freesole
New member
Has anyone tried an external linear power supply with the T2? Looks like Sbooster provides a connection kit but it does require you to open the Lumin up to make the slight modification. I'm guessing that voids warranty as well.
Lumin T2
- Thread starter Mike
- Start date
smodtactical
Banned
- Joined
- Sep 20, 2018
- Messages
- 48
I would try it, sbooster is well regarded especially for the money.
BlueFox
New member
Fine. As long as the original box isn’t required. I have gotten tired of saving gear boxes. 
Just to be sure, the BNC output is male — so the cable on the T2 side must be have a female termination?
Instead of playing around with fixtures inside Lumin T2 , i would rather opt. for an S1....that way you will also have the benefit of the external power supply , meaning that you can easily switch it for another Power supply if you want that.
And soundwise the S1 is good step forward in sound. ( its a big step )
And soundwise the S1 is good step forward in sound. ( its a big step )
Darrel
Member
Sure bring logic and common sense to a placebo project. :|
Darrel
Member
My point is that tearing into a built unit and distroying a warranty with no proof of benifit and hoping to get better performance can at best only have a placebo affect. I chose to improve my power supply dc cables to my modem and GigaFoil along with better ethernet cables. Clean up everything that gets to the Lumin first. Or as you pointed out a digital streamer with a separate power supply makes more sense.
Dylan
Member
Hi All,
I just want to throw in my two cents on this thread. I bought a Lumin T2 a couple of weeks ago and I’m thrilled with it.
My system is an Ayre C5xeMP SACD player, Ayre AX5-20 integrated amplifier and TAD ME-1 speakers, hooked up with Transparent Cable in a small room in a high rise condo. I was initially going to buy a new SACD player but decided to try the streaming route. I’ve never streamed music before, not at home or on my phone.
I decided on the Lumin based on the reviews and the specifications. I liked the form factor and the fact that it had everything I wanted (balanced outputs, Ethernet connection) but nothing I didn’t want (hard drive, CD burner, WiFi).
It took me about 5 minutes to plug the Lumin into the Ethernet jack nearby, into the amp and into the wall, another 5 minutes to sign up for Qobuz, and music was playing! I let the Lumin play continuously for four days.
I am very pleased with the sound. In CD res or high res, it is at least as good as my disc player, and has better low end. And what a world it has opened for me- there are many, many albums that I would liked to have heard over the decades, but didn’t want to invest $15 for a CD or $30 for an SACD, yet now they are available at my fingertips. I’ve been very pleasantly surprised at how many albums of all genres are available in high res. Two examples. In rock, I’ve never liked the Doors enough to buy an album other than Greatest Hits, but now I’ve been able to explore their whole catalog. In Jazz, I’ve liked some albums, but never knew enough to invest in individual CDs/SACD’s. But now I’ve been listening to a lot of classic Blue Note jazz and liking a lot of it. As far as I can tell, I’ve sacrificed nothing in sound quality but expanded my musical horizons immensely. The $25/ month for Qobuz more than pays for itself by not having to buy new CDs/SACDs.
Finally, a note on Lumin’s customer service- as I said above, I’ve never had an iPOD, used Pandora, Spotify etc, so there were some things I could not figure out how to do by playing with the Qobuz APP or the brief Lumin users guide. I sent a long email to Lumin the day after I got the streamer, and the next morning I had concise but detailed answers in my inbox. Couldn’t ask for more.
One more benefit of the Lumin- spreading the word. On Saturday night we had an impromptu get together of friends after dinner. I asked if they wanted to listen to music. In the past, whenever I had someone over and they wanted to listen the conversation would go like this: “Tell me what you’d like to hear.” “Whatever you like”. “No, to appreciate the stereo, you need to listen to something YOU like”. “OK, how about David Bowie” (or some Jazz artist, or classical, or Led Zeppelin or Coldplay, etc). “Sorry I don’t have that”. And they would squirm as I put on some Dylan. But Saturday night- I played DJ, some stayed on the sofa listening intently, some danced, and everyone had a blast for 3 hours (the wine helped too). All agreed they could hear a big difference between my stereo and anything else they ever heard.
Long term, I can see the Lumin replacing all my SACD’s and 90% of my CD’s, and limiting new purchases to CD’s from obscure bands I hear live.
I wish I had taken the plunge sooner.
Regards, Dylan.
I just want to throw in my two cents on this thread. I bought a Lumin T2 a couple of weeks ago and I’m thrilled with it.
My system is an Ayre C5xeMP SACD player, Ayre AX5-20 integrated amplifier and TAD ME-1 speakers, hooked up with Transparent Cable in a small room in a high rise condo. I was initially going to buy a new SACD player but decided to try the streaming route. I’ve never streamed music before, not at home or on my phone.
