This system was already marvelous in sound, the best by far I've had in this room. But the combination of better vibration protection, purer powerlines, and the fibre optic connection between the switch and the Lumin moves the performance up to a level of naturalness and a freedom from distortion which I had to hear to believe. There is simultaneously an increased smoothness and transparency to the sound without any real detail being lost. What is lost is distortion which was adding just a bit of edge that was not really noticed until I heard its absence.
I did A/B the Lumin with a copper ethernet link, then with the optical link. That change in itself is a significant part of the transformation I'm hearing.
Changing from copper ethernet to the fibre optic connection between the switch and the Lumin X1 meant even less "grunge" in the background, blacker backgrounds, even less high frequency digital nasties, and a generally more open sound. This is true regardless of the quality of the program--it applies from low-bit-rate internet radio up through high-res programs from Tidal or Qobuz. Lumin and the reviewers who have commented on this type of connection's performance are correct. This is better yet than an ethernet connection, which itself was better than a single Wi-Fi link in the streaming connection.
I can heartily recommend that those of you who have a Lumin X1 (or another streamer with a fibre connection potential built in--are there any others?) try this right away. The money spent, at least in my system, was way out of proportion to the audible improvement. What was obviously already a top streamer before in terms of sound quality is now at another level entirely, qualitatively superior to anything I've previously heard in network streaming.
