Lumin S1 or A1 vs Chord DAVE + Lumin U1 : Has anyone tested

[Zaheer]

Hello folks
As I say to my house officers : never look at the menu of the restaurant , otherwise , you'll finish Inside for a meal
I have been using the U1 for some time now , and it really is a great product
However , I'm just asking myself the question about the Lumin S1 or the A1
Since I cannot test the products , I'm looking for your input
Cheers

 

[Mike]

Hello folks
As I say to my house officers : never look at the menu of the restaurant , otherwise , you'll finish Inside for a meal
I have been using the U1 for some time now , and it really is a great product
However , I'm just asking myself the question about the Lumin S1 or the A1
Since I cannot test the products , I'm looking for your input
Cheers

What's the rest of your system?

 

[Zaheer]

hello Mike
Source : lumin U1 + Melco N1A (AES to DAVE) , Aurender n100h (USB to DAVE)
DAC : Chord DAVE
Power amp : Belles SA 30 (these days)
Pre amp : belles LA01
Speakers : Audiophysics Virgo 25 , with GAIA3 feet (Analysis plus big oval cable)

The idea is to know whether the A1 or the S1 will improve on the DAVE + U1 couple
Cheers

 

[Mike]

The A1 will give you a warmer, more analog presentation. The S1 will give you a very linear, balanced, slightly sweet sound. Neither will match the DAVE's 3D, but both will give you full blown MQA.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[johndoe21ro]

hello Mike
Source : lumin U1 + Melco N1A (AES to DAVE) , Aurender n100h (USB to DAVE)
DAC : Chord DAVE
Power amp : Belles SA 30 (these days)
Pre amp : belles LA01
Speakers : Audiophysics Virgo 25 , with GAIA3 feet (Analysis plus big oval cable)

The idea is to know whether the A1 or the S1 will improve on the DAVE + U1 couple
Cheers

I'm not exactly helping you with your question but.... did you try to bypass the Belles LA01 and
use the DAVE hooked up directly with your SA30?

 

[Zaheer]

Hello
Not at all , the Dave is used as a DAC only
The Belles is the pre amp , and does the job quite well
The idea behind the post was clearly to point out a suitable choice for mqa , and Lumin S1 or A1 can do the job perfectly
Cheers

 

[nonesup]

hello Mike
Source : lumin U1 + Melco N1A (AES to DAVE) , Aurender n100h (USB to DAVE)
DAC : Chord DAVE
Power amp : Belles SA 30 (these days)
Pre amp : belles LA01
Speakers : Audiophysics Virgo 25 , with GAIA3 feet (Analysis plus big oval cable)

The idea is to know whether the A1 or the S1 will improve on the DAVE + U1 couple
Cheers

Hi Zaeer.
Have you compared the sound quality of Melco-Lumin U1-Chord Dave (AES) with Melco-Chord Dave (USB)?

 

[Zaheer]

Hello
I did , of course
The only thing with the Melco , is to filnd a suitable app to control it
More to follow

 

[nonesup]

And which of the two options sounded better. What were the differences between them?

 

[Zaheer]

And which of the two options sounded better. What were the differences between them?

Hello
I'll summarize things
1. It depends on the USB input and AES input
2. The Melco N1A is roughly 1500 quids
3. Lumin U1 is around 5000 quids

In terms of value for money , the MELCO is definitely superb for the money (without MQA etc) in USB ( by far better than the Auralic Aries femto , and different to the Aurender N100h)
But the Lumin U1 in terms of sound betters it in both USB and AES (Better in AES)
The DAC is the DAVE , which is supposed to have isolated USB , but again AES is sounding better
Today , I have not used the Aurender for about a month , to tell you how I am pleased with the Melco + Lumin U1 couple

Regarding this post , I was pondering about the Lumin S1 or A1 for my second system (Audiophysics Scorpio 3 , BelCanton Ref 1000 , Belcanto DAC 3.7 , Bel Canto pre 3 , a linear PSU powered CAPS Zuma)
The only thing that is missing in the S1 or A1 is a digital input , to use the DAC Inside (this exists in the Esoteric n05)
Cheers

 

[azchump]

I don't know if I am to late for the party but I own a Lumin A-1 and love it. The ease and use of the app is great for non techno geeks. Plays MQA. The sound is absolutely awesome. That said, I don't know whether it is the Lumin or the Emm Lab Dac 2X V2. I also might be crazy or have the Audio Bug but I just bought a Laufner Teknik Media server for an unbelievable price so my Lumin A-1 will be for sale soon. The Laufner Teknik was 8 times the price. If I don't like it I will definitely go back to Lumin.

 

[alto]

Hello folks
As I say to my house officers : never look at the menu of the restaurant , otherwise , you'll finish Inside for a meal
I have been using the U1 for some time now , and it really is a great product
However , I'm just asking myself the question about the Lumin S1 or the A1
Since I cannot test the products , I'm looking for your input
Cheers

I have experience of this. While the dacs in A1/S1 are v.good, they do not compare with the Mola Mola dac. So my recommendation is keep the U1 transport and investigate the MM Tambaqui or Makua pre/dac with Sablon digital cables. Believe me you won’t better this combination at this price. Any questions let me know.