Article: Lumin L2 Music Library & Network Switch Review

[The Computer Audiophile]

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[PYP]

clever design.  Thanks for keeping us informed about new technology.

 

When one looks at some of the other solutions, including using a second router to fully isolate the audio side, the simplicity of this approach is very clear for those of us who don't want to train to be a network administrator.  

[Jud]

While I personally would tend toward DIY solutions (I particularly like being able to control the software side of things for UPnP), this is nice looking, obviously well built, and I see Lumin around here enough to know the company cares about its customers.

[Exupgh12]

Is there anyone familiar with the distinctions, beyond storage capacity, regarding the on-network capabilities of the Lumin L2 compared to the Melco N1?

[bobfa]

Lumin is a stalwart brand, and the L2 indicates their understanding of the audiophile world.  I look around the digital side of my music systems, where the music is stored on a disk array attached to my M1 Mac and backed up to my NAS, which requires The Mac to be up and running constantly. The L2 seems to have "fixed" most of our issues with music storage.

 

The internals of the L2 show a lot of care in how the SSDs are connected and mounted.  The power supply is internally cased and separated from the motherboard.  Very clean!  I wish that they had used USB-C for the computer connection.    Their rear overhang impacts cable attachment and removal on some devices, mostly XLR connectors.  

 

I also note that Lumin continues to add ground connections to their devices.

 

The Melco N1 has some of the same features, such as the build. It runs Minimserver, a different and long-term take on music server and storage with one bridged network port and USB output to a DAC.  Again different.

 

I also find that UPnP can be fussy and weird.  I have used Jplay and found it interesting, but I had several product wishes before using it everywhere.  (a discussion for another thread)

 

@The Computer Audiophile, did you use the Lumin App for your testing?

 

 

RJF

 

 

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

4 minutes ago, bobfa said:

Lumin is a stalwart brand, and the L2 indicates their understanding of the audiophile world.  I look around the digital side of my music systems, where the music is stored on a disk array attached to my M1 Mac and backed up to my NAS, which requires The Mac to be up and running constantly. The L2 seems to have "fixed" most of our issues with music storage.

 

The internals of the L2 show a lot of care in how the SSDs are connected and mounted.  The power supply is internally cased and separated from the motherboard.  Very clean!  I wish that they had used USB-C for the computer connection.    Their rear overhang impacts cable attachment and removal on some devices, mostly XLR connectors.  

 

The Melco N1 has some of the same features, such as the build. It runs Minimserver, a different and long-term take on music server and storage with one bridged network port and USB output to a DAC.  Again different.

 

I also find that UPnP can be fussy and weird.  I have used Jplay and found it interesting, but I had several product wishes before using it everywhere.  (a discussion for another thread)

 

@The Computer Audiophile, did you use the Lumin App for your testing?

 

 

RJF

 

 

 

 

Hi Bob, very wise take on this one. 

 

While you and I, and several others around this community, can handle a NAS and drive arrays, etc... most people don't want to bother with this. Some days I'm also in that camp. Other days I like to tinker and see if I can increase performance or try something different just because it's possible. After using the L2, my brain was seriously relaxed and I felt like I could focus on other things. It's seriously a nice feeling. 

 

Your two points that I agree with entirely are the USB connector and the rear overhang. I too wish USB C could've been used. It has become ubiquitous, making cables plentiful everywhere for cheap. The rear overhang is probably an issue for guys like us, who need to change cables and equipment. Perhaps a more normal use case involves connecting the cables once and leaving them for years. 

 

When comparing to items like the Melco, one thing that is invaluable with Lumin is the company's support, community interaction, and speed at which they find and resolve issues. I don't know of another company at this level. 

 

Yes, I used the Lumin app quite a bit. I like the JPLAY app better as a control point, and given that it worked flawlessly, I had no reason to change. 

[Scotte_1]

Thank you for the review.  A tempting piece of gear at a relatively good price it seems to me.

 

Can one buy an L2 without SSDs installed and add them to save some coin?

 

Ignorantly (somewhat) yours,

 

Scott

[The Computer Audiophile]

2 minutes ago, Scotte_1 said:

Thank you for the review.  A tempting piece of gear at a relatively good price it seems to me.

 

Can one buy an L2 without SSDs installed and add them to save some coin?

 

Ignorantly (somewhat) yours,

 

Scott

Absolutely! It’s $3,500

 

From the review: Note: Lumin provides detailed instructions for consumer installation of SSDs at home as well (link).

