Thread: PC using Roon vs Lumin transport

I have a Lumin U1 Mini. And I mostly use Roon

I just discovered that when I plug my PC in USB mode directly to my USB DAC using my licenced DAC driver. I have much more abilities enabled: I can use my DAC with PCM 768k as well as DSD 512

Sound is very good too

So I am wondering if it is not simply better to use directly my PC instead of the Lumin...

What are the advantages of using Lumin transport in usb mode connected to a DAC instead of a PC???
I begin to worry about my investment ..........

Originally Posted by skbe

I have a Lumin U1 Mini. And I mostly use Roon

I just discovered that when I plug my PC in USB mode directly to my USB DAC using my licenced DAC driver. I have much more abilities enabled: I can use my DAC with PCM 768k as well as DSD 512

Sound is very good too

So I am wondering if it is not simply better to use directly my PC instead of the Lumin...

What are the advantages of using Lumin transport in usb mode connected to a DAC instead of a PC???
I begin to worry about my investment ..........

If you are using Tidal with MQA-encoded recordings, Lumin can do full MQA-decoding. But Roon can only do partial MQA decoding. So to take full advantage of MQA, you need the Lumin.

Likewise, if you use Spotify as your music service, Roon and Spotify do not work well together. advantage Lumin.

But if you are using Qobuz, ripped CDs from your library, or music downloads, then you can use Roon and your PC to upsample and convert to DSD to higher resolutions. Advantage PC with Roon.

Thanks. I tend to agree with you. And this is sad because I spent 2kEUR in my Lumin last year (before I know that I will be a Roon user)

I don't really care about MQA, my DAC is not MQA capable anyway (Lumin transport is set to not handle MQA as first unfolds are done by Roon). I never listen to Spotify in my headphones

I once had a streamer that I was using similarly to the way that you using the Lumin. I decided to connect the PC directly to the DAC (my DAC could also handle very high resolution PCM and DSD). I soon realized that I was not using my streamer at all and sold it. I put the money into a Roon lifetime subscription. It was worth the investment.

I agree. But I don’t feel great to have made lot of investment before doing research ...

I spent hours of reading about this.
Bits from my PC are the same the bits sent by the U1 Mini to my USB DAC. However, my PC is able to send higher bitrate. Indeed, my best config right now is to send 32b 768k to the DAC and let the DAC upsample to DSD.

But some people can argue that the Lumin U1 Mini will send less noise in the USB (this noise will not change the bits of course) but can spread into the analog components of my DAC.

However I was always using an Audioquest Coffee USB cable with a noise stopper in it. So maybe it is my cable preventing the noise of my PC to go deep inside my DAC.

And this tends to confirm what I heard: more enjoyable sound using my PC - the upsamping gives some sense of space in my point of view.
Is something wrong in my approach?

Hey. Thanks for sharing
What computer do you use as a Roon endpoint?
You use Roon bridge or the whole Roon player?

Originally Posted by aKnyght

i am using a diy computer -- here is a thread that describes it. it runs roon ROCK which is their lightweight operating system that runs the whole roon player. however, i could install windows on it and run roon that way if i ever wanted.

almost any computer that runs roon is fine provided it has enough compute power to do the things you want -- like DSD 512.

there are also many companies selling purpose built audiophile computers that run roon such as small green computer or even roon itself who make the roon nucleus.

the secret to good sound quality is to minimize the electrical noise carried along with the digital signal. that is probably why you get better results connecting your PC directly to your DAC rather than sending it over the network and through routers, switches, etc. to the lumin. i don't think there is anything wrong with the lumin -- its a great streamer but would probably benefit greatly from a cleaner signal.

Nothing wrong except it does not read 32b in my system with a 32b capable DAC....
I will go to the end of this

Originally Posted by skbe

Nothing wrong except it does not read 32b in my system with a 32b capable DAC....
I will go to the end of this

In case that it makes you feel better, 32 bit audio is used by recording engineers in the recording process. But then they downsample it to 24 bits or 16 bits when releasing the material. So more than likely, all those extra 8 bits have no extra information.

Originally Posted by nicoff

In case that it makes you feel better, 32 bit audio is used by recording engineers in the recording process. But then they downsample it to 24 bits or 16 bits when releasing the material. So more than likely, all those extra 8 bits have no extra information.

Thank you nicoff
Just to make clear, this is not a thread about SQ. I am sure I will not find any difference in SQ coming from these 8 bits.
My point is that I would like to know if the Lumin U1 Mini reads 32b like it is said it does, that's all.

If the answer is yes, I would like to get this fixed in order to not have the anomaly between the different displays.

Lumin is better than a computer, just did some tests in the last weeks.