Lumin U1 vs Lumin U1 mini + sbooster?

Just curious has anyone tried to use an uptone ether regen with their lumin streamer? I wonder if this will unlock the full potential of my u1 mini?

@tvad  impressive. I wonder if you would get a further gain with a better PSU on the mac mini ?

I do know 1 dealer of both sotm and lumin who states that U1 mini + sps 500 is about 80% of the U1. But would love other opinions.

Have you tried any other streamers like SOTM 200 ultra?

I guess for me, going from my gaming PC direct to my dac vs any kind of streamer would make more of a difference because a mac mini is likely inherently much less noisy than a gaming pc.
But interesting findings indeed.  Im actually not all that surprised by your findings with the sbooster. Looking under the hood it seems the u1 mini has a pretty solid isolated SMPS.

Maybe he has some high end PSU on his mac mini ?

Yup same my local dealer said he would cover the warranty and he would do the install. I dont like that the internal shielded psu is being wasted though.

If anyone is interested in a u1 mini modded to accept other ext PSUs besides sbooster I have a black one in great condition with a keces p8 PSU and ghent DC cable. I am in Canada but would consider shipping to usa. Hit me up if interested.
Gonna try an upgraded ethernet cable (custom made, cat8 with telegartner terminations) on it. I really want to try the uptone though.

Thank you as well, mrcypruz, for sharing your first-hand experience.

I would be super interested to see what you guys think about the U1 vs DCS bridge.

@mrcypruz

If you get your hands on dcs please let us know how it compares. I would be most interested.

I went in a different direction. I got the U1 mini + Keces p8  (with ghent dc cable) going into  a Audio GD DI20HE then I2S out into my DAC. This chain is simply incredible. Absolutely beats my old SOTM 200 ultra + sps 500 + dx usb setup. And doing the u1 mini + P8 or DI20HE alone was not as good as the combo. Oh and I am using coax out of the u1 mini.
Now I have not compared to full size u1 but others who have tried the di20he + streamer (even something like pi) have found it to be better than dcs bridge. This is something really worth trying and ultimately cheaper and possibly better than full size u1.

I got good results with AES out of the DI20HE also. But I2s just took it further. Im also only using a basic 8k shielded amazon HDMI cable. Still waiting for a better wireworld chroma cable.
But you'll definitely feel most of the benefit with AES.

@stray

With your system probably the smartest thing to do is just add DI20HE. And down the road ext morion clock is an option. Sonore is already a great streamer. Going to full DCS bridge or even u1 mini probably not worth it based on everything I've said above.

I apologize if I said 'is' that is my mistake, I should have said 'may' or should have said 'he found it to be'. I appreciate your insight regardless and I wish i had the full size U1 because its a much more elegant solution imo than my stack of boxes. But I'll stick to my stack because I am so incredibly impressed by the sound.

I think to summarize:

1. If you have the cash and want a really nice looking clean solution, get full U1.
2. If you don't want to spend as much as U1 costs consider streamer (like u1 mini) + di20he setup as it MAY be extremely good for less money.

I should also add that I am in the process of doing a review of my system and will be comparing u1 mini stock vs u1 mini + keces p8 on www.sonicvisions.org. Just got to get a cable from my dealer who has made a switching box where I can power the u1 mini with stock PSU then take it out and use the Keces p8.

Its fine having beliefs. But having a belief and actually listening is a different thing. People have been using DI20HE after some pretty high end streamers in their chain including auralic aries g2 with gains in SQ. For those reading this go to head fi and talk to the guys there including Jimmy Chang who did an A-B of dcs bridge vs pi +di20he (dcs bridge is known by many to be better than even the full size lumin u1).

By the way di20he can also take external clock and I don't even have one connected. But a $300 morion ext clock from queensland seller off ebay takes SQ even further! Its a future upgrade I plan on.
I think having a strong ext psu with the u1 mini is a great option because then you have a PSU in another chassis like full size u1 and have the ability to use the psu you want (there are better PSUs out there than sbooster). My dealer modded my u1 mini so I can put on w/e PSU I want. This gives you the flexibility select  a very high quality PSU.
I think the one main advantage of full u1 is that its a cleaner looking solution with less boxes and looks very nice compared to my stack of boxes (but I do like the look of my box stack).

And by the way I highly doubt di20he sounds better because of distortion. Because when I put it in my chain what I actually hear is a blacker background, more detail, more air, better dynamics.

What I am talking about is not my belief I am simply reporting real world findings of audiophiles that have compared DI20HE + pi to DCS and that have compared DCS to full U1. So its not my personal belief based on my theoretical understanding. Its real world experience from other audiophiles.
I am not saying that I personally observed that. If I tested it myself I may disagree or agree with them. But given their findings I am content with my solution and their impressions are enough for me to be satisfied that going full U1 would not be worth it.
To re-iterate (because it seems you did not read/understand my post)... they found that:

DI20HE + Pi > DCS Bridge
DCS Bridge > full size u1
Feel free to read audiophile style or head fi if you doubt what I am saying ABOUT THEIR EXPERIENCES.

