Lumin D2 or T2 which is preferred?

Darrel

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Auburn, Washington USA
I've been using a HT/PC from my old system for streaming Roon/Tial/Qobuz using a usb to my NAD M12 preamp. It's a windows 10 pro intel i7 computer. But, it is time to move up to a dedicated server. Most all of my listening in my system is steaming. I have a Oppo 205 player for cd play back. And a ssd drive with my cd collection converted to flac connected to the Oppo.

I've been doing a lot of reading here about the Lumin product and I think it looks like it will fill my needs unless someone has a better suggestion. I guess my question at this time is what are the main differenced of the D2 and the T2 other than price? I've read the T2 sounds better. How much? And is it worth jumping to the T2 over the D2? I plan on getting the GigaFoil/Keces combo and upgraded ethernet cable (not sure which on at this time).

Any ideas or help would be appreciated.
 
T2 all the way! You can use its USB as an input and output and it sounds really close to the S1.


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Thanks Mike for jumping in. The usb connection caught my eye as to a cleaner connection of sorts. Less being better. Assuming you have a clean signal to begin with.
 
Not sure why anyone would choose a USB connection over Ethernet.

True true, but the USB on the T2 can be used with an external DAC or an external hard drive. Versatility and Sonics. Scary how good the T2 is. It nips at the heels of its big Brothers.


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To clarify:
- All Lumin players / transports USB port can be used to connect to a storage device (e.g. flash drive)
- Lumin T2 and X1 USB port can also optionally be used to output USB audio to an external DAC - this feature is missing from D2 and older Lumin products
- None of the current Lumin product can accept USB audio from a source (e.g. a computer)
 
Note that the M12 converts analog input signals to digital, then goes through its own DAC to output again.
 
Note that the M12 converts analog input signals to digital, then goes through its own DAC to output again.

So, will I be losing the benefits of the T2 because the M12 just puts the sound back to its sonic signature?
 
So, will I be losing the benefits of the T2 because the M12 just puts the sound back to its sonic signature?
Running music through another ADC and DAC does not mean you will have lost the sound character of the original analog signal. After all, an ADC is exactly what happens when someone records music today and you are still hearing the original music. The quality of the additional ADC and DAC will matter.

Regardless it's still best to consider any audio product as a whole—even if you didn't know this was happening, you would still evaluate the M12 in your setup the same way.
 
To clarify:
- All Lumin players / transports USB port can be used to connect to a storage device (e.g. flash drive)
- Lumin T2 and X1 USB port can also optionally be used to output USB audio to an external DAC - this feature is missing from D2 and older Lumin products
I had a question on the u1 mini. Can one of the usb ports be used to connect an external storage device like a HDD and the other used to output usb to an external dac. I read the specs. and that's what is seems to indicate but I wanted to confirm.
Cheers,
Sid
 
I had a question on the u1 mini. Can one of the usb ports be used to connect an external storage device like a HDD and the other used to output usb to an external dac. I read the specs. and that's what is seems to indicate but I wanted to confirm

Yes, BUT above a certain rate (e.g. 192kHz or DSD64) in some setup it may not work as well due to USB contention and USB storage speed issues. Playback of high sample rate is best done with a network library of MinimServer or Lumin L1.
 
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