Lumin, Leedh’ing the way

Upgraded the iOS app. L/R balance controls are there. X1 just went up a notch on creature comfort capabilities. Thanks Lumin team!
 
Nice feature. Will come in handy for those times the dog decides to take over the sweet spot.

Thanks Lumin, for continuing to improve your product.
 
So the balance control is only available on units with ESS DAC's?
Not available on units like the U2 mini even though they have Leedh volume processing capability?
 
jadedavid said:
So the balance control is only available on units with ESS DAC's?
Not available on units like the U2 mini even though they have Leedh volume processing capability?
Click to expand...

Balance control is only available on X1 P1 T2 S1, and only when using the analog output.
 
After reading a bit on the LEEHD feature I decided to try running my D2 (balanced) directly into my Benchmark AHB2 amp. Although I'm only a couple album listens in, it sounds very promising. I just want to clarify my settings as the best way to use it. In settings on the app, I have the volume at 100%, and use the red circle to adjust volume while listening. The indicator in the red circle is anywhere from 45 to 65, depending on how hot the recording is. Is this the optimum way to use it? Thanks.
 
timindy said:
After reading a bit on the LEEHD feature I decided to try running my D2 (balanced) directly into my Benchmark AHB2 amp. Although I'm only a couple album listens in, it sounds very promising. I just want to clarify my settings as the best way to use it. In settings on the app, I have the volume at 100%, and use the red circle to adjust volume while listening. The indicator in the red circle is anywhere from 45 to 65, depending on how hot the recording is. Is this the optimum way to use it? Thanks.
Click to expand...

It's completely up to you.
You could also set the max volume to 65 (or 70 to give you a little headroom) and then use the circle to go up to 100%. This gives you slightly more granularity of control.
The sound quality is the same either way, but this way limits the volume to protect your speakers and then gives you 1-100% control up to that limit.

(The main volume control will still allow 100 positions of adjustment, but now the actual volume = main volume × Max Volume %. For example: if the Main Volume is 80, but the Max Volume % is 70, then the actual volume is 80 × 70% = 56.)
 
thingswelike said:
It's completely up to you.
You could also set the max volume to 65 (or 70 to give you a little headroom) and then use the circle to go up to 100%. This gives you slightly more granularity of control.
The sound quality is the same either way, but this way limits the volume to protect your speakers and then gives you 1-100% control up to that limit.

(The main volume control will still allow 100 positions of adjustment, but now the actual volume = main volume × Max Volume %. For example: if the Main Volume is 80, but the Max Volume % is 70, then the actual volume is 80 × 70% = 56.)
Click to expand...

Thanks, quicker than I expected a reply. I guess I'll experiment a bit.
 
Peter,

I recently purchased the Lumin remote for my T2. I find the volume up down on the remote very slow. Is there any way to change this?

A few suggestions for updates- Make the volume NUMBER display as large as possible on the Lumin screen. It is almost impossible to read the numbers from a 9-10 foot seating position. Maybe make the numbers as large as the VOL or just delete VOL since everyone knows what the numbers mean and just use the largest numbers possible. Also, if allowable make volume show up on the Lumin display when controlling via Roon or Tidal apps not just the Lumin remote.
 
The remote volume button repeat rate is tuned in a way so that it'd be safe. We don't want the button being held accidentally to quickly cause potential harm to the speakers.
 
After a couple weeks listening to the D2 straight into the amp, I'm convinced the volume control is transparent to the music. Yesterday I hooked the D2 back into my preamp and can't hear any difference. Using the remote on the pre is a tad more convenient, but not sure I couldn't get used to the control via ipad.
 
This is one of the most in-depth comparison of ESS DAC chip volume against Lumin enhanced implementation of Leedh Processing Volume to analog output.

In The Absolute Sound issue 330 (Sept 2022) review of Lumin P1:

It is easy to turn Leedh on and off in the app to compare it to a conventional digital-domain volume control, as well as to no volume control. When the volume is set at “100” or the output level is set to “fixed,” both Leedh and the conventional volume controls are bypassed.

When I applied 30dB of attenuation with the conventional volume control, an entire level of low-level detail was shaved off. There was simply less musical information there, from quiet sounds at the back of the mix to the inner detail of instrumental timbre. Percussion instruments sounded like nothing more than transient clicks, the mechanism by which the sound was created was lost. On Norah Jones’ debut album, her voice was harder and a bit coarse with the conventional volume control, and was overlaid with a roughness and stridency, particularly on louder passage in the higher end of her register. When I switched to the same amount of attenuation with Leedh, the sound became more liquid and refined overall, with the low-level detail restored. The bite on the leading edge of the guitar was gone, replaced by a more natural rendering of the instrument’s attacks and dynamics. With Leedh, Jones’ voice became more immediate and palpable, with a human quality missing from the mechanical rendering I heard with conventional digital-domain attenuation. Finally, unlike the conventional volume control that flattened the soundstage and reduced the sense of air, Leedh maintained the presentation’s three-dimensionality and bloom.

I then compared 30dB of Leedh attenuation with no attenuation by making up the volume difference with the CH Precision L10 preamplifier. To my surprise, I heard no degradation with Leedh; the two presentations sounded identical (the L10 was in the signal path for both presentations). It was clearly obvious that this amount of attenuation in a conventional digital volume control was a non-starter sonically, and that Leedh is sonically “lossless,” as the company claims. This is, to say the least, a significant achievement.
Click to expand...
 
Quick question and perhaps directly to Peter. Currently I am feeding the Lumin X1 directly into the Westminsterlab Rei and using Leedh for volume control. The geometry of my room is creating a boom at the lower frequencies and I am thinking of introducing an active crossover (Bryston 10B-Sub) in between the X1 and the Rei. I am wondering if this is even possible to do and also concerned if there is any risk involved? If anyone else has been using an active crossover before the amp and can advise accordingly then I will be very grateful. I am not thinking of adding a pre-amp.
 
Arif said:
I am thinking of introducing an active crossover (Bryston 10B-Sub) in between the X1 and the Rei. I am wondering if this is even possible to do and also concerned if there is any risk involved?
Click to expand...

That's generally how the 10B-Sub would be inserted into the chain: after volume control and before your subwoofer(s) and stereo amplifier. I've set it up this way before. The input impedance on the Rei is listed at a healthy 200 kOhm. The 10B input impedance is stated as 20 kOhm but was measured higher by Stereophile, and is an active input stage so I expect it will be a flat input impedance and fine with the X1's output transformers.
 
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