lightmentat
New member
- Thread Author
- #1
I have had the Luxman D10x for a few months. The DAC is better than my previous DACs but I felt the performance never matched its reviews and more importantly it couldn't hold a flame to my comparatively lowly Rega Planar 8 TT and Soundsmith Paua II cartridge. 80% of my listening is jazz. I generally try to get audiophile vinyl pressings and accompanying CD/SACD that was mastered by the same engineer (so Analogue Productions pressing and corresponding SACD). For months whenever I compared digital to corresponding vinyl, turntable always came out noticeably ahead.
Typically, I only played mofi SACDs in the unit and for redbook, I would rip CD to my Aurender A10 streamer and then stream from Aurender HDD into Luxman via USB. I only listen to the redbook layer of AP SACDS because quite frankly the DSD layers of their SACDs sound flat and lifeless to me (almost like the DSD layer is a flat tape transfer without any EQ to liven up signal).
So the HDD on my Aurender A10 stopped working for a couple of days and I started listening to CDs on the Luxman rather than streaming. That’s when I noticed how much better CDs sounded vs streaming from HDD, so I started looking at my streaming chain as the weak point. I got a digital converter (Singxer SU-6) to reclock and convert USB signal to coaxial. I cannot overstate how much the Singxer improved the signal; streaming is now close to parity if on not on par with playing physical media.
Things have gotten so much better that my digital now sounds better than many of my vinyl records and I'm pondering if I should go all digital.
But what I need to figure out is where the USB weakness is coming from, is it from my streamer or the Luxman. I am hoping that some other D10x owners can comment on their experience streaming via USB. As much as I like what the Singxer is doing, it can only output via spdif or I2S; and since Luxman doesn’t have I2S, I can only use spdif which can’t handle DSD on the Luxman. I also note that the Aurender A10 doesn't have spdif out, only USB.
Typically, I only played mofi SACDs in the unit and for redbook, I would rip CD to my Aurender A10 streamer and then stream from Aurender HDD into Luxman via USB. I only listen to the redbook layer of AP SACDS because quite frankly the DSD layers of their SACDs sound flat and lifeless to me (almost like the DSD layer is a flat tape transfer without any EQ to liven up signal).
So the HDD on my Aurender A10 stopped working for a couple of days and I started listening to CDs on the Luxman rather than streaming. That’s when I noticed how much better CDs sounded vs streaming from HDD, so I started looking at my streaming chain as the weak point. I got a digital converter (Singxer SU-6) to reclock and convert USB signal to coaxial. I cannot overstate how much the Singxer improved the signal; streaming is now close to parity if on not on par with playing physical media.
Things have gotten so much better that my digital now sounds better than many of my vinyl records and I'm pondering if I should go all digital.
But what I need to figure out is where the USB weakness is coming from, is it from my streamer or the Luxman. I am hoping that some other D10x owners can comment on their experience streaming via USB. As much as I like what the Singxer is doing, it can only output via spdif or I2S; and since Luxman doesn’t have I2S, I can only use spdif which can’t handle DSD on the Luxman. I also note that the Aurender A10 doesn't have spdif out, only USB.