Lumin U1 Mini - how to set up Network *without* Ethernet cables?


To Lumin owners. I just got the Lumin U1 Mini. Had Limetree (Lindemann) Bridge before.

Need to connect the Lumin streamer to my wifi network. There won’t be any ethernet cable as my router/modem (from ISP) are in a different room than where the music and DAC need to be.

I’ve downloaded the Lumin app but the dum  app seems useless. It presumes the Lumin is already on the network. Which is a bit of chicken and egg as there’s no way on the device itself to connect to the network -- how would I enter the wifi password etc?

Any ideas how I get it on to my wifi and set up the password etc? The online manual is horribly un-informative. Does Lumin presume everyone will use Ethernet cables to connect to modem/router?

I am little surprised this is what "audiophiles" rave about. The basic setup is not even thought-through. And manual refers only to "iPad", most users will use their iPhone. Welcome any pointers.

julie_priest

Showing 7 responses by audphile1

I use eero mesh and run Supra Cat8 from eero to my Lumin U1 Mini. 
Excellent sound. 
@ozzy62 

Agreed…Lumin app is unusable on phone. Overall by far not the best UI around. 

But if you use Tidal as your streaming service lumin has this nifty feature called Tidal connect. When configured you can use Tidal app on your phone or tablet to stream and the sound quality is excellent. You won’t get your local library that way though. 

Optical digital cable? Really? Well there’s your issue right there! You opted for the worst possible way to connect your transport/streamer to DAC. 
Use USB or AES or SPDIF…anything but optical. 

Also, U1 Mini needs about 150-200hrs to break in to sound best. 
Sending it back now without giving it a chance is up to you but know that you didn’t give it fair chance. 

 

@julie_priest 

FYI - Tidal is always 44 kHz, 16 bit, with usually 1411 kbps as I have a 1 GIG wifi connection in a big city. No need for upsampling etc, although Bridge II also does upsampling with a hardware switch. I've never needed it. Sound is great without doing all this tinkering. 
 

Are you serious? I’m listening to albums on Tidal in 24/192. 
 

@ozzy62 

Yup 100%. 
 

@audiotroy 

I’m gonna give it another shot later today but last time I tried it resulted in a somewhat  diffused soundstage (which can be interpreted as larger but less precise and less defined) and a skinnier bottom end. Are you upsampling 16/44 only or all sample rates? 

@jabbaman does it require any exotic ethernet conditioning? No. As long as you use a good ethernet cable your sound quality will be fine.
If you want to use “exotic “ ethernet conditioning you can and depending on what it is you can obtain a pretty audible slight improvement in sound quality but it will not be night and day. I used Network Acoustics Eno streaming system with my Lumin U1 Mini and it was better than using low end ethernet cable. But if you get a decent cable, I wouldn’t sweat it. Just enjoy the music!

I am planning to compare Eno to higher ethernet cables but not sure when I’ll get around to it. The only cable I compared it to was the Supra cat 8 and cheap yellow and blue ones. 

@jabbaman I owned Auralic Aries G1. Replaced it with Lumin U1 Mini. Each has pros and cons. I had constant issues with AURALiC’s Lightning DS several times a week where it would drop network connection, the network would see the G1 but the G1 was not seeing the network. I use Roon and the G1 sounded better using the Lightning DS but a lot of album artwork from my HDD (ripped CDs) was missing.

When I switched to Lumin I also preferred the sound of Lumin over G1, Roon or without.
Lumin sounded great wired with Supra Cat 8 ethernet cable with none of the dropouts and network related issues I experienced with the wireless G1. Adding the Eno improved the sound of lumin even further. 
I never looked back after switching to Lumin. 
 

I’m pretty sure a good ethernet cable like an Audioquest Vodka would be a nice addition but I never tried. 

Since I’m using Roon, the Bricasti M3 DAC with a built in network player looked like a perfect one box solution so I sold my Lumin and Benchmark DAC 3 HGC to get the Bricasti. No regrets with simplicity and sound of the new set up. 
 

Bottom line, whatever you end up with, use good cables all around and you’ll be alright.