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Node 2i upgrade: Lumin or Auralic?


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Hi, I’m looking for upgrade advice: Auralic Aries G2 or Lumin U1 Mini.

 

I’ve been using a Bluesound Node 2i (with BluOS Controller on an iPad Pro) as my primary network streamer for the past 10 months (I also use an Oppo 205 via DLNA/UPnP with mConnect) . I’ve been getting away from computer-based streaming and haven’t used my Macbook Pro or Mac Mini (w/ Audirvana) for music in months. I don’t use Roon. I just stream Qobuz, TIDAL, Tune In, Radio Paradise, etc. to an external DAC and no longer maintain a NAS library of rips.  I’m not interested in RPi-based products or Sonore products. Also, I’m very happy with my DACs, so I’m thinking of just getting a transport only (i.e., a network streamer without a DAC); and the iOS app interface is very important to me as well.

 

 I know @The Computer Audiophile is doing an X1 review soon, but that’s out of my league; and, he did an Aries G2 review this time last year and liked it, but I don’t think he did more testing with a Vega G2 or their stand-alone clocks (and recent pictures of his stack don’t show the G2), but the ad-on options of the Auralic line intrigues me. 

 

Based on my preferences and my budget (nothing more expensive than the Aries g2), I’ve narrowed my choices down to the Auralic Aries G2 and the Lumin U1 Mini. Both of their respective iOS apps seem ok but the Lumin app looks like it’s maintained more often and @wklie is an active member here.

 

So, if you own these streamers and want to express your preference, or love something else that I should consider, please let me know! Thanks in advance!

 

Cheers and here’s to the music lover in all of us.

Gus

 

 

 

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Hi Peter,

I’m not a fan of MQA personally, but during music discovery when using TIDAL, it is nice to get the first unfold (core decoding) of MQA, which I have benefitted from on both the Node 2i and the Oppo 205 even though using external DACs; I’ll then add the track to my Qobuz library to get pure high-res . I know the Lumin supports MQA decoding on the DAC-less devices, and full MQA rendering on the ESS-based DAC products.

 

I was wondering something on the Lumin iOS app: does the Qobuz API you use allow you to sort Qobuz favorite tracks by artist, or is it just a list of tracks in date-added order like the BluOS Controller?

 

Cheers.

 

 

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Excellent. Thanks for the info. Sounds like the Qobuz API has some catching up to do with the TIDAL API, which I agree has much better sorting/grouping functionality. I wasn’t sure if Bluesound was using an old Qobuz API or if every third-party app developer was impacted by a limited Qobuz API. It’s a shame actually, because I find the Qobuz desktop and iOS apps to be awesome and just wish their API was as robust, so our 3rd-party streamer apps were as useable as the native apps.

 

 

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14 minutes ago, JMD54 said:

Qobuz is working on all of those things. As to the Aries vs Lumin I have owned both and they are both great just different.  The model comparable to the U1 Mini is the G1 the G2 is double the price.

Thank you for the info. Good to hear you liked both. How were they “different”?

 

As for the G1 vs G2, you’re right, they are almost identical, and the G1 is closer in price to the U1 mini.  But, I like the USB galvanic isolation of the G2, and the lightning link connection (I might add a Vega DAC in the future).

 

I know the G2 is double the price of the mini, but the Lumin U1 (non mini) is triple the price; I’m willing to go double for the G2 if it (and its software) is that much better than the mini, but I can’t justify the cost of the Lumin U1 (or above) right now.

 

Which software controller did you like the most?

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Thanks JMD54! Great info. Interesting that you mentioned the NT-505, since I looked closely at it too, but it doesn’t have a digital out.

 

After more research I’m beginning to think the U1-mini and the Aries G1 will be equal in quality with the only subjective difference being which software one likes better; and the Aries G2 and Lumin U1 (non-mini) will be double/triple in cost for a modest (?) improvement in sound quality.

 

Hm. I’m now beginning to wonder if the U1-mini or G1 will bring any noticeable sound improvement over the Bluesound Node 2i.  

