Lumin X1 latest Review like we have been saying

I recently bought a Lumin X1. I have owned the Chord DAVE/Blu 2 (and M Scaler), Mytek Manhattan II and Ayre QX5 Twenty, amongst others.
The Lumin is easily the best DAC I have owned. I was looking for something more satisfying than the Chord DAVE/M Scaler, which over the long term I found rather fatiguing: thin sounding and - with the M Scaler - a little bright and tonally bleached.

The Lumin X1 is at the other end of the spectrum to the Chord. It is warm, rich, tonally dense but also dynamic and very fast. Chord makes a big deal about the reproduction of transients, but to me the Lumin presents transients more realistically and more dynamically. Listing to cymbals, for example, the Chord sounded papery and flat. The Lumin presents cymbal sounds with depth in a realistic three dimensional space, but they also sound tonally correct and fast.

I should mention also that the X1 took the better part of a month to burn in. At the end of the first week I was ready to return it - it sounded thin, monochrome and two dimensional, and took quite a while before it started to sound good. So if you do get to demo the X1, make sure it has been fully run in. I also found that the fiber optic input is significantly better than