@audphile1 curious how in general you’d compare Lumin to Aurender. I’ve had various Lumin products, D2, P1 and I’m now using a U2 mini with an S-Booster. I’ve had an Auralic G2 streamer only as well. I’ve never had the pleasure of experiencing or hearing a Aurender streamer. My experience with Lunin has been great, build quality, customer service, app have been great, they seemed to be a level above Auralic, sound quality wise, Lumin seemed to be a bit quieter but if one was choosing between Auralic be Lumin, didn’t seem like it was a one was better than the other, more a personal preference. I have a system in 40 k range, wondering if the U2 Mini is a bottle neck. Also wondering on a general front, when you compare Aurender to Lumin, would you put Aurender a level above Lumin, not product specific but their streaming products in general.
Lumin U2 or Aurender N200
Looking for thoughts on these two streamers: Lumin U2 and Aurender N200.
I’m fully aware of the limitations and features from UI and Roon integration to design concepts and implementation (power supplies, caching, display, etc.)
Hoping to hear from those who had compared these two streamers. I’m also absolutely not interested in hearing from “it’s all 1s and 0s” crowd - this isn’t that forum and I kindly ask you to please stay out of this discussion.
Thanks and Happy Holidays to you all!!!
- ...
- 102 posts total
@mm1tt77 I used Auralic Aries G1, Lumin U1 Mini and the built in network renderer in my dac. The Aurender N200, sonically, is in another league. I will make a safe assumption that even with Sbooster the lumin mini won’t reach close to the N200. I also think the U2 is a worthy upgraded over the Mini Sbooster or not. |
I have two Aurrender and have had the Grimm in my system, and listened to Linn in several systems. So… that kind of gives me a feel for things. I have not heard the Lumin… I had eliminated it via extensive research. I also owned a Aurlic Aries G2 for about a year… not in the same league.
I think I would put it this way, all are good at their respective prices… organized by best sounding first: Aurender N20, Grimm, Aurrender N200, Linn. Aurrender has the lower noise floor and a a more natural treble. It is important to have a DAC that is up to the task, so you can benefit fully from the sound quality of the streamer. |
I was looking at the same choice a few months ago. I have a Holo Audio Spring3 KTE DAC and I've been using a Sony UBP-X800E 4K Bluray player to play SACD's and as a CD transport. I also have an Intel NUC as a Roon Core. I listen to a mix of LP's, CD's and stream from my NAS drive. I felt that CD's sounded better than streaming from the Roon core to the DAC so I wanted to get a streamer to improve the sound. From dealers I spoke to I was given the impression that the Aurender N200 was the better streamer with a more natural sound. I was told it would support Roon in the future. I liked the fact that the Lumin U2 supports fiber and Lumin says it has a USB interface that connects directly to the system. I was able to get the Lumin U2 for about $2K less than the list for the Aurender and the Aurender would have cost close to twice what my DAC cost, which I have been very happy with. I couldn't hear either, so I ended up going with the Lumin U2 for the lower price and the known Roon support. It definitely has been a significant upgrade in sound for streaming and I can use the Lumin app, which seems decent and also use Roon, which I own a lifetime license for. I think the Lumin app and Roon sound different, but I couldn't say one is definitively better. I especially like the Roon feature of viewing info about artists and albums, so I'm glad I haven't lost that. I would say that CD's sound different than streaming, and although I wouldn't say the streamer sounds definitively better than CD's, I would say they're on a more comparable level now. I'm still curious how the Aurender N200 would sound, and don't know if I made the best choice, but I am happy with the Lumin U2 and plan to try the fiber networking soon. |
- 102 posts total