First Lumin, First Post

D

Dom_P

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Apr 25, 2015
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4
Well after lurking for a few weeks it's high time I post a message.

After reading all the positive comments here I decided to PM Mike about buying an A1. Little did I realize it was the same Mike that had helped me decide on my Mcintosh amps a couple years ago on a different forum, so feeling a bit more comfortable, I pulled the trigger.

The A1 arrived today and after some careful unpacking, some rewiring, and a few firmware upgrades, I'm sitting here quite impressed.

For the past couple of years I've been streaming to my Oppo 105, but this is an entirely different experience. First off, as Mike noted when I ordered it, it simply sounds analog. Or maybe I'll just say it sounds completely transparent. Most impressive to me are female vocals and strings. I'm listening to Stevie Nicks right now singing Songbird (Rumours) that I downloaded from HDTracks in 96 kHz/24 bit FLAC. Never heard all that detail from my SACDs via the Oppo. In addition, it's ease of use right out of the box is amazing. The iPad app is fantastic, and the Tidal integration is seamless.

It's only been an hour or so of listening to some DSDs, hi res FLACs, and a bit of Tidal streaming, but I can say the A1 takes my system to a completely new level. I've been debating buying an Esoteric K03x to spin my CDs/SACDs and use as a DAC but that's officially off the table now. I've decided I'm going to rip all my SACDs to DSD and listen via the A1 instead. The Oppo is officially retired to home theater duty to spin blurays and stream video (great device, but it can't compete with this)

I'm looking forward to it breaking in the A1 over the coming weeks.

Mike, thanks again for the great advice, you haven't steared me wrong yet :tup:
 
Lumin is great product and what I like about Mike is he carries the line he believes in it and he is truly music lover. [emoji106]

Welcome to AS.
 
Congrats & welcome Dom..


Paul said:
Lumin is great product and what I like about Mike is he carries the line he believes in it and he is truly music lover. [emoji106]

Welcome to AS.
Click to expand...

Couldn't agree with you more, Paul..
 
Thanks for the warm welcome guys.

Playing some Diana Krall on the A1 via Tidal now. This little hunk of aluminum does an amazing job of reproducing her velvet voice and for that matter every little inhale of breath she takes.

I wouldn't have ever thought streaming off the Internet could sound this good. I suppose it caches much (if not all) of the song before it plays, but either way even playback off the Internet is exceptional.

And then there's local DSD playback off my NAS. That's a different thing altogether... In a single word... Special.

Sorry to carry on, but it's not often that a piece of gear lives up to the hype. And for that matter is so easy to setup and use.

Now let's hope single rate DSD doesn't become a thing of the past too fast ;)
 
Congrats Dom on your new L A1. Welcome to the Lumin owners club!

Also, welcome to AS! :hi:
 
Thought I'd post a small update about the A1 (kind of).

As I mentioned earlier I was debating buying a K03 before the purchase of the A1 to spin my SACDs. Well looking at the hundred or so I had on the shelf really started to bug me. I simply didn't feel anymore that I was extracting their full potential after hearing DSD on the A1.

So I bought an old PS3 on eBay and have started ripping them all. I was right, playback of the DSD file rips from the SACDs sound so much better on the A1. And I don't have to fight those horrible SACD cases anymore :)

Very happy Lumin owner here :yahoo1:
 
Dom - that's excellent news! You sure are adventurous with the SACD's. That's terrific news about the Lumin. It sure is a great piece. I love mine and have for over 2 years.
 
MtnHam said:
Over on WBF there is a multi page discussion- "Let's Get A Consensus Of The Best DAC's In The Market Today"- where many of "the best" seem to $80K or more. Granted the Lumin is not just a DAC, but is the SQ so much better than a Lumin that it's even remotely worth it?
Click to expand...

Definitely not and they may not be as good. I know On Li has a DCS stack that he uses to compare the Lumin's against. The best DSD I've heard is the Lampi. The best PCM I've heard is the Berkley Reference DAC (although the Lampi is close with proper tube rolling), the best of both with the most convenience, great app and now Tidal integration is the Lumin. Lumin A1 is warm, S1 is sweet. Pick your flavor. [emoji106][emoji106]
 
Mike said:
Definitely not and they may not be as good. I know On Li has a DCS stack that he uses to compare the Lumin's against. The best DSD I've heard is the Lampi. The best PCM I've heard is the Berkley Reference DAC (although the Lampi is close with proper tube rolling), the best of both with the most convenience, great app and now Tidal integration is the Lumin. Lumin A1 is warm, S1 is sweet. Pick your flavor. [emoji106][emoji106]
Click to expand...

Mike, how would you rate the A1 (out of 10) for PCM and DSD?
 
http://audioshark.org/lampizator-186/lampizator-big-7-review-7213.html#.VWXMOZN3kkg (see scoring chart at the bottom)

Lumin S1
Native PCM: 9/10
PCM Upsampled to DSD: 9.5/10
Native DSD: 9/10
Convenience/Ease of Use: 9/10
Overall Score: 9/10

My feelings don't change for the A1. The A1 is still my baby. :) It's what made me fall in love with Lumin. It has such an full, warm, analog sound. Whether someone choses the A1 or S1 is completely system dependent. I've heard the A1 outperform the S1 in some systems, in others, it was the reverse. For example, on my Focal's, I prefer the A1. On the Raidho D3's, I preferred the S1. On the Alexia's, I preferred the S1. On the Strads, I prefer the A1.
 
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