LUMIN - Audiophile Network Music Player

[ok102006]

How good is the internal clock for Lumin?

[psme]

hi Darius,

 

Please see these screen captures of LUMIN app.

 

 

By default everything is at Native mode, DSD in -> DSD out, PCM in to PCM out etc. If you enable "Custom", there are lots of options. You can select DSD to PCM conversion. Independently config each PCM sampling group to up or down sample. Or force output bit depth to 16 or 24 bit.

 

Via firmware update, more options can be added in future.

[psme]

How good is the internal clock for Lumin?

 

Since LUMIN plays PCM audio files from 44.1khz to 384khz and DSD file in 2.8Mhz, LUMIN uses 4 units of NZ2520S Series Clock Oscillator. 1 for low frequency 44.1khz and multiples, 1 for low frequency 48khz and multiples, 1 for high frequency 44.1khz multiples, and 1 for high frequency 48khz multiples.

 

The NZ2520S Series Clock Oscillator is used due to their ultra low phase noise property. Together with a circuit board designed specifically for audio application, we believe the combination gives the best audio performance.

 

Btw, there are some internal photos of LUMIN external dual-toroidal Power Supply Unit on this page:

LUMIN Part II

[dariusb]

psme,

 

In the photos we see Klimax/Lumin in the same listening rooms.

Does there was some a/b comparisation?

 

Darius

[caskevin]

Since LUMIN plays PCM audio files from 44.1khz to 384khz and DSD file in 2.8Mhz, LUMIN uses 4 units of NZ2520S Series Clock Oscillator. 1 for low frequency 44.1khz and multiples, 1 for low frequency 48khz and multiples, 1 for high frequency 44.1khz multiples, and 1 for high frequency 48khz multiples.

 

The NZ2520S Series Clock Oscillator is used due to their ultra low phase noise property. Together with a circuit board designed specifically for audio application, we believe the combination gives the best audio performance.

 

Btw, there are some internal photos of LUMIN external dual-toroidal Power Supply Unit on this page:

LUMIN Part II

 

Hi Psme,

 

A bit do not understand what "low and high" means for the particular frequency and multiples?

Also what about DSD? Is clock required?

 

Thanks

 

Kevin

[ok102006]

Wow, thank you for the detailed reply, really helps!

good to know Lumin is using NIHON DEMPA KOGYO japanese crystals...

 

BTW, three more questions:

-is it easy to change the power supply from 110 to 220V or vice versa?

-any more development news on the app for other platform? I don't have an iPad, so I have to spend min. HKD$2600 for an iPad Mini just to use it as a remote control?

-if my wireless router can accept USB disk and run it as file server, so can I connect it this way and Lumin can read the music files on the USB disk via LAN cable?

 

Thanks!

[dariusb]

psme,

 

Lumin use internal digital filter which has been built in the Wulfson DAC chip.

I'm right?

 

Darius

[michael123]

I thought someone would ask this! Thanks for asking!

 

DoP stands for "DSD over PCM". It's a bitstream format. It just so happen the first usage of this new bitstream format is in USB connection. In theory one can use DoP format over any physical connection.

 

On the LUMIN, DoP means playing/streaming an audio file which is in the DoP bitstream format (kind of like packing a DTS signal in PCM container in the old day). LUMIN already supports DSD playback in .DIF (DIFF) and .DSF file formats, so why DoP format? The reason is for easy tagging and UPnP Server serving. Currently, I think only foobar2000 (with SACD plugin) supports DIFF and DSF tagging. KORG's AudioGate supports DSF tagging, but not DIFF I think. Maybe jRiver also support DIFF/DSF tagging? Ok, even you have all the DIF/DSF files tagged, since LUMIN works as a UPnP Renderer in a UPnP AV protocol, the UPnP Server also needs to support native DIFF/DSF files. foobar2000 UPnP plugin and MinimServer support these native DSD file types, but most generic UPnP Server don't.

