Lost my digital mind

erniejade
erniejade Posts: 6,321
in 2 Channel Audio
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My LH labs vi tube dac is still not done. Its been about 3 years now since I joined the campaign, upgraded from the "pulse" to a Vi Infinity, and then to the Vi Tube SE. I received an email asking if I would like the Vi Infinity as a place marker until the tube version is done. Shipping both ways would be covered so I said yes.

Since I was loosing faith in ever receiving it, while looking for a streamer, I ran across the Lumin D1 and Sbooster power supply.
Both arrived on the same day!. Let the battle begin!
Klipsch The Nines, Audioquest Thunderbird Interconnect, Innuos Zen MK3 W4S recovery, Revolution Audio Labs USB & Ethernet, Border Patrol SE-I, Audioquest Niagara 5000 & Thunder, Cullen Crossover II PC's.
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  • erniejade
    erniejade Posts: 6,321
    kazaljvdsye9.jpg
    Klipsch The Nines, Audioquest Thunderbird Interconnect, Innuos Zen MK3 W4S recovery, Revolution Audio Labs USB & Ethernet, Border Patrol SE-I, Audioquest Niagara 5000 & Thunder, Cullen Crossover II PC's.
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  • WagnerRC
    WagnerRC Posts: 2,157
    I like the look. very nice
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  • lightman1
    lightman1 Posts: 10,788
    That Lumin is clean. I like the looks.
    Now get busy and sound off on your findings!
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  • stangman67
    stangman67 Posts: 2,289
    I've heard great things about the lumin! Looking forward to your thoughts
    2 Channel in my home attic/bar/man cave

    2 Channel Focal Kanta 3 I Modwright SWL9.0 Anniversary Pre I Modwright PH9.0X I Modwright KWA-150SE I VPI Prime Signature w/ Soundsmith Zephyr MIMC I Lumin U2 Mini I North Star Designs Intenso DAC I Audience OHNO ICs/Audience Furutech FP-S55N and FP-S032N Power Cables/Acoustic Zen Satori I Isotek Sirius
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  • kharp1
    kharp1 Posts: 3,453
    I know you're a busy guy, so, if you want to ship them out I'll break then in for ya...
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  • erniejade
    erniejade Posts: 6,321
    The Lumin is a lot smaller then it seems in the pics but it is built solid and has a heavy feel to it. It needs more break in time but so far, it has a nice warm sound to it. Much warmer vs my W4s Dac2 and the LH labs Vi. It definitely has a lot of weight to the sound, solid bottom end and the high end is a hair softer vs the other 2 but, not a bad softer. I have had the Dac2 since... I think 2011 or 2012 so my ears are more used to something more analytical on the digital side. The D1 sounds more like my Cayin SCD-50T tube player internal dac but I think even cleaner. So far I am impressed with it. The Lumin app I can up sample anything basically to dsd if I want. It also has XLR output if I want.

    So far the negatives on the Lumin D1:
    1. Wired only, no wifi,
    2. Outside of a usb drive, no other inputs so I would not be able to plug in my cd player to it.
    3. For it to read files / dsd properly, It needs MinimServer. It does see the files on my NAS but it shows the file name but all else says unkownn where Jriver shows all of it ( title, artist, lp name) My Nas is a Western Digital my cloud EX2 running in mirror mode and it does not have an easy way to put this on it. I read some hacks to try to get MinimServer on it but, I have not tried it. QNAP or Synology is what is recommended. For now I am running with a usb drive.
    4. The digital output is BNC. Some might not think the BNC is a negative but, all my other equipment I have had either has Toslink, rca digital or usb. For me to try the digital out, I now need a new cable! Anyone got one for me to use or buy?

    It does sound darn good especially for an all in one dac and streamer. I had a Node2 on loan a little while ago and this is way above that on sound quality but, it's also a bit more money. I think it needs a bit more break in time since I heard it with 0 hours and 24 hours and I heard a difference at the 24 hour mark.


    The vi dac is as big as it looks in the pictures. The sound leans more on the analytical side. Clean sounding, highs are out of this world and actually maybe a bit too much but, that could just be because it needs to finish burning in. There is no manual for it so I had to go online and grab the drivers and manual. The unit has selectable sound fields that are quite useful. So far the TCM (Time Coherence Mode) and FTM (Femto Time Mode) are my faves on it. It has a wide soundstage, and really digs deep to bring out everything. It is too early to tell on this unit because of how big the high end is. I am hopping at the 100 hour mark it might mellow it out. Remember, this VI is only a place marker until the Tube version is built for me that I ordered like 2-3 years ago. I am hopping the Tube version will have more bloom to it.
    Klipsch The Nines, Audioquest Thunderbird Interconnect, Innuos Zen MK3 W4S recovery, Revolution Audio Labs USB & Ethernet, Border Patrol SE-I, Audioquest Niagara 5000 & Thunder, Cullen Crossover II PC's.
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  • tonyb
    tonyb Posts: 32,962
    Congrats Brian...and BTW, you don't need a whole new cable for that BNC connection, just an adapter. Think I have one around here somewhere.
    HT SYSTEM-
    Sony 850c 4k
    Pioneer elite vhx 21
    Sony 4k BRP
    SVS SB-2000
    Polk Sig. 20's
    Polk FX500 surrounds

    Cables-
    Acoustic zen Satori speaker cables
    Acoustic zen Matrix 2 IC's
    Wireworld eclipse 7 ic's
    Audio metallurgy ga-o digital cable

    Kitchen

    Sonos zp90
    Grant Fidelity tube dac
    B&k 1420
    lsi 9's
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  • erniejade
    erniejade Posts: 6,321
    Humm I never thought about an adapter. Actually I didn't know they made one! That would save me $$ and keep it fair on comparisons since it would be on a cable I already know.

    Klipsch The Nines, Audioquest Thunderbird Interconnect, Innuos Zen MK3 W4S recovery, Revolution Audio Labs USB & Ethernet, Border Patrol SE-I, Audioquest Niagara 5000 & Thunder, Cullen Crossover II PC's.
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  • EndersShadow
    EndersShadow Posts: 17,590
    @erniejade

    I've got a black cat veloce I'm not using right now I could let you borrow and potentially buy...

    Its a nice cable that I may want to keep just as a failsafe for when I'm switching gear around....
    "....not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." William Bruce Cameron, Informal Sociology: A Casual Introduction to Sociological Thinking (1963)
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  • pitdogg2
    pitdogg2 Posts: 25,441
    erniejade wrote: »
    Humm I never thought about an adapter. Actually I didn't know they made one! That would save me $$ and keep it fair on comparisons since it would be on a cable I already know.

    BNC to RCA baby....I got mine when I bought some AR master series cables.
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  • erniejade
    erniejade Posts: 6,321
    My curiosity got the best of me. Always wanted to try out a Cullen and they were reasonable enough on the $ so it's ordered!

    Since this has a little bit more time to bun in, the Lumin D1 has opened up quite nicely.

    I found this positive-feedback.com/reviews/hardware-reviews/lumin-d1-audiophile-network-music-player/

    I agree a lot with him on the sound after the sbooster power supply was put in.
    Klipsch The Nines, Audioquest Thunderbird Interconnect, Innuos Zen MK3 W4S recovery, Revolution Audio Labs USB & Ethernet, Border Patrol SE-I, Audioquest Niagara 5000 & Thunder, Cullen Crossover II PC's.
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