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Another question for those with the Aries G1/G2 or U1-mini: how warm do they get? I would guess the switching power supply in the mini keeps the U1-mini cooler than G1/G2 with their built in linear power supplies. But the processors can also be a big output of heat (like in the Oppo 205). Are they hot, warm, barely warm? I’m interested due to my setup and heat concerns in the listening room.

 

Thanks. 

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Ordered a LUMIN U1 Mini (black) through my dealer. Arriving by the end of this week, I hope.

 

I’m now considering how best to hook it up to my DACs (RME ADI-2 DAC and Oppo 205). I also realize that I won’t be giving up my Node 2i completely: there are other streaming services it supports that the LUMIN app does not and I want to be able to keep using those. I also don’t have PCM files above 24/192 nor do I play or upsample to DSD, so S/PDIF limitations are fine for my needs.

 

But what sounds best on the LUMIN U1 Mini? What outputs have the best engineering? I know @wklie has said to try AES/EBU and USB and decide what you like the best. 

 

No AES/EBU input on the Oppo. The RME ADI-2 DAC doesn’t have an XLR connector for a dedicated AES/EBU input, but it supports AES/EBU through the S/PDIF Coax input via a cable adapter (XLR to RCA), but with non-standard soldering.

 

The non-standard cable adapter described in the RME manual says to connect pins 2 and 3 of a female XLR plug individually to the two pins of a phono plug (pin 2 wired to the tip of the RCA plug); the cable shielding is only connected to pin 1 of the XLR - not to the phono plug. I can’t find an adapter or cable with this soldering so I would have to make a custom cable adapter and I’m not sure I want to do that if the improvement would be minimal compared to S/PDIF coax. But I guess I’ll never know unless I try it. I have a question posted on RME forums to see if anyone else has tried AES on the coax input of the RME ADI-2 DAC with an adapter.

 

Also, I want to use the Oppo 205’s USB DAC input when listening to MQA: it will do full MQA decode and rendering over it’s analogue outputs. Although I’m not a fan of MQA, if I’m playing an MQA track via TIDAL during music discovery, I might as well here it fully rendered with the intended MQA D/A filters.

 

Since the RME ADI-2 DAC is my primary DAC and the Oppo is rarely used, this is what I’m planning:

Node 2i <-(Toslink)-> RME

LUMIN U1 Mini <-(Coax)-> RME

LUMIN U1 Mini <-(USB)-> Oppo 205 (when using USB output of U1 Mini set MQA passthrough)

 

For U1 and U1 Mini users, what are your preferred outputs? If you don’t have AES/EBU capability, did you go coax or USB?

 

Cheers,

Gus

 

 

 

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12 minutes ago, wklie said:

...the USB needs to be disconnected first otherwise the timing will be off.  I guess powering down (not just standing by) the Oppo may also be ok.

Would leaving the USB cable connected to the LUMIN, *but disconnected* from the Oppo  be OK, or is there some cable-detection activated just by having the USB cable attached to the back of the LUMIN that messes up the S/PDIF clock?

 

Attaching and detaching the USB cable from the Oppo will be easy compared to the LUMIN due to the location of the LUMIN in my stack and the way the extended hood covers the cable ends.

 

Thanks again.

Gus

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10 hours ago, FIndingit said:

Do you know there are aftermarket power supplies/adapters available for the U1 Mini which do take the sound quality further? 

Yes, I have been reading a lot about the U1 Mini and saw the LPS upgrades and connection kits mentioned. I’ll keep it in mind, but I’m more likely to save that money to apply to an upgrade, like the U1 or the next generation, if I really like this LUMIN (it’s my first one).

 

Cheers,

Gus

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On 11/14/2019 at 10:34 PM, wklie said:

Currently the Lumin app shows the favorites in the order they're reported by the Qobuz API.  We have not been able to find a way to sort it from the API yet.

 

For Tidal, we support favorite sorting as supported by its API.

The mconnect player (iOS app) had an update today which added sorting options for Qobuz favorites.  Also, the “My Mix” playlists in TIDAL are now supported too.

 

Hopefully this means there are new Qobuz and TIDAL APIs out for 3rd-party software.

