Lumin U2 Streamer in 'da house....

[Puma Cat]

Once again, Peter continues to provide superb support.

Thanks, Peter, for your steadfast and excellent support. Cheers.

 

[randhat]

I have the Lumin T2 and have recently bought a separate DAC. I am now using the T2 as a streamer. It is doubtful I will ever go back to the internal DAC in the T2 so I only need a streamer. How does the T2 as a streamer compare to the U2. Would it be worth it to make this change?

 

[wklie]

From an electronics point of view, the T2 USB output is essentially similar to U1 Mini USB output.

From what I've seen, all users and reviews reported an improvement going from U1 Mini to U2 or U2 Mini.

 

[brodricj]

From an electronics point of view...

From an electronics point of view, how does the network module in U2 compare to the new Esoteric Network Module G4? The new Esoteric Network Module G4 has Lumin pedigree, right?

 

[wklie]

I didn't know it was announced until seeing your post. Wow, it's a 6-piece set, even more than a noteworthy competitor that made some unfortunate news 7 months ago.

 

[brodricj]

I didn't know it was announced until seeing your post. Wow, it's a 6-piece set, even more than a noteworthy competitor that made some unfortunate news 7 months ago.

Yeah, it looks like six boards go in the N1T and one of those is based on Lumin U2 network module. The modular design opens the possibility for future hardware upgrade by simple board swap which can be done by local distributor (same as they do for D1X, P1X and K1X upgrade to SE versions). A super pimped up version of U2 and priced accordingly. Actually the price is more than I expected which made me squirm a bit before placing my order.
I will only use it to stream Spotify. I can't wrap my head around a 320 Kbps stream being sent down 2 x 48 Gbps HDMI cables to the DAC. That is the mother of all bandwidth overkill.

 

[wklie]

I did not mean the boards, I meant the system consisting of the streamer, 2-piece SACD transport, clock, 2x mono DAC.

 

[brodricj]

Actually the Grandioso stack now becomes 8 boxes...
D1X SE (2 boxes)
C1X (2 boxes)
P1X SE (2 boxes)
G1X (1 box)
N1T (1 box)
I'll have to order a new YG rack shelf. And a new Shunyata power cable. And a new Shunyata clock cable. It's never simple.

The configurations Esoteric are pushing are N1T + D1X SE (3 boxes) or N1T + K1X SE (2 boxes), plus optional G1X clock. K1X SE also has an optional PS1 separate power supply. Interestingly the D1X SE can be clocked if N1T is connected by USB.