[bobfa]

I like that Lumin and Antipodes both support user-installed media.  If they supply the drives, they have to have a warranty on them too!

 

I cannot wait to try an L2!  It would be fun to find a Lumin L1 and play:

 

https://www.luminmusic.com/lumin-l1.html

 

 

[Flashman]

Chris,

 

Nice review, thanks.

 

I own a Lumin X1 and use both Roon and the bespoke Lumin app, preferring Roon when I wish to use its music discovery feature and casual listening and the Lumin app when I want the absolute best SQ (there is a difference).  I have music storage on a Synology NAS and on an SSD inside a NUC.  After reading your review, I thought the L2 could be a great way to keep music storage on just one device.  (FYI, the Lumin app cannot "see" the Roon SSD.)  Plus, I could sell my current "audiophile" switch and its connected OCXO clock and use the L2 switch, with an optical network feed to the X1 and a RJ45 feed to my Roon NUC.  Regrettably, a Lumin rep told me that while the X1 will obviously see the L2 dual-drives via the Lumin app it will not see them when I use Roon.   Of course, I could just use Roon with my streaming service and the Lumin app for both Tidal and connected music.  Decisions, decisions.

 

At any rate, thanks for the excellent review.

 

Michael

[The Computer Audiophile]

3 minutes ago, Flashman said:

Chris,

 

Nice review, thanks.

 

I own a Lumin X1 and use both Roon and the bespoke Lumin app, preferring Roon when I wish to use its music discovery feature and casual listening and the Lumin app when I want the absolute best SQ (there is a difference).  I have music storage on a Synology NAS and on an SSD inside a NUC.  After reading your review, I thought the L2 could be a great way to keep music storage on just one device.  (FYI, the Lumin app cannot "see" the Roon SSD.)  Plus, I could sell my current "audiophile" switch and its connected OCXO clock and use the L2 switch, with an optical network feed to the X1 and a RJ45 feed to my Roon NUC.  Regrettably, a Lumin rep told me that while the X1 will obviously see the L2 dual-drives via the Lumin app it will not see them when I use Roon.   Of course, I could just use Roon with my streaming service and the Lumin app for both Tidal and connected music.  Decisions, decisions.

 

At any rate, thanks for the excellent review.

 

Michael

Hi Michael, I think you are on a good track. The L2 is great. 
 

Technically, Roon can see the L2 drives as SMB shares, just like Roon can see what’s on your NAS. 
 

rereading, I’m not sure I understand the X1 can’t see something if Roon is running?

[Flashman]

4 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Hi Michael, I think you are on a good track. The L2 is great. 
 

Technically, Roon can see the L2 drives as SMB shares, just like Roon can see what’s on your NAS. 
 

rereading, I’m not sure I understand the X1 can’t see something if Roon is running?

A Lumin rep said that if I were running Roon via my X1, the L2 dual-drives would not be accessible.  The rep said, "It requires setting the network drive path correctly.  I doubt using L2 with Roon would be beneficial."  Now that I am re-reading this, I wonder whether the network path can't be set for both Roon and for the Lumin app.  Perhaps that's why the rep said the L2 might not be beneficial running Roon.  But as I indicated, the workaround may be just using Roon for my Tidal streaming service and the Lumin app for both streaming and connected music.  Further investigation needed, I guess!

[Andrewteee]

So does the L2 serve as a transport for the dCS the same way as, say, an Aurender N20 does? It's not listed as a transport on the Lumin website. 

 

My Nucleus+ died and I'm not using Roon at the moment. Wondering if the L2 can be the local audio file storage device for Roon Core on a MacBook, all connected via ethernet to the wifi satellite, including a dCS DAC. 

[stefano_mbp]

3 hours ago, Andrewteee said:

It's not listed as a transport on the Lumin website

It is not a transport, it works like a nas with a upnp mediaserver running on it.

In other words it doesn’t have any player capability.

[TheFlash]

Apologies as I'm not a Lumin user and get a little confused by the model names of A1, L2 and D3...

 

What does your music playback chain look like between your router and DAC please? Something like Router R>cable C>Library L>...? Thanks

 

 

 

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

59 minutes ago, TheFlash said:

Apologies as I'm not a Lumin user and get a little confused by the model names of A1, L2 and D3...