 

Cheers,

Gus

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I will let you know if mconnect works well with the U1 Mini. The LUMIN arrives today. I’m assuming you are correct: your knowledge on all-things UPnP/DLNA and Open Home networking has always been impressive and your posts have help me greatly in the past.

 

I actually like mconnect despite not reading many good reviews, and with this latest update they now have some features not present in other 3rd-party controllers for TIDAL and Qobuz.  But, one of the reasons I bought the LUMIN U1 Mini was because I like the look of the LUMIN app and the frequent software updates. The BluOS app is going backwards with each update in my opinion and that’s why I wanted to find a new hardware streamer. I’m not a roon user either.

 

This mconnect update hopefully means the additional TIDAL and Qobuz interface features will make their way to other controller software soon.

 

Cheers,

Gus

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I’ve been running the U1 Mini through its paces for a day and I’m very pleased with everything. After trying all the connection permutations I decided to turn off all the non-USB digital outputs of the U1 Mini and connected it to my RME ADI-2 DAC via USB. The Oppo 205 is now just used as a disc player and an occasional UPnP/DLNA renderer (don’t really need it for that now with the LUMIN pulling that duty though).

 

@Cebolla mconnect does indeed work with the LUMIN. Functionality is identical to how it worked with the Oppo, with the same issues too: gapless didn’t work, and since it’s not OpenHome, the app needs to be running to keep the playlist going. I much prefer the OpenHome capable LUMIN app anyway, which had no problems with either gapless or stopping playback if the iPad was shut off.

 

Now that I’m done playing the same tried-and-true songs over and over to determine the best connection, it’s time to sit back and enjoy the music. I love these streaming services and the quality players. Enough music to last a lifetime for a small fee.

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14 hours ago, wklie said:

Since there are five(?) variants of mConnect, please confirm you're testing the paid version of mConnect Player (HD?).  Another user just told me he tried the free version and found that to be not much usable for his needs.

 

If you have Tidal, please check whether the app has some sort of indication of MQA for Tidal master albums, and whether Lumin front panel shows MQA when you're playing it using this app.

Yes to everything you asked:

—Yes, I’m using paid versions of mConnect Player (on iPhone) and mConnect Player HD (on a 1st Gen iPad Pro 12.9”). These were the players that I mentioned that are implementing new Qobuz and TIDAL APIs (bringing Qobuz sorting in My Favorites, and to TIDAL, the algorithmically generated My Mix playlists).

—Yes, mConnect has very good indications of MQA tracks in TIDAL, and Hi-Res tracks in Qobuz. It’s one of the main reasons I started to use it with my other UPnP/DLNA streamer.

—Yes, if I select the U1 Mini in the “Play To” tab of paid mConnect Player, then play an MQA song, the LUMIN’s display at the bottom shows “MQA” and the fully decoded & rendered SR/bit values for “MQA Original”; if I hit pause, the line changes to “FLAC” and the compressed values sent by the server prior to decode/render (exact same behavior as I see on the LUMIN app; press play to unpause and the MQA indications return in both apps).  Example: playing “One Track Mind” from Thirty Seconds to Mars shows “MQA 96 kHz 24 Bit” while playing and then “FLAC 48 kHz 24 Bit” when paused.

 

Note: a couple of times the mConnect Player wouldn’t play to the LUMIN (even though it would connect to it via the “Play To” tab); force quitting mConnect then playing something momentarily via the LUMIN app, then going back to mConnect works every time.

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Also, Peter, a +1 from me for a feature request to the LUMIN app:

—please implement the capability to add a track while browsing TIDAL or Qobuz to one of the users TIDAL or Qobuz playlists (an option such as “Add to Playlist” in the press-and-hold popup, just above the “Add to Favorite” line, that would bring up a list of my playlists from that service.

 

All the other software I’ve used to access TIDAL and Qobuz have a means to add a song to a playlist (usually a 3-dot menu button).

 

Please consider it because I really like the LUMIN app and I could do most of my discovery in that app if I could add songs to my server-side playlists.

