Lumin Network Audiophile Music Player

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Originally Posted by ThierryNK
Agree with your comments about price evolution and competitors.
Motives? Make business and money?
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PSME: I guess the flaw is on us by giving a wrong impression during the introductory period! I think I already explained this but anyway.

The original introductory price $4k (including worldwide express shipping) was for the brave soul, who wants the feature and can take the risk. We were almost giving out the LUMIN for free, from our point of view! Believe it or not, LUMIN production cost is high, very high!

Our planned regular price is $6k. It was ALOT cheaper than our competitors, and we believe LUMIN has better feature with better sound quality.

Then we quickly found out this is NOT the way hi-fi dealer does business! The dealer/distributor needs a much bigger margin than we thought, otherwise they simply won't sell our product. For each LUMIN sales, for them, it's a lose sale of another brand/product, which has much bigger margin than LUMIN!

Our dealers told us, judging from sound quality alone, they can sell LUMIN at any price, just NOT the price we thought! From dealer point of view, I guess a high margin is somewhat justify. High-end audiophile product is not like regular consumer electronic device. A dealer may sell only a few units per month. Dealer needs to manage their shop(s), do local promotion, after service etc.

So we have 3 choices:
- manufacture LUMIN ALOT cheaper (which is impossible!)
- forget dealership and do online direct sales
- accept dealers feedback

I guess time will tell if LUMIN can be a successful business!

Now let's tell about "worth" it, or not...

Last weekend I visited a friend to listen to his latest setup. He just bought a Jadis SE300 mono, together with his FM Acoustic 411 power-amp and FM Acoustic Crossover, driving a pair of Kharma Exquisite Midi. The 300B drives the top and FM 211 drives the bottom. Pre-amp is a Music First Audio pressive.

Source is LUMIN. The setup sounds beautiful! Last time the friend had a Esoteric K-03 SACD player. And the same DSD file ripped from a SACD sounds better via LUMIN than K-03 playing the SACD. The friend sold the K-03, and got a K-01 ($20k listed) this time. So, before the party ends, we played a few tracks of the demo SACD from this year Hong Kong AV Show on the K-01. Very very nice sound we thought. Then switch toLUMIN and play the same ripped DSD tracks. It was SO MUCH BETTER! Me and my friends were expecting a close call. But LUMIN gave a slam dunk! My friend had to agree he couldn't really use the K-01 for serious listening! He won't sell it yet because he still want a real player, just in case!
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Some will call me bullshit! And many simply won't care any device at >$3k. But the fact is, I believe mostLUMIN users are happy with their purchase!
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I have spoken with Lumin. For Audioshark.org members only, if we have an order of 5 or more, they will provide "special" pricing. Final pricing depends on the actual number interested.

If anyone is interested, PM me and I will see what the final numbers look like. I will then PM the final pricing to each of you and you all can decide. They accept Paypal.

And no....I'm not making a penny on this. I've just had many people PM me about this wonderful Streamer expressing interest, so I thought I would ask the manufacturer. :)

Another benefit to swimming with the Sharks! :)
 
Wow, this could be sweet deal!

Mike, have you tried any DSD files yet, or just redbook CDs thus far?
 
I've tried all files. Love high res on it. DSD vs Meitner = more of the original recording being heard with the Lumin.

Still listening and breaking in. Lumin says 150-200 hours for full break in.
 
LoL

I love it...GROUP buy.

Mike just hold off a few more weeks till Vegas...just to make sure. LoL
 
veindoc said:
so u feel MA-1 dac side by side was inferior to Lumins internal dac? very surprising. Did u blind yourself to playback?
Nick
Click to expand...

Still testing and blind switching. Inferior is a tough word. I prefer the balanced, analog sounding Lumin over the more digital sounding MA-1. So far.

I will do a full review in the coming weeks. I'm busy switching and testing formats now. The upscaling of CD rips to DSD is fun and sounds quite good on the Lumin.
 
did you download files from caps or vortexbox onto lumen or just rip new cd onto lumen? Does lumen come with remote or uses ipad app? Sanjay thought lumen was sweet sounding perhaps a little less resolving than Meitner. Not sure if he evaluated both pcm and dsd.
Nick
 
Nick - the Lumin is a network music player, not a DAC. You rip CD's to your NAS. You download high res to your NAS. The NAS connects to your router. Your Lumin connects to your router too. You then use the ipad to control the Lumin. Works like a charm.

Sanjay wrote a great summary of the Lumin:

"I will do my best to give a balanced opinion on the Lumin Music Server, since obviously we carry the line. Sonically, you will either love it or find it decent. This depends on what you are after. Highly resolving DACs like the Meitner MA1, EMM Labs DAC2X, Berkeley Alpha DAC2, Bricasti M1, MSB Diamond Stack, Weiss Medus, Viola Crescendo, etc. are about resolution and detail. All have different flavors, but their goal is to reproduce sound with exquisite accuracy, holographic imaging, superb sound staging, micro transient detail and a very low noise floor. They mostly get out of the way, like a good passive preamp, and report what's on the recording. As we all know, the best recordings sound magical with these DACs. The other crap recordings that represent 80% or more of what is commercially produced sound, well, weak!


The Lumin offers a smooth, liquid sound. It is something you just listen. Music sounds great, and your mind lets go and focuses on the music, instead of the equipment. With the more detailed DACs, you are probably more likely to listen to how resolving the equipment is, and if you want to hear lesser recordings with these DACs, you may search for a tube preamp or other harmonic-producing devices to fatten and sweeten up the sound.


Using the Lumin with its own DAC, in my opinion, is like adding some tube saturation into the chain. It takes the edge off and makes digital music very listenable. If you like hyper resolution, the Lumin's on board DAC probably isn't for you. But if you like a nice sound, it's a great device...."
 
Nick...it does have an on-board DAC. So it sounds like the way things are going, Mike will be buying the Lumin and ditching the Meitner.
 
maybe the option exists to bypass internal dac. Frankly I like the idea Cyril of cutting down on the # of boxes of equipment as long as it doesn't mess up the quality of reproduction.
Nick
 
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