LUMIN - Audiophile Network Music Player

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@wklie I have run into an issue a cuople of times with my Lumin U1 Mini and the app on iPad, say 2 out of 10, when shifting from TuneIn radio to streaming from music files on my NAS. (I only stream from my private music library). 

 

Yesterday, after streaming TuneIn radio 3 hours, I took up an album from my database and started. However, the app was blocked. Nothing happened. I pressed the power button in the app and then on again. Then the album cover showed up and only the first tune but still it was TuneIn that played. 

 

After say 10 seconds, the app closed down by itself and restarted, but it was still blocked and no music at all. Lumin also lost the connection to the dac which I can see on the dac display. Eventually I did a power up recycle on Lumin and then it was OK again. Bad luck or a system error?

 

Besides this everything works great, also after the 13.4 upgrade.

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15 minutes ago, wklie said:

What radio channel was it?

 

It was one of the channels in the public Swedish radio (news channel). I also had it on their classical channel (P2) which is my main channel similar to BBC2.

 

 

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3 hours ago, BlueSkyy said:

175MB here

This is in line in what I have, 485 MB for approx 5,000 albums. Pic size from 500 - 1000 pix

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23 hours ago, BlueSkyy said:

Flndingit's library must be huge!

Was this for me?

 

If so, I have no issues at all. It is easier to find them on the app than in my shelves. All my albums are ripped CD's from my collection (took about two years) except for later purchased down load files. On the app they are sorted by artist, tune, genre, composer, year and so on that I can sort from This overview is impossible to have in the shelves. The more albums the more imoortant to gav good order.

 

I'm also picky on cover image quality. In most cases I have to google up images with higher resolution. Normally I put them 1000x1000.

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17 hours ago, Lkdog said:

Does it work with JRIVER??

My experience is that it works but not good enough. On DSD I got glitches between tracks. This happened also with pcm but not so frequently. For higher resolution/upsampling like DSD128 and 24/384 I got pops and click sounds quiet frequently. All library functions in Lumïn did not work either due to the structure in JRivers library does not match fully.

 

Lumïn recommends MinimServer as database as this is used while develop Lumïn. So I got this program, spent some hours to adjust the structure and connected to U1 Mini. Now all problems disappeared, no clicks/pops, no glitches. The library functions was by the book.

 

Now I bought a Synology NAS and I have transferred my music files to the NAS. Downloads I do on my computer and then upload the files to the NAS. Ripping is also done on my PC using JRivers ripp. 

 

Another problem I had was using the app on Galaxy pad and Android phones. Unfortunately they are very unstable. The program locks from time to time and/or shut down. It has improved but still not good enough. So I bought a Mac iPad which has never been an issue. It always works.

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30 minutes ago, BlueSkyy said:

I do not experience any of the anomalies mentioned above and I do not use a streaming service at this time.

Strange. I was in contact with JRiver several times and followed their recommendations fully without success. What I can't say though, is what was due to JRiver, my dac (Aesthetix Romulus Signature [Burr Brown 1792A])  or the laptop (HP, intel 5i). I should really like to keep JRiver as I also like its features and some of them I still use like the Audio analyze (DR codes...).

 

On Minimserver, I have upgraded to Minimserver 2 which is basically the same except for easier start up. The pay version have a lot of other features on personalice tags, import/export etc. They are features I do not need so I stayed with the Mimimserver 2 basic.

 

I only stream my own music files, no external sfreams except TuneIn

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1 hour ago, musicguy said:

I can only see artist and the album i ripped.

This must be linked to the database you are using. Lumin can only see tables you have defined. On some databases you need to define this with commands like %artist;%track;%year;%album... etc. How this is done differs between programs. I use MinimServer2 in a Synology NAS which takes care of this without without any interference from my side. The only thing you need to make sure is to use the default names on the MinimServer tables that are the same as used by U1 Mini. There are maybe other databases that work fine also. I followed the easy path. Use the one used by Lumin in their development for minimum issues.

 

What database are you using?

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37 minutes ago, musicguy said:

I like seeing just the songs.  (I dont care about seeing artist or albums.)  

This a personal choice of course. This might be a little bit week strategy once you have thousands of album. Then it is an advantage to be able to search between genres, years, songs, artist, album or composers. I have about 50,000 songs and roughly 5000 albums. It takes a excellent memory to recall all of the song by heart. But one maybe rembers the genre, year, artist or album to find what I'm looking for. Then the search engine is really a blessing. Or I Want to play all albums by, say John Lee Hooker or chose among the compositions by Frantz Schubert...

 

So in order to ger the full potential over time it is worth while to have a good order and structure already from the beginning. Most often I also replace the cover to have at least 600 pixels in order to be able see it properly on the screen.

 

That is my view on it.

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5 minutes ago, thingswelike said:

MP3Tag can do this automatically.

