2. digital
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Another New Lumin User

I just bought a T2, the learning curve is a bit steep for me, every part of it is a new experience, including even the IPad. Still, I’m very impressed with the sound quality. The app is going to take awhile to learn, but seems not too bad, so far (I’m only 3 days into this). I’ve never paid for a high quality streaming service, either, so I just chose one, Tidal. Went with their $20/month plan. As far as the Lumin unit itself, I have two minor complaints. Number one, the housing on the thing is pretty nice, beautiful brushed aluminum finish, in silver. But c’mon folks, show some love, ease the edges on the damn thing, don’t just screw it together off the CNC machine and throw it out the door. All of the corners are as sharp as can be. And it’s not like the thing was $399. The other deal is the design, with the sides and top that overhang the back panel so far. Looks kinda cool, but almost can’t reach the on/off toggle switch. Part of that is due to the thing being shorter, front to back, so it doesn't extend as far towards the back of the rack as everything else does. Those two picky things aside, I’m both impressed. and happy with the purchase. No questions yet, figured I’d keep muddling my way along, but comments are welcome. Thanks.
builder3
jackd
1,037 posts
 
Lumin is constrained to the features available to them by the Tidal supplied API just like the rest of the streamer manufacturers.  I have owned streamers with different apps from four and none of them have all of the features of the desktop app and never will until Tidal makes it available to them.  You can now try Tidal Connect and see if that is more satisfactory to you but as it is relatively new they are still working through some bugs.
builder3 OP
750 posts
 
Thanks, jackd, makes sense, of course. At this point, I'm mostly using Tidal on my desktop, there's just too much missing, otherwise. I'll keep exploring.
nosualc
99 posts
 
Your Lumin T2 "magically" became available as an endpoint from within the Tidal app because Tidal Connect was included in a recent Lumin firmware update. You can use this from the Tidal app on your desktop/laptop or mobile devices.

The Lumin app itself is very primitive (a 4 of 10 rating is IMO generous), and this will not likely improve as the streaming services don’t expose much of their deep functionality via APIs (as jackd rightly pointed out). They’d much rather you use the Tidal app (eg) instead of a third party app. This is unlikely to change.

I own a T2 and have been using Tidal Connect exclusively since it was made available. It’s been very stable for me (Spotify Connect on the other hand, has its issues).

Using the Tidal app with my T2 as a Tidal Connect endpoint is a huge advance over the Lumin app. I have hopes that Quboz will follow up with a similar tech as I prefer their content.
builder3 OP
750 posts
 
Thanks for the post. I knew at the time that Lumin and Tidal each had updates, wasn't sure who did what. My only stability issue is my crappy ISP, which isn't very consistent. Would've changed by now, were it not for new installation issues due to covid.
The Lumin app has been my only complaint, mostly because I had read plenty about how good it was. It's not that well thought out, to me, and I'm never impressed when I read a manufacturers guide that's different than the product in hand. Still been fun.
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