I decided on the Lumin based on the reviews and the specifications. I liked the form factor and the fact that it had everything I wanted (balanced outputs, Ethernet connection) but nothing I didn’t want (hard drive, CD burner, WiFi).
It took me about 5 minutes to plug the Lumin into the Ethernet jack nearby, into the amp and into the wall, another 5 minutes to sign up for Qobuz, and music was playing! I let the Lumin play continuously for four days.
I am very pleased with the sound. In CD res or high res, it is at least as good as my disc player, and has better low end. And what a world it has opened for me- there are many, many albums that I would liked to have heard over the decades, but didn’t want to invest $15 for a CD or $30 for an SACD, yet now they are available at my fingertips. I’ve been very pleasantly surprised at how many albums of all genres are available in high res. Two examples. In rock, I’ve never liked the Doors enough to buy an album other than Greatest Hits, but now I’ve been able to explore their whole catalog. In Jazz, I’ve liked some albums, but never knew enough to invest in individual CDs/SACD’s. But now I’ve been listening to a lot of classic Blue Note jazz and liking a lot of it. As far as I can tell, I’ve sacrificed nothing in sound quality but expanded my musical horizons immensely. The $25/ month for Qobuz more than pays for itself by not having to buy new CDs/SACDs.
Finally, a note on Lumin’s customer service- as I said above, I’ve never had an iPOD, used Pandora, Spotify etc, so there were some things I could not figure out how to do by playing with the Qobuz APP or the brief Lumin users guide. I sent a long email to Lumin the day after I got the streamer, and the next morning I had concise but detailed answers in my inbox. Couldn’t ask for more.
One more benefit of the Lumin- spreading the word. On Saturday night we had an impromptu get together of friends after dinner. I asked if they wanted to listen to music. In the past, whenever I had someone over and they wanted to listen the conversation would go like this: “Tell me what you’d like to hear.” “Whatever you like”. “No, to appreciate the stereo, you need to listen to something YOU like”. “OK, how about David Bowie” (or some Jazz artist, or classical, or Led Zeppelin or Coldplay, etc). “Sorry I don’t have that”. And they would squirm as I put on some Dylan. But Saturday night- I played DJ, some stayed on the sofa listening intently, some danced, and everyone had a blast for 3 hours (the wine helped too). All agreed they could hear a big difference between my stereo and anything else they ever heard.
Long term, I can see the Lumin replacing all my SACD’s and 90% of my CD’s, and limiting new purchases to CD’s from obscure bands I hear live.
I wish I had taken the plunge sooner.
Regards, Dylan.
Dylan
Member
Thank you. I'm more of a reader than a poster. I did post an extensive personal audio history on another forum a year or so ago. But lately I find Audioshark to be the most enjoyable forum due to the diversity of topics (not just ultra high end), the collegiality/lack of snootiness, and the owner (Mike) appears to be a class act.
In other forums I read, some people would consider CD player superiority over streamer playback to be common knowledge - although I suspect people there are using a PC + Tidal desktop software + USB DAC to compare with a CD player. I'm glad you find your T2 to be as good as or better than your CD player which costed 33% more in MSRP (even more if including inflation), disproving this myth.
Billion$Baby
New member
Don't think its a fair evaluation comparing a AYRE CD Player that came out in 2004 vs a New Product. If you were comparing a TOTL Esoteric, Luxman, Chord Dave/Blu2 etc disc spinner that's currently in production and told me the Lumin blows them away then I would be impressed.
Dylan
Member
I understand what you're saying, but this is all I can do for a comparison. One data point however- after I bought my speakers a year ago the dealer lent me a TAD SACD player that had just come out. I thought it was marginally better than the Ayre, but not worth the price difference. So I think the Ayre is still pretty good, even though >10 years old.
Darrel
Member
Hi Dylan, and welcome to the forum. I'm also a new owner of the T2 and have found it to be a real pleasure to use. I added a lot of other things in my system at the same time as the Lumin. So, my impressions of the T2 were more a part of a lot of additions in my streaming system. Probably not the best way to go. But, what are you going to do. I'm also a big fan of Ayre equipment and owned the CX-7e Cd player. Loved that player. At some point you may want to read through the GigaFoil thread if you haven't already. That or other additions for streaming could surprise you as well.
Dylan
Member
Thanks Darrel, I appreciate the advice re Gigafoil. But for me, after reading 13 pages of the thread (on vacation today, sitting by a pool) I don't want to go down that rabbit hole. And what a rabbit hole it seems to be. For me, my personality, and my stereo, I'm quite happy leaving well enough alone and enjoying my newfound music. Regards, Dylan.
Darrel
Member
I agree. Enjoying what you have should IMO be the main goal. It's easy to keep adding and chasing to the point of never just enjoying what you have. But, incremental changes over time can yield benefits. Enjoy the pool.