One other anecdote is from Steven Huang of audiosensibility who finds that sbooster + u1 mini is about 80% of the performance of full U1. So taken all the above its not a far stretch of the imagination that a better ext PSU + di20he in the chain would be on par or likely out perform full u1.

I concede totally that I am relying on other peoples impressions. But what are you using to evaluate the DI20HE? You are not even using other peoples impressions. You are just using theory about how it 'should sound'. Also you have never tried u1 mini with any other PSU besides sbooster... so people looking at the ext psu option should be made aware that doing this may be something to explore... they shouldn't simply conclude that welp sbooster is the end of the line.

By the way I want to add 1 thing. I actually think buying a full size lumin u1 is a good decision for 3 main reasons.
1. It looks really nice, much nicer than u1 mini. It just has a great chassis and if I could get one for a very good price I would do it.
2. Its possible that u1 is better than U1 mini + Keces p8 and do its also possible that u1 mini + p8 + di20HE stack would be even better than my stack.3. It is great if you want a cleaner solution and want to avoid stacks of boxes.

So I DO NOT fault @mrcypruz  or anyone who want to get the full size U1. And I agree with his original point that if you have the cash go for it for the above 3 reasons.

@steakster Its also silly to dismiss a product based solely on how in ’theory’ it should sound and assuming its just adding ’colour and distortion’ when you have not heard the product nor are you even relying on any real world impressions or experience of the product.

"avoid stating or even implying that it is better than the U1 or the dCS Bridge based on what you read. "

I don't see whats wrong in saying that this solution 'may' be better than full size u1. There is nothing erroneous about that comment.

Also I don't see anything wrong in saying that Jimmy Chang on head fi found pi + di20he better than dcs bridge. And a number of other users on audiophilestyle found dcs bridge better than full size u1 (including a personal friend of mine who I really trust).
Just because these are not my personal experiences I am not allowed to state them?

Yes he did by saying  "It’s awesome to read that the DI20HE reclocker is getting the job done with satisfying results. I’m one of those guys who believes that less is more for linearity and less induced overall noise and interference in the signal chain."

And"I gave up using reclockers and external clocks in order to reduce the amount of boxes to have a more streamlined but “ultra” high performance system, if possible."

So indirectly he is saying ya well DI20HE likely will just cause noise and interference so its not for me. He has not heard it personally just as I have not heard full size u1 personally. If he just said 'Glad di20he is working great' and left it at that I would have absolutely no objection. But that little extra part he added was done so just to make himself feel good and justify his purchase.

By the way if you read what I wrote nowhere did I say he is wrong. This is all subjective. We all have our opinions based on what we have heard. My only aim was to provide other people with another option to consider. Neither I nor has he tried full size u1 vs di20he. So I invite others to try this face off and report your results.

"I just need to clarify that I didn’t state that the DI20HE increases noise and interference, I said that it could be possible that the perceived improvements were due to additional distortion and/or noise/interference."

Sure but you are doing the same thing as me. You are coming to a conclusion without personal experience (trying di20he). I think the implication here is quite obvious that ’hey man what I did is better than what you did... your setup is just more distortion, my setup is better’. If that is not your implication then thats cool, but thats what I got from your post. And I felt it was a bit arrogant to be honest. Like my cheaper solution is not as good as your more expensive solution and mine is just more distortion prone and therefore I like distortion.

" Additionally, I don’t need validation for any of my purchases, I’ve been humbled many times in this hobby that I’ve learned that more expensive doesn’t necessarily mean better, but in the case of the U1 and U1 Mini + S Booster, it is the case to my ears in my system. My intention was solely to share my experience. "

That was my intention too. To share my experience as well.

@steakster 

I had no issue with his experiences it was the implication and air of superiority that I got from it as I pointed out. But that was not his intent so that's fine. Whenever you like something in audio and someone says 'well its probably because that item you like is introducing distortion' it can be seen by many as an insult.

I too was sharing my experience and believe it to be just as valid in contributing to the community as his was.

@paopawdecarabao I heard Kenneth is a good solution but I can tell you the P8 is a great solution in dual output mode. It does 4 amps per output and u1 mini only uses 0.4 amps consistently so it has tons of headroom. I plan to maybe to use it to power morion clock down the road and have configured it as such (you choose the voltages ahead of time). Now to be fair I have no compared it to any other external PSU. So feel free to research all the options. I do know many regard Paul Hynes and uptone JS2 as both excellent.

@steakster  Ya I know but i was still responding to what you said about what he said and your comment 'Your posts were just fine. ' and what my objection was to it because you did ask me before what the issue was.

As a supplement great post here by Steven Huang of audio sensibility. He is a Lumin and SOTM dealer. Not exactly topical but he compares u1 mini to sotm and keeps adding enhancements to each side and gives his thoughts on each as you enhance each item and build a chain around them:
https://tinyurl.com/y5hhpjaj

@sfseay wow Impressive. U1 is truly a marvel then.
By the way its weird but lately I am finding my DI20HE alone sounds better than u1 mini and sounds better than the di20he+u1mini combo in a chain. Using I2s out of di20he and coax out of u1 mini. So the vs is not totally fair because of the different outputs.