Lumin Hifi Rose or Aurender

The Rose 130 is a great streamer. I recommend it.

Innous. Sense app is best for me, have used them all. Also sonically it's ahead.

Does Innous support tidal connect or spotify connect ?

Has anyone heard the N200, Rose 130 and Lumin U2 ....

These are the three units I am looking at for the Streamer Transport.

For the Streamer dac I am looking at the T3, A200 and the RS130

If anyone has any experience with these I would be interested.

@efoo 

I tried out the Aurender and the Rose and was not overwhelmed.  They are excellent, but not what I would expect from a true stand-alone streamer.

I ended up going with the Lumin U1, which is (I understand) substantially the same unit as the U2, but with a separate power supply and a bit more isolation and shielding of some pretty noisy (electronically) components.

It has a rich, very precise, sound.  Could not be more pleased.

I would assume the U2 is extremely close.

I have U2 in my System

luv it   Bettered grim 1 especially considering difference in price 

IMHO 

Sounds like so far the Lumin family is the winner !!!!

I am interested to see if that hold true from the other Goners

I have an Aurender N200. It's sublime. I chose it because of its beefy power supply, shielded isolation and (for me) ease of use. Since I already had a DAC I really like, I did not consider a unit with DAC/streamer combination.

Lumin all day long!  Have had 2 units!!   Check out the X1!!

Once you get your hardware set, try Qobuz, most (myself included) find it sonically superior to your present two choices.

I am a Lumin lover, T2 with SBooster. I went to my local brick and mortar store and tested every streamer they had. Bluesound, I believe the Aurender and a couple of others. The Lumin was by far the best. 

Only your ears matter! I also recently installed a Synergistic Master fuse. It opened up the soundstage. I was quite surprised at the difference. 

I am running the streamer into my McIntosh MA 12000. 

Happy Listening! 

Aurender N200.  Great unit.   Excellent support.  Very good user interface 

Aurender doesn’t do Roon if you use or want to.  

Lumin to Line Magnetic DAC via Audience, AU 24e digital coax with Oyade Neo CAT 7 Ethernet cable - that's my streaming rig and its's most excellent

One thing Inthought of is the Lumin U1, so I presume the U2!is the same, does not have internal WiFi receivers.  You have to hardwire it to you LAN.

The reason, of course, is a wire is (generally) less likely to have issues and, probably more importantly, the receiver:transmission is quite electrically noisy.

you would need a hard wire off your router or some kind of mesh wireless system that will let you run an Ethernet wire to one of the satellites.

several of the others you were looking at were more integrated, for good and bad.

Thanks I plan to hardwire!

I haven't heard the other two so don't know but I have hifi rose 150b and rose 250 and love them both. The rose 250 is half the price and as best I can tell does exactly the same as the 150b only half the size. It has an internal DAC. You can connect to your streaming service easily. What I really love is roseradio which gives you access to streaming channels all over the world and you just pick the genre you want to listen to... free with more channels than you can count. It has an internal storage but better to just put your music on a usb flashdrive and plug it into the usb port. the port is in the back which can get inconvenient so I got an extension from ebay which works fine.  I don't think you would go wrong with one of these.

@efoo I currently have a Lumin U2 mini with an upgraded power supply.  I have had the D2 and P1 as well.  Also have owned  an Aurilac G2 streamer.  If you like the Lumin sonically, really hard to beat.  They are dedicated to building streamers and Streamer / DAC combos and that’s it.  The parent company is in the professional / commercial audio / video space.  Great App which is really important, update and upgrade their software regularly.  My U2 mini is outstanding, I would assume the U2 steps things up further.  They’re all in one solutions like the T3 are really tough to beat as well.  I loved both the D2, step below and P1, step above the T3.  
 

Good Luck, 

Thank you all for the wonderful feedback sounds like there is a lot of great choices!

Owning a Lumin U1 for a few years now, very happy with the resolution and reliability. If the Lumin doesn't work, it's a network problem, so look elsewhere. Only used the factory reset button once, very early in the setup stages where I goofed up badly, never needed to reset ever since.

The main issue in advantage of the Lumin is the after sales support and updates like Qobuz, Tidal, lossless radio stations, Leedh volume control, the list goes on with firmware updates as needed, not as a result of balls ups.Support is very good, Peter always listens, nothing is off the table.

I was looking for a streamer for the office, thought the Lumin would be a shoe in, but the entry level unit  is $500 too much for the budget, so went for the ifi Neo Stream instead.

