Lumin to Innous comparison help.

[Vangelis]

I’ve tried the small little renders with the outboard power supplies the USB decrapers connected specialized DC cables etc. My hi-fi system started to resemble like a mad scientist lab. So, I’m seeking a one or maybe two chassis solution. 

 

So after a lot of research my digital evolution path sould be either the Lumin or Innous. I would imagine that Lumin and Innous have thier own “house sound” and even aside from sound quality each one has different virtues. The U1 and  the U1 mini do not have onboard drives available, that could be a downside. The Innous appears to have a very nice UI and OS  with cd ripping and file retagging that’s a really nice option. 

 

If anyone could provide a perspective in regards to the “house sound” differences between the Lumin and the Innous, that be really helpful. I’ve looked through so many discussions online but I can’t find folks that have bought one over other and descriptions of why one was preferable over the other.

 

From my rural area, any brick and mortar audio store that would have products to listen to would be a 12 Hour drive and  Cov19  has even further complicated the issue of auditioning.  I have to make a leap of faith decision, hopefully somewhat thought out.

 

I’m willing to go up to the Innuos Zenith and the Phoenix or the Lumin U1.

 

I’m looking first and foremost for tonal quality, image density transparency and detail, the whole 9 yards.

 

Thanks to anyone who could provide some perspective.

[NYCEnglish]

I currently have a Zenith Mark 3 and it is superb but yet I’m interested in hearing the Lumin. 
 

I have no affiliation but this link does compare them and mentions house sounds:

https://www.tweekgeek.com/blog-tweek-geek-speek/auralic-lumin-innuos-overview-and-feature-comparison/

 

 

[Vangelis]

I’ve read the very short sonic comparison at the Tweek Geek site. In his comparison he stated:

 

The “Innuos is very musical and rich in tone and image density. It creates a very 3D sounstage and resolves fine detail really well”

 

The Lumin sound is  “slightly more forgiving, warmer, softer sound”.

 

I have to take away from this that the Innous, still has a nice tonel balance but is more 3-D and finally detailed. 

 

 

 My experience with most, but all HiFi components, labeled as warm, translates into soft, veiled, polite, missing transparency, drive and the urgency that robs excitement. 

 

Any else compared Lumin to Innous side-by-side?

[creativepart]

Any reason the Auralic products are not on your list? The Ares G1 and G2 look pretty fantastic.

 

I've not heard any of these. I'm using the SoTM SMS200 Ultra and SoTM power supply into a Chord Qutest.  Sounds great. Could it sound better? That's the question isn't it?

[wklie]

On 4/19/2020 at 4:32 AM, Vangelis said:

The Lumin sound is  “slightly more forgiving, warmer, softer sound”.

 

My experience with most, but all HiFi components, labeled as warm, translates into soft, veiled, polite, missing transparency, drive and the urgency that robs excitement. 

 

It is not clear to me exactly which model the comment in the article refers to, but I guess it may be describing the internal DAC sound of D2.  The DAC inside our higher up models T2 and X1 are neutral.  A description of the sound from the analog output of DAC cannot be compared to digital output only streamers (e.g. U1 MINI or other products you may be looking at).

 

If you're reducing box count, I recommend you check out our Lumin T2.

[One and a half]

@Vangelis, am a bit confused.
In consideration, the Innuous is a music server, since it can deliver music from within itself to a renderer, or directly to a USB DAC for example.

The Lumin is a renderer and relies on a music server to provide storage and either RAAT, UPNP (and a few others) protocol to receive music data.

 

So, the Innuos 'pushes', the Lumin 'pulls'. 

 

If you read online opinions too much, you go potty. I own a U1 (unauditioned) and am very happy with  what I hear, and that USB chain is gone.

 

I was considering to use the Innuous WITH the Lumin U1, but two things put a stop to that. The internal drives of the Inuuous are too small (about 60%) and the largest at 8TB comes at a markup ++, the other is isolation schemes of the Ethernet and USB outputs, would they be up to the likes of EtherRegen, or the JCAT USB or Ethernet PCIe cards. 

 

Also undecided about the coupling of radiated noise in a 'small' case, a large computer case has distance from 'noisy' components, in a laptop, MacMini they aren't so great.

 

[firedog]

There are people using an Innuos as a renderer, and not as a server

[NYCEnglish]

I'm using my Innuos as a renderer, can't tell much difference in SQ between this config and having the Innuos as a server except more CPU power.

 

The best SQ config for me was with the Innuos as a Roon Core in experimental mode.