Lumin S-1 Golden Ear List
- Thread starter Ritmo
- Start date
Odyssey
Member
From the TAS award blurb:
The S1 has four ESS Sabre 32 Reference DAC chips (16 DAC's per channel in parallel).
How do four Sabre chips translate into 16 DAC's per channel? I think that many DAC's per channel is up there with what the best DAC manufacturers such as MSB do with their flagship units. I would like to understand this because this is above my pay grade.
BTW, Mike allowed me to home demo the S1. I couldn't believe how good it sounded in my system! This was almost two years ago now. I ultimately decided to go with the Lumin U1 because I was afraid the DAC inside the S1 would become obsolete. Looks like my fears were misplaced.
Another curiosity about the Lumin, using the Lumin L1 storage device seemed to yield better sound quality than pulling music from my own NAS. Still scratching my head over that one.
The S1 has four ESS Sabre 32 Reference DAC chips (16 DAC's per channel in parallel).
How do four Sabre chips translate into 16 DAC's per channel? I think that many DAC's per channel is up there with what the best DAC manufacturers such as MSB do with their flagship units. I would like to understand this because this is above my pay grade.
BTW, Mike allowed me to home demo the S1. I couldn't believe how good it sounded in my system! This was almost two years ago now. I ultimately decided to go with the Lumin U1 because I was afraid the DAC inside the S1 would become obsolete. Looks like my fears were misplaced.
Another curiosity about the Lumin, using the Lumin L1 storage device seemed to yield better sound quality than pulling music from my own NAS. Still scratching my head over that one.
jdandy
New member
Le Roy.......The Lumin S1 uses a total of four ESS ES9018 Sabre 32 Reference DACs, two per channel. Each ES9018 DAC chip is an eight channel DAC, so two of them per channel in the Lumin S1 allows for 16 DAC's per channel in parallel.
As for obsolescence, the ESS ES9018 DAC has remained at the top of the DAC chip food chain for many years, although recently ESS has introduced their newest DAC, the ES9038 Pro Sabre 32 Reference DAC. It is also an eight channel DAC with an incredible 140dB signal to noise ratio and an onboard reference 100Mhz Crystek oscillator which further reduces jitter. The ESS ES9038 Pro DAC is beginning to appear in some manufacturer's DAC's. Despite that fact, the ESS ES9018 DAC is a premium level performer that is widely used today by many high-end audio companies.
still-one
Active member
Has anyone compared the S1's analog out (using its own DAC) and passing the S!'s digital out to your DAC of choice?
I have. I used a TaraLabs BNC cable and had a BNC to RCA adapter. If you're going this route, the Lumin U1 may make more sense.
Sonically, the S1 is balanced top to bottom. It has a slightly sweet sound, but overall very neutral and uncolored. If grew up in the CD/digital era or if you like the sound of CD's and high res digital files, buy this one.
The A1 meaty, full, rich sounding. Bass is not as tight as with S1. The A1 most reminds me of my R2R/TT. If you like the sound of R2R's and vinyl, but this one.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
still-one
Active member
Mike
Which of your Dac's did you connect to the S1 and how did it compare to the S1's own DAC? I understand that not everyone will come up with the same results.
Which of your Dac's did you connect to the S1 and how did it compare to the S1's own DAC? I understand that not everyone will come up with the same results.
The S1 is good, but to be honest, I think SS DAC's like the Berk REF2 MQA, Chord DAVE, Esoteric Grandioso K1 and PS Audio DS surpass it sonically. But you're talking much more expensive. Jim, I honestly think the Lumin U1 with Berk REF2 MQA would be to your liking. With the U1 you can run it as a Roon endpoint, it fully decodes MQA and with the Berk REF2 MQA, you get superb PCM and MQA reproduction.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Reflecting on this a little, I think the only way to make a leap above the S1 is the U1/BERK REF2 MQA combo. The others are different than the S1, but better?
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
still-one
Active member
Mike
Thanks for your thoughts. I will read up more on that combo.
Thanks for your thoughts. I will read up more on that combo.
For the chip comment on becoming obsolete, 1st, the same chip doesn't sound the same from different manufacturers. Other things contribute to the sound. Just because a company releases a new chip doesn't mean better sound. I have a friend that has an older Cary Xciter and it sounds wonderful.
2nd, I was also worried about the same thing before I took the plunge on the D1. Granted the subject is on a product that is higher end vs the d1 however, Lumin has eased my mind by adding higher dsd and MQA. I feel they are doing a great job of trying to make their products not obsolete before you can get some good use out of them.
2nd, I was also worried about the same thing before I took the plunge on the D1. Granted the subject is on a product that is higher end vs the d1 however, Lumin has eased my mind by adding higher dsd and MQA. I feel they are doing a great job of trying to make their products not obsolete before you can get some good use out of them.
Jim - if you want a one box solution, you can't go wrong with the S1. It has "statement" sound. I prefer the A1, but I prefer more analog sounds.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
BlueFox
New member
That would be quite a price difference, at least for me, since the cost of the additional power cord and digital IC would be another $5K or so. Add $20K for the DAC, which requires an external PC to do DSD, and you have quite a handful. Being a cheap SOB, I will stay with the S1.
still-one
Active member
I think you mentioned those differences when I stopped in February.
That would be quite a price difference, at least for me, since the cost of the additional power cord and digital IC would be another $5K or so. Add $20K for the DAC, which requires an external PC to do DSD, and you have quite a handful. Being a cheap SOB, I will stay with the S1.
You're not suffering! [emoji41]
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
In a Lumin U1 + Berkeley REF2 setup, Lumin U1 is able to convert DSD to PCM 176.4kHz for AES output to REF2.
BlueFox
New member
That is great. Just the idea of needing a PC for DSD with the Berkeley grated me the wrong way when this DAC came out.
Even though L1 was first and foremost a device that is simple to use without the complexity of NAS, there is improved SQ from L1 due to:
- Fanless
- Dedicated hardware with low electrical noise (that traverses from NAS to player that affects the analog circuit, but still Ethernet is much much better than USB in this respect)
- Dedicated software without unnecessary processes not related to serving music (Audiophile Optimizer tries to achieve the same goal on Windows, which has hundreds of threads running), which in turn helps the above
The CPU in L1 is a newer and more efficient (i.e. lower power consumption and lower noise) version of the one used in an audiophile-grade NAS streamer that costs 7 times the price of L1.
I've always felt the "secret" sauce in the Lumin S1 is its internal I2S connection between its internal U1 music server and DAC. This digital connection is superior in my opinion to most external digital connections between music server and DAC such as USB, S/PDIF and AES/EBU.
Ken
Ken
the professor
Well-known member
I love the L1. I don't understand it but it does sound better than anything else I've tried.