I compared my HifiRose RS150B to the Lumin T3. Everything the same except swapping out one streamer/dac for another. Both are great pieces of gear, but in addition to the Rose offering way more flexibility and features, I also preferred it’s tonality and presentation over the Lumin in my system. Your mileage may vary.

Thanks for all the great information.  One last thought I am thinking about getting the new T+A DAC 200 and T+A makes a Streaming CD pPlayer - MP 200. 

Has anyone tried the MP 200 with the Dac 200 I have read great things about the combo.

Hold the presses . If you’re thinking in T+A realm, then please consider the Grimm MU1. If yr. in No Cal please PM me on Agone and you can hear one I know of. 

I am in New York State :-)

Does Innous support tidal connect or spotify connect ?

@efoo They support Spotify connect via plugins. I'm not sure about Tidal as I use the Sense app for that (with a Pulse). The Sense software can be used via an app or web based. It also allows the use of Airplay via a plugin. Sound quality is better than Roon by a decent amount. I wish that wasn't true as Roon software functionality is outstanding.

I owned a T&A Dac 200, but not the associated streamer. If you get the DAC with the HDMI module and use the MP200 you get most everything one would need (not sure about Tidal connect), including a CD player. It would be a great setup and nice looking IMO.

Lumin 2 is a great sounding streamer.  

Lumin U 2 is a great sounding streamer.  

@efoo I heard the Hifi Rose streamer at a dealer and it sounded very nice, but it’s hard to compare without hearing it in my setup.

I owned the Sonore MicroRendu & OpticalRendu w/external power supply, SOtM sMS-200 Neo SE w/sPS-500 external power supply and the LUMIN U1 mini.  I still have the LUMIN U1 mini in a second system, but I bought the LUMIN U2 for my main system.  LUMIN is very reliable and you get quick responses from the LUMIN rep. Peter Lie when you have questions.  The Sonore and SOtM streamers are hard to beat for the money, but they are better paired with Roon, so I preferred the LUMIN for the better sound quality, reliability, constant software updates, and the ability to play the streamer as a stand alone with Qobuz, Tidal and local music files.  I’ve gone back in forth comparing the LUMIN played through Roon and without Roon and the LUMIN sounds better without Roon although I think Roon has the best user interface and music cataloging.  The only con I have for the LUMIN is the user interface.  It is not very good IMO compared to Innuos or Aurender.  Just my opinion.

If you have the money to buy two units at the same time to have a streamer shootout, that would be the way to go, but having the option to return for a full refund for the unit that you didn’t want.  If you find a dealer that will allow an in-home demo would be the best option.

That being said, I recommend LUMIN.

Thanks for all the great info.  At this point I am leaning toward Lumin U2 paired with the T+A DAC 200.  Main reason is .... I think the strength of the Dac 200 is the separate DSD DAC channel and the U2 upscales to DSD 256 so I think this will be a great combo.  Plus Lumin has been around the block so support should be great.  Keep the comments coming I still need to get a dac streamer for system 2 !

Lumin and T&A would be a great combo. Both well built. Both have great volume controls, one digital and one analog. Just an FYI but I liked the DAC 200 better with a good streamer than using HQPlayer upsampling everything to DSD. Not sure about the Lumin upsampling as I owned a Lumin U1 Mini before owning the DAC 200. 

That is interesting ... I looked into HQPlayer and it looked more complicated than I wanted.  The lumin seems like a good alternative since I can turn the upsampling off if I find the DSD is not great and just use it as a streamer.

I've loved my U2 mini except for the app, which I found awkward to use with Qobuz. I posted about that in a Lumin forum on another site and Peter responded within minutes that I ought to try JPlay. I did and it's great. Really wonderful when a company doesn't just insist that their solution is best and actually reaches out to help you find a solution.

Has anyone owned or had a good listen to a NAD Masters Series streamer compared to a Lumin, Rose, Aurender or similar?  Some said Ayre is worth considering.

I have an M50/M51 combo, but the M50 only streams now. I’d like to stick with BluOS and upgrade to the M50.2 for the ripping/storage/server functions. I like BluOS, and I’m happy with the NAD sound in my system, but I would be happy upgrading to an even warmer, more dynamic, even tubey sound. The rest of this system is a Belles Soloist 1 integrated and Vandersteen 2Ce (not Sigs).