 

What does your music playback chain look like between your router and DAC please? Something like Router R>cable C>Library L>...? Thanks

 

 

 

 

Below is a somewhat recent network diagram for my house. The L2 connects to the HiFi switch. The other Lumin components connect to the L2. 
 

 

 

[wklie]

On 2/16/2024 at 5:11 AM, Flashman said:

the Lumin app cannot "see" the Roon SSD

 

Assuming the Roon SSD is the local music SSD drive in Roon server: To allow both Lumin app and Roon to see/share the library, you need to use Windows (or Mac) instead of ROCK or Nucleus.  Install both Roon Server and MinimServer on Windows.

 

On 2/16/2024 at 5:24 AM, Flashman said:

A Lumin rep said that if I were running Roon via my X1, the L2 dual-drives would not be accessible.  The rep said, "It requires setting the network drive path correctly.

 

I meant it is accessible only after you manually input the L2 SMB network drive path using IP address in Roon:

 

smb://L2.ip.address/public

 

Also reserve the IP address for the L2 in router DHCP reservation table.

 

Note that in Roon architecture for network music drive, music data is sent from the network drive to Roon Server (via network), then to Roon Ready endpoint (via network).

[wklie]

4 hours ago, TheFlash said:

Apologies as I'm not a Lumin user and get a little confused by the model names of A1, L2 and D3...

 

Lumin X1 P1 T3 T2 D3 D2 D1 S1 A1 T1 are streamers with built-in DAC.

Lumin U2 U1 series are streamers without built-in DAC.

 

Lumin L2 is a dual-SSD UPnP library with a network switch, not a streamer.  It supports a network file system.

 

Lumin L1 is a single-drive UPnP library that can act as a USB HDD, not a streamer.  You can only copy files to it via a USB connection from a computer.  Network file system is not supported.

[TheFlash]

5 hours ago, wklie said:

 

Lumin X1 P1 T3 T2 D3 D2 D1 S1 A1 T1 are streamers with built-in DAC.

Lumin U2 U1 series are streamers without built-in DAC.

 

Lumin L2 is a dual-SSD UPnP library with a network switch, not a streamer.  It supports a network file system.

 

Lumin L1 is a single-drive UPnP library that can act as a USB HDD, not a streamer.  You can only copy files to it via a USB connection from a computer.  Network file system is not supported.

Thank you!

[Puma Cat]

On 2/19/2024 at 6:29 PM, wklie said:

 

Lumin X1 P1 T3 T2 D3 D2 D1 S1 A1 T1 are streamers with built-in DAC.

Lumin U2 U1 series are streamers without built-in DAC.

 

Lumin L2 is a dual-SSD UPnP library with a network switch, not a streamer.  It supports a network file system.

 

Lumin L1 is a single-drive UPnP library that can act as a USB HDD, not a streamer.  You can only copy files to it via a USB connection from a computer.  Network file system is not supported.

Just in the interests of accuracy, I'll also add, that in addition to functioning as a streamer with built-in DAC, that the Lumin P1 is also an excellent preamplifier. Honestly, one of the best I've ever heard or used, and uses the LEEDH volume control. It's so good as a preamplifier, as a matter of fact, I'm using it in place of the fully dual-mono First Sound preamplifier I was using prior. 

[Richard D. George]

Lumin L2 vs Aurender ACS100?

[stefano_mbp]

19 minutes ago, Richard D. George said:

Lumin L2 vs Aurender ACS100?

They are very different … Lumïn L2 is just like a dedicated nas

[Flashman]

20 minutes ago, Richard D. George said:

Lumin L2 vs Aurender ACS100?

The Aurender is similar but not the same.  It adds CD ripping but doesn’t offer network switching.  Higher price point, too, but comes standard with storage where one may order the Lumin with installed storage or add your own.  In the end, the Lumin L2 is a quite specific device: do you want to replace your audiophile network switch, check, do you want storage to access your music files via the Lumin app, check, do you want plug ‘n’ play with your existing Lumin device, check.

[Richard D. George]

Aurender ACS100 is around $3,500, not including SSD’s.

 

The entire network systems for A/V in both houses were professionally installed by ListenUp (Denver).  Full remote control with OvrC. 

[Richard D. George]

10 minutes ago, stefano_mbp said:

They are very different … Lumïn L2 is just like a dedicated nas

You might be thinking of the ACS10, not the ACS100.  The ACS100 works like a dedicated NAS.  Not streaming.  The ACS100 is around $3,500 without SSD’s.