 

Here is DoP "file" comes in handy. We modified foobar2000 SACD plugin, added an extra option, "covert to DSD over PCM". You start with a PS3 ripped SACD ISO file, or a regular DIFF or DSF file. Put those ISO/DIF/DSF file in foobar2000, right click and select "convert". It will output DoP file in 176.4/24 PCM format, with native DSD packed in DoP style. This DoP file can be in whatever lossless formats, WAV/AIFF/ALAC/FLAC etc. Then you can do tagging easily using your favorite tagging program, such as MP3Tag. These DoP formatted WAV/AIFF/ALAC/FLAC works on any UPnP Server which supports these common PCM file formats.

 

When LUMIN play/stream a lossless PCM file (WAV/AIFF/ALAC/FLAC), if DoP content is detected, LUMIN will properly extract the native DSD data, and goes into DSD native playback.

 

If you play these DoP file on a player which has no DoP "file" support, it will treat it as regular 176.4/24 PCM file. The resulting audio is a very very low volume white noise.

 

That was long!

 

Great, looks like you invested some big thinking and resources into the project!

Respect

 

So, you say when I convert to FLAC from the ISO file, there are actually two streams there PCM and DSD?

 

Since which version of sacd plugin there is this functionality?

[Audio_ELF]

-if my wireless router can accept USB disk and run it as file server, so can I connect it this way and Lumin can read the music files on the USB disk via LAN cable?

You need a UPnP (or DNLA) server to use the LUMIN. There are a few wireless routers (some from Netgear for example) which can provide this service; but you are likely better served by a NAS or even better a dedicated server - either running Linux such as Vortexbox or a Windows machine running Asset server.

 

Eloise

[ThierryNK]

Here is DoP "file" comes in handy. We modified foobar2000 SACD plugin, added an extra option, "covert to DSD over PCM". You start with a PS3 ripped SACD ISO file, or a regular DIFF or DSF file. Put those ISO/DIF/DSF file in foobar2000, right click and select "convert". It will output DoP file in 176.4/24 PCM format, with native DSD packed in DoP style. This DoP file can be in whatever lossless formats, WAV/AIFF/ALAC/FLAC etc. Then you can do tagging easily using your favorite tagging program, such as MP3Tag. These DoP formatted WAV/AIFF/ALAC/FLAC works on any UPnP Server which supports these common PCM file formats.

 

Good evening

 

Nice and good idea this DoP container.

 

I have downloaded and installed the last version of Foobar SACD plugin (SourceForge.net: Super Audio CD Decoder - Project Web Hosting - Open Source Software), but I cannot see where this DoP function can be used (in "convert" menu on a DFF file, I cannot see any indication about DoP).

 

I do not use foobar in the most convenient way, on a Macintosh with WineBottler, but i already ripped about a hundred of my SACD on a PS3, extracted DFF files with sacd-ripper - SACD ripping software using a PS3 - Google Project Hosting and converted them to PCM with Foobar.

 

As I will soon participate to a Lumin Network Player benchmark, I would like to test those DoP files. I will have one NAS with Minimserver that will be OK for DFF files, and another one with Synology multimedia server. Synology multimedia server is more user friendly than MinimServer which is still under development, but Synology multimedia server does not handle DFF files.

 

Thanks for your help.

 

Kind regards

Thierry

[psme]

I have downloaded and installed the last version of Foobar SACD plugin (SourceForge.net: Super Audio CD Decoder - Project Web Hosting - Open Source Software), but I cannot see where this DoP function can be used (in "convert" menu on a DFF file, I cannot see any indication about DoP).

 

DoP file creation is not in the official version.

 

Get the DoP file creation version (modded from version 0.61) here:

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B4jZ4NDGECzEbnNQOXVQRHJpQlU

 

Source code included.

 

This modded version should have all the functions in the original version, but I haven't try all options! To be save, you can install another copy of foobar2000 in a separate folder with this DoP plugin. And only use that for DoP file creation.

 

In SACD plugin config, make sure "DSD over PCM" (default) is selected. Then do a "convert" to lossless PCM file (WAV/AIFF/FLAC/ALAC etc). It will always create a 176.4/24 PCM file with DSD embedded in DoP style.

 

Play this DoP file through a UPnP server to LUMIN, and LUMIN will extract the original DSD for native DSD playback.