@mikelindauer +++++++ Ayre

Which Ayre product is the streamer.  Is it a streamer only?

I don't see the 50.2 on the NAD website.

Ayre QX-5 Twenty

Doesn't the QX-5 Twenty has a DAC?

Thanks for the resolute recommendations for Ayre!  @efoo, The QX-5 is a streaming amp.  
 

Richard Vandersteen also suggested Ayre for amplification, but the more affordable units don’t have optimal amounts of power for the Vandersteen speakers, so I got the Belles Soloist. RV recommends high quality components with 0 feedback. 
 

@efoo, NAD discontinued the M50.2 a couple years ago. They moved on to the M10 (now the v2 version) M33 and M66. None has quite the functionality I seek—a fully integrated ripper, storage, server, streamer. 

Two thumbs up on the Lumin U2.  Had a Lumin U1 Mini with the S/Booster power supply.  That was a nice set up for the money but the Lumin U2 is definitely a step above.  The app is easy to use but a bit clunky at times.  The U2 sound is excellent however, great imaging and sound stage, very realistic palpable midrange.   

I ended up buying the Lumin U2 will have it in 2 weeks and will report back.

I currently have the T+A DAC200 and the Lumin U1 (not the mini!).

the combo sounds incredible.  I’m running this combo through the Pass Labs xp30 preamp.  I’m considering bypassing the pre and trying the volume control on the T+A DAC to see if it provides any improvement….but I doubt it will.

Thanks Hubbman

I would be interested to hear your thoughts on the Dec 200 Pre compared to the PASS.

So @efoo ,

What did you end up getting?  I’ve been following your thread, because I to am interested in getting a new streamer.

Jim

I was going to pull the trigger on the  T+A Dac 200 and Lumin U2. Then I saw the NAD M66 and thought that since I have 2 other Bluesound Node zones the BlueOS M66 makes a lot of sense.

Probably get better overall sound from the T+A and Lumin but for half the price I can get everything I need plus "DIRAC live" is a bonus I wouldn't mind experimenting with.  

I have the Aurender N200 and the T+A 200 DAC. It took about 100 hours for it to open up and I got them both at the same time so I cannot speak to what is doing what but it is very detailed. I got the Aurender N200 in part because of recommendations here and elsewhere plus I wanted a streamer that also could act as a server (with significant storage for two SSDs you need to buy and easily install). I started using the co-ax but wound up using the USB connection.

I have a tube integrated so I felt okay using the  SS DAC but sometimes (probably the recordings' fault) there is a bit of glare but I also assume the system will keep improving as it is broken in. 

Everyone has their own opinions based upon what they use. Best that you audition if you can and/or buy from someone who gives you 30 or 60 days to return it so you can see if it fits your system. 

I find the Rose 130 to be a remarkable piece of kit. And this is spite of having my 1st one refusing to 'boot' after 2 weeks of ownership. So, a bad beginning.

I learned something about dedicated streamers. You see, I have 2 systems, which is nuts in this hobby, but "it is what it is" as my wife would say, the second system was, after all, her idea. Let me explain. I won't go into the nuts and bolts, to many to talk about regarding this streamer. 

I have 2 DAC's, an Allnic D10000, and the Wavelet II which operates the Legacy Audio Aries speakers. Generally speaking, I don't like DAC's. I 'hear' them. The Holo May KTE was good, technically, but it still had that DAC sound to me. The Lindemann Musicbook DSD was very good and I enjoyed its music for a long time. I auditioned the Allnic and out went the Holo May. Music flows with a soul with the Allnic. Expensive yes. This is a tough hobby. My plan was to place the Allnic in front of the Wavelet as the Wavelet had that 'I'm a DAC' signature, a sacrafice given to all the other capabilities of the Wavelet. 

Along came a Rose. What the Rose did was remove the Allnic DAC from the Wavelet II. The Rose upgraded the Wavelet DAC/processor to where both my wife and I are very satisfied with what we are hearing from the Aries speakers. Furthermore, my audiophile wife can operate the Rose, loves the interface and is very happy with what she hears, and she's picky as hell...

The performance too, simply upgrades everything in front of it. We are buying a second one for our second (upstairs) system to stream to the Allnic D10000, which we noted, was magic. The Usher Grand Towers (upstairs) will perform music in a grand way, no doubt. 

I'll post a review when I further investigate its nuances. I have listened to Lumin and Aurilac, but cannot compare as that was a number of years ago and I had chosen Lindemann over the former.