Article: Lumin L2 Music Library & Network Switch Review

[The Computer Audiophile]

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[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. 

[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).

[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?

[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.