 

In theory, I think this DoP file should also work on those USB/FW/SPDIF DAC with DoP support. And the user can play this DoP file using a softplayer without native DoP via USB support...

[MikeJazz]

Thanks for trying LUMIN app. LUMIN app is still in early functional stage and under heavy development. All the functions you mentioned are already planned will be added soon.

 

In the meantime, you can use Kinsky, or other UPnP controller app such as PlugPlayer, SongBook Lite, or even foobar2000 with UPnP plugin to control the LUMIN player. That's the beauty of using a open protocol for a network music player.

 

Thanks very much for your answer.

I sincerely support your vision to develop both the hardware network player and the complementary lumin control point software.

 

The big plus for me would be if your control point fully support the intelligent browsing feature of minimserver.

 

I cannot stress this high enough: minimserver is the only server that I know that is intelligent in letting you decided where to go (any tag to be used), instead of imposing a predefined (and limited) path of navigation.

 

In each navigation step you will see only the tags that are present in the data, so only the pertinent for further filtering the music files.

 

Go LUMIN, GO!

[ThierryNK]

Minimserver is indeed an interesting approach.

Nevertheless, it can be not really user-friendly to have to hit 10 steps before reaching an album.

 

Being more a classical fan (about 1000 albums), I finally decided to remain only on "genres" sorting

With:

Artists

Composers

Genre/Artists

Genre/Composers

 

And Genres are of the types:

Classical Symphonies

Romantic Symphonies

XXe Symphonies

 

etc

 

When you get a tree with more branches than 2, navigation becomes (very) painful, also because you have to go back your tree to reach another album.

 

Orchestra or conductors tagging is interesting, but you can get the relevant information, either in your albums titles or in the comments.

 

All this navigation stuff would be definitively solved with a search engine within the NAS and accessible from a Control Point.

 

Of course, this is only my own point of view, and I do not pretend that it is the only one.

 

Thanks to PSME for the Link about DoP. I will try it tonight.

 

Best regards.

Thierry

[dariusb]

ThierryNK,

 

As I understood you have a chance to listen to the Lumin.

Or I'm wrong?

 

Kind regards,

Darius

[ThierryNK]

@PSME

Your plugin seem to work. But I do not have anything to play DoP. On a PCM decoder, it plays silently, which is a good sign :-)

 

@arlusb

Yes I should listen to a Lumin in the next weeks or days.

 

Kind regards

Thierry

[ted_b]

Psme,

I had a very nice meeting with Nelson at CES. We discussed everything including Pixel Magic's main business. Very insightful. I look forward to listening to the Lumin very soon. thanks

Ted

 

P.S. what are these plugins for. I have played DSD on four DSD capable DACS so far, two I own. Will I have to do something special to my DSF files to have the Synology UPnP server (with minim) send them to the Lumin??

Thx

[vortecjr]

P.S. what are these plugins for. I have played DSD on four DSD capable DACS so far, two I own. Will I have to do something special to my DSF files to have the Synology UPnP server (with minim) send them to the Lumin??

Thx

 

The plugin is a work around for UPNP servers that do not support DSD. It takes a DSD file and encodes it into DoP and then drops it into a FLAC container. Rather than convert your entire collection just install minimserver on any computer point the library to the DSD files on the NAS. You could also load minimserver on your Synology if your feeling brave. I loaded minimserver on Vortexbox and it's working fine. Here is a link to the VB How to guide I wrote that shows the steps: InstallMinimServer

 

Jesus R

[dariusb]

[psme]

Glad to know LUMIN arrived safely!

 

Feel free to ask if you have any setup question!

[dariusb]

psme,

 

Does this new equipment need some burn-in time?

 

Darius

[psme]

A few users said it sounds the best after a week. Personally, I think a few hours should be enough!

[Intueris]

Hi, psme!

Lumin player works only with the Lumin app?

Is it possible to use other UPnP Control Point?

[Audio_ELF]

Hi, psme!

Lumin player works only with the Lumin app?

Is it possible to use other UPnP Control Point?

Yes

[Intueris]

Yes

 

Thank you.

Unfortunately, Lumin app does not use folder view.

And it is not always convenient.

[dariusb]

Audio_ELF,

Which one you have tested?

 

Darius