 

Thanks. Cheers,

Gus

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I don’t see a way to edit an older post; after a certain period of time, the “Edit” link disappears. So...here’s an update:

 

Since I mentioned above that I was connecting the U1 Mini to my DAC via USB, I wanted say that I’m back to S/PDIF Coax (I’d try AES/EBU if I could).

 

After listening to more varied music last night, I again tried out the S/PDIF. I’ll spare everyone my attempt to describe the differences and just say that the S/PDIF through my RME ADI-2 DAC sounded better to me than USB. I’ve put away the flashlight and will not be making any more changes to my cables and/or connections 😉

 

Cheers,

Gus

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I figured after 24hrs more burn-in time (4 days total running playlist in repeat) I should compare USB vs Coax again. The main reason I was curious is because I was noticing a glare from the U1mini-(coax)->DAC in the high-mids/low-highs that I don’t notice with two other streamers. So I plugged in USB and listened to the same songs that were displaying the brittleness, and the USB-delivered music was sublime. 

 

Example: one of the songs that was a problem was Durutti Column’s “Requiem for My Mother”; I usually love Vini Reilly’s guitar on that song, but over U1mini coax it had, to me, an unpleasant digital edge to the high notes. Switched to USB into the RME ADI-2 DAC and it was smooth, euphonic, and non-fatiguing; the way I was accustomed to hearing it.

 

Using USB will allow me to dabble in DSD now too.

 

I’m a very happy listener now with the LUMIN U1 Mini over USB. I’m definitely done doing A/B comparisons for a while 😉

 

Cheers,

Gus

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  • 2 weeks later...
12 hours ago, keeper said:

I also have the Node2i

How much of an improvement would you say the Lumin has provided, I’m wondering if I should get a higher quality streamer for local music files.

That is a difficult question to answer. Based on sound quality alone (feeding USB from the LUMIN U1 Mini, Toslink from the Node 2i , and S/PDIF coax from the Oppo 205, each to an RME ADI-2 DAC) there is really very little, to no difference between them all. But, I love the LUMIN U1 Mini and the app, and I find I use it the most to stream my music; it has been problem free since I got it too.

 

I dislike the BluOS app (and reading their forums I was surprised that they don’t want to add the display of sampling rate and bit depth for some reason, which I really like to see) so I was using the mConnect HD Player app to stream through my Oppo 205. But that had compromises, mainly gapless playback and playlist stoppages if I sent the app on my iPad to the background. So, I went looking for a replacement streamer in my budget with software I liked, and I’m loving the U1 Mini.

 

Blue Sound is a great company (and the Node 2i a great streamer), but they are really getting into a lot of products and concentrating on the whole multi-zone speaker/synced-playing/multi-room thing and thus the quality of the user interface for folks who just want a great audiophile-quality streamer is second to their emphasis on speakers & multi-room payback (trying to beat out Sonos I guess; good luck). So they are falling behind on support and I think they are stagnating at adding functionality to their existing product line.

 

My research led me to choose LUMIN for my next upgrade: their awesome support, a great app, frequent updates to software and firmware, and great hardware design. Considering how long they have supported their earlier products, I can feel confident this U1 Mini will be updated long after I have upgraded to another device. And they offer multiple upgrade paths if I ever feel I need to go up a notch.

 

But seriously, if you don’t dislike the BluOS app, don’t care if you have a display on the device (I like the blue display of the LUMIN), don’t like the idea of a physical power switch on the back, then you are probably fine with the Node 2i. Now, someone with a LUMIN U1 or a X1 that upgraded from a BluOS or NAD device may have more to say about bigger differences, but the U1 Mini was more of a nice side-grade rather than a definitive upgrade from the Node 2i for me.

 

Cheers,

Gus

 

 

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@keeper I should also mention there are some things the U1 Mini has that the Node 2i doesn’t have that may matter depending on your setup: AES/EBU output via standard XLR connecter, S/PDIF coax via BNC, and USB out. The Node 2i as you know just has the Toslink and Coax S/PDIF digital outs. It’s rare to see a streamer or transport with so many output options at this price point.

 

The OpenHome implementation in the LUMIN is on par with the BluOS functionality, but better than standard UPnP/DLNA support like I have in the Oppo 205.

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