Thanks for this remark. I mentioned only MinimServer2 previously. That is the music server that is fit for Lumïn's all options. One need as well a tagging tool of course and I also use Mp3Tag which is a perfect match for MinimServer -> Lumïn U1 Mini

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28 minutes ago, pl_svn said:

though... a couple of months ago I installed v2.x on my Qnap NAS, replacing v0.8, and everything works just as it did before :)

Same for me. I just continued as before. 

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54 minutes ago, BlueSkyy said:

I'd hate to see MinimServer change so radically or even go away that it would render your products less than the best that they already are.

In my view MinimServer is fantastic and version 2 Starter even better. In the old version I had to contact friends and their webservice to get everything up and running. When I installed v.2 in my Synology it was just to "push the button" and wait for the files to be uploaded and then it worked as supposed with the Lumïn app. 

 

There is nothing such as free dinners. I only use the free MinimServer2 Starter and made a donor as a preciation. Their on line service is one of the best I know of. Reply within 24 hours and they are very supportive. In my view there is nothing strange in that they upgrade their versions just like Lumïn. I think this is something that increases the respect.

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@wklie I’m testing Tidal Master with Lumin U1 Mini. It sounds excellent but I have some questions for my understanding.

 

1. Just now I play Keith Jarret Standards vol 2 MQA. It shows ”MQA 24/192” on the app but on the dac display (over AES/EBU) it shows ”24/96”. Normally AES/EBU have no issues with this resolution.
2. When I play for examplel Wayne Shorters ”Emanon” it shows ”MQA 24/44,1” on the app but ”24/88,2” on the dac display.

 

My dac (Aesthetix with Burr Brown 1792A) is not doing the decoding. It is made by U1 Mini.

 

It sounds very good but I’m curious to know why U1 Mini does not decode MQA as indicated on the app? 

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On 2021-01-23 at 12:22 AM, barrows said:

MQA is scam, and scourge on the industry, and on music lovers.  Do not be deceived by the nonsense.

I fully support this view. I have hard to understand how the industri went into to this MQA trap. I prefer the position that Quboz has taken to offer uncoded highres-files if they are available from the labels. Unfortunately Quboz is not available in Scandinavia. After asking them they are preparing it and hopefully it will happen this year. If and then I will sign up with them insted and skip Tidal. 

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9 hours ago, wklie said:

The problem is simply that whatever codec format Tidal or Qobuz decides to use, we have to try our best to support it.

This I understand and I fully agree on this. I'm more thinking of the music companies. As they have joined the MQA format, hardware industry have to join or be out of business. The riaa standard started with some competing compensation curves. Thankfully they sat down and agree on one standard which, in my view, have served both music lovers and industry well since the fifties rather than having competing standards. I guess this DVD-A/SACD war could end different if they gathered around one new high res audio standard. Then followed a dsd/pcm war and it seems pcm is the winner. And now MQA put in a new standard to make the market more fragmented and add new license cost. Who's next?

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16 hours ago, chungjh said:

My Lumin X1 often stops in the middle of a track and skips to the next track.

This has happen with my U1 Mini as well, but only if I stop with the the upper right corner play arrow (left to the counter) to leave the room doing something else. When I’m back pressing the same button again to continue the playing it sometimes jump to next tune after 15-20 seconds but only ones. The coming tracks are ok. I guess this has something to do with buffering when making hold like this. No big issue.

 

If I stop clearing the play list before playing the same album it does not happen or if I restart the tune pressing the tune in the play list. Then it restart the tune from the beginning.

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22 hours ago, bfmcosta said:

I am experiencing also a variety of issues with the Android app (e.g., cover art is shown different album than what is playing, app crashes, etc). It is almost unusable.

It is relief to read. From time to time I thought I was the one who could not handle the technique. I have a Samsung Galaxy, a Sony Experia mobile and my wife a Samsung mobile. They are not "almost" unusable, they are not usable at all with crashes like you describe. My mobile even worse. It is locking all other mobile functions from time to time and I have to restart. 

 

I had two options. Bye another streamer that is fit for Android or by an iPad as server remote. In my view the Lumïn U1 Mini is the big star so I bought an iPad. It works flawless and much cheaper and effective than to scroll around for another streamer. Besides it seems that iPad is the optimum choice for other well respected servers as well that are equiped with different option.

 

I can't judge if it is harder to develop similar stability with Android than with iPad but it seems so. JRiver was ok but then it was only a tool to play. All others you have to do on your laptop. Lumïn recommends iOS. It should be even more clear to write out "we do not recommend Android as their techinique is not optimum for Lumïn". That can avoid disappointments.

