Ayon S5 VS Aurender W20

In 2012 I sold my Meridian 800DAXV4 (25000 dollar new) and I
was looking for a new network player. It took 1,5 years before
I bought my first streamer.

But......it was not that easy and good as I thought it would
be. The Aurender was by far the biggest dissapointment. I
auditioned it for about 6 times. With different dac's. All
tests had the same outcome. When you compare it to a good
highend cd player you miss the full pallet of colours in the
mid freq. Even for free I don't want this sound.

In a battle at my house between the Aurender S10 and Olive
06HD it was clear that the Olive was superior. Better
dynamics, more resolution, a much sharper individual focus of
instruments and voices, better blacks, deeper and wider stage
and this has the pallet of colours in the mid freq. like the
better highend cd players.

This year I will test the Lumin streamers. When it does what
is promissed I will become Lumin dealer.

In all my tests with computers and drives with a separate dac
I noticed the limitation in the mid freq. as I just told. This
is unexeptable in my personal opinion.

In my perspective when a networkplayer has a dac inside it is
a lot more musical. This is the pallet of colours in the mid
freq, where I was talking about.

I use audio totally different than other people do in audio.
My focus is on properties. I use the full potential of all the
different properties a tool ( amp, speaker, cable,
conditioner, source etc) owns.

I use Purist Audio Limited Edition powercables. They make an
amp or source so much better sounding. A lot more analogue
sounding.

I prefer 384khz over 192khz dac because I use the extra stage
depth and width I can create with 384khz.

Same thing about a higher dynamic range. When you are aware of
all the properties a tool owns you always can achieve a much
higher endresult than the way most people work in audio.

The price range of 2495,- euro till 9999,- is for me the
perfect balance in price range. it is easy to navigate and you
can choose between PCM and DSD. I have to judge on more parts
than only my personal demands.

I have focussed on Auralic as well. But I prefer different
streamers in price range with an inbuild dac. Till now all
drive/ computer combinations with a separate dac are all
useless in my personal opinion.

I will test different Lumin players soon. The Puccini is also
a source without a soul and that is why it is fully useless in
my opinion.

I also think the Ayon S5 is a very analogue sounding streamer.
But I have to judge also for demands of clients. Missing DSD
and using 192khz and a lower dynamic range give me less space
to create my own sound and adjustments.

For example I prefered Pass Labs XA over X series untill I put
a Purist Audio Limited Edition on my Pass Labs poweramp. It
all changed my mind. After this I prefered X series over XA
series. My focus is on the endresult. This is what counts most
and how I judge at the end.

Thanks Audiotroy for your information.

Sofar all combinations of Dac and drives were not good enough. When I am at shows I got convinced that many distributers are not even aware of the part which is missing. This is the essential part for emotion and sound realism.

3 Weeks ago I did audition the MSB Diamond Dac. The limitation is the fact that the individuel focus of instruments and voices is not that precise and intimate as the best. This part is also a very important feature for the absolute sound.

Audio ia all about understanding music and audio. When you are not aware of all the different properties of each tool it is a lot more difficult to get to the best sound possible. In most situations most audio/music lovers and even distributers and shop owners only use a part of all those properties their source owns.

When I have auditioned the Lumin streamers I will write my thoughts!

Linn is quite poor in streamers. They use old and even cheap
parts in their topmodels. The used dac's are cheap parts and
not that special.

You have to compare the S1 with the Linn and also other
topmodels.

The focus on a drive like the W20 and expensive dac's need to
be on the colour pallet of the mid freq. This is the weakest
part. When you use classical music it is quite easy to hear
and understand what is missing.

I am often surprised how F. deaf many people are at shows when
this part is missing. When I look at them I see that they are
not even aware of it.

This is for me a very important part what I tell and demo to
all my clients. It is important that people understand how
music need to be and what these differences do to music and
emotion.

Last week I had this discussion also with Desmond of Pass
Labs. There needs to be more focus on realism and quality!

"By the way, Lumin use the same "cheap" and
"old" parts in all their models as well, because
their streamers in general are copies of Linn's."

If you are saying these things you are F. blind.

Lumin S1:

http://www.luminmusic.com/lumin-s1.html

http://www.vassagohifi.dk/cms/typo3temp/pics/e7e74c5148.jpg

Linn Klimax DS:

http://av.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/20071005/ina1_04.jpg

Audio is always about facts and not about nonsense what a F.
idiot is saying.

The S1 owns a superior powersuppy and dac compared to the
cheaper powersupply and dac of the Linn.

The Linn Klimax DS is using the Wolfson WM8741 dac and works
till 192 khz and cannot play DSD128.

The S1 is using 4 ESS SABRE32 Reference DAC chips to deliver a
total of 16 DACs per channel. This dac is far superior to the
Wolfson dac above.

Lumin bought the Linn Klimax DS a few years ago to create a
superior streamer. They achieved this with the S1.

Many people who compared Lumin with Linn, prefer the Lumin.

It is not only a different dac, there are more parts they changed.

I am in this business for almost 17 years of time. At shows and demos I found Linn a very average or even poor quality product.

I did run a audio shop were Linn was sold before I came there. i did visit a few clients with Linn. One had for over 240.000 euro Linn stuff in his house.

I remember when I visit him that I became very irritated to my boss. I said: what a low quality shit, I will never sell this to my clients.

http://highfidelity.pl/@main-529&lang=en

some information about the Lumin S1.