, I will have it on hand. Ended up ordering a usb cable since according to the specs, usb appears to be the best connection.

DIGITAL OUTPUT STAGE:
USB:
DSD256, 11.2MHz, 1-bit, Stereo
PCM 44.1–384kHz, 16–24-bit, Stereo
OPTICAL, COAXIAL RCA, COAXIAL BNC & AES/EBU:
DSD (DoP, DSD over PCM) 2.8MHz, 1-bit
PCM 44.1kHz–192kHz, 16–24-bit

What model Devialet are you using?  The reason why I ask is that with the Expert, many users (not all) preferred the sound when using the AES/EBU input over USB.  With the Pro, the inputs seam to be more or less equivalent.  From my experience with the "Pre-Pro" Expert, it was a case of more bass via USB, but clearer more accurate bass via AES/EBU.

There are many factors here though.  It is a combination of the quality of the output and the quality of the input.  So, one streamer might have excellent AES/EBU output but relatively poor USB output, another streamer might be the other way around. 

The short version of this post is that it might be worth you trying the AES/EBU option some time, and see if you prefer it to USB or not.
1000 Pro - KEF Blade - iFi Zen Stream - Mutec REF10 - MC3+USB - Pro-Ject Signature 12
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