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@wklie On my ripped and downloaded files your structure enabling med to search by album, artist, composer, year, genre, tune and latest added is excellent. But when adding albums from Tidal to my favourites I only have a structur of album, artist, year and latest added but not genre and composer. I can understand it might be harder to use composer as it look like Tidal does not tag this. Hower they do with ”genre”. So why does this not show up as an option for easier access of your favourites? (See attached image).
 

Is it a lack of option due to Lumin or is it linked to a functionality in Tidal? It should be very beneficial if you could sort this out. Is it the same for Quboz?

 

 

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I think there are some disrespectful answers/comments here to @Audio request and wishes. This is not a trade mark of Audiophile Style in my view. 

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Innous are now launching a new app with better integration. Roon just launched their new version with many new features or improved ones.

 

Howabout Lumin, @wklie ? Can we expect any substantial upgrades from your side in order not to lose ground in this competitive field? I still like your app but it is obvious that more can be done when looking at what is happening on this field like handling favourite albums, both own and from streaming, direct access to artist/album info rather than using links etc. 
 

As I have understood you have some kind of cooperation Esoteric (same design on app that works on Android but not all features from Lumin) and I guess this should be also in their interest.

 

 

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On 3/9/2021 at 9:41 AM, wklie said:

Our strategy is that we support the use of as many different control point UI as possible,

That’s a good one. But are you not ”affraid” that you can lose market if your competitors rush away with more efficient and better apps that can put Lumin ”behind” and chose hardware with better supporting apps?
 

For now it is OK. Your app is very good, but the development does not stop here and today in my view. That includes both apps and electronics.

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55 minutes ago, rodrigaj said:

I thought the U1 was on a completely different level

I also compared the two. I could not detect any differences so I stayed with U1 Mini which is connected with Aesthetix Romulus/Pandora Signature dac. 

 

When comparing things there are also expectations involved. That is how we works. Best advice is that one listen like you and I have done.

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16 hours ago, Mat said:

Is there any big difference for using Lumin U1 mini vs MacBook Pro?

In my view it is. Of course one can always debate what "big" means.

 

In my view the biggest advantage is that you get rid of using the usb card from your laptop. Instead you go with TP ethernet connection from your source in the same way as done from Roon, Tidal, Quboz all the way to the server which then is optimized for transfer music streams to your dac using different connection options including USB, AES/EBU, Coax. Whatever the Lumin does they do it better than a laptop. I guess it has to do with clocking, low noise oscilating. I find the sound to be more relaxed, clean and full bodies vs playing from a laptop. Personally I prefer AES/EBU that takes up to 24/192. When I play DSD I convert it to the same format or switch to an USB cable. Unfortunately you can't have both connected at the same time. A switch in order arrange this should be perfect. I have also tried Tidal and it works excellent which I know Quboz and Roon do as well.

 

Lumin is optimized for sound and it is a process on-going with automatic system upgrades. A laptop is a compromize for "everything". The app works excellent with no delays and the most important search criterias to sort and find your music files (if you manage your files accordingly). The only drawback is that you need an OS plattform. Android does not work (I have tried on two Samsung Galaxies, Samsung and Sony Phones. It turns off and restart all time. You are asked to give feedback but no improvements to be seen. 

 

I run my Lumin with music files from my own downloads and ripped files that are stored on a Synology NAS with Minimserver 2 (free) software. Downloads, ripping and files are handled in my laptop on the network using Mp3Tag and then exported to the NAS storage. From the NAS I have a 20 meters ethernet CAT6 cable going to English Electric switch and from there an earthed RJ45 cable (Chord Epic).

 

I'm very happy with the solution. My digital music listening has been put in another league than before.

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20 hours ago, wklie said:

Two non-USB digital outputs AES / BNC / coaxial / toslink : Lumin U1 / U1 MINI only

How about one USB connections to dac A and one to dac B when only one dac operates (switched on) at the time?

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I don’t know if this is an API question, a question for Lumin or Quboz. 
 

I started my subscription with Quboz. It works excellent except that I have an issue with sorting favourites in Lumin U1 Mini. The appear to sort in a random order. I want them to be sorted in alphabetic order by Artist followed by Album Titel. This works with my own files but not with the favourites from Quboz I selected in Lumin.

 

Is there a solution to this?

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8 hours ago, Mikk said:

If all of the music you listen too is perfectly recorded, then you're very fortunate.

Of course it is not. I fully agree that the old tone controls were usefull, i.e. the good ones. My personal favourite was the one from Quad 44 preamp where you could tilt the whole curve. However I’m not in favour to implement it in Lumïn, especially not in U1/U1 Mini that should stay as ”clean” network bridges. Converting/up- & downsampling is within the domain of a network bridge to make it more flexible depending on the receiving dac.

• Very few in the market ask for it (I beleive).
• It will increase the price without value for most users
• There are separate tone controls on the market for those with special interesr like the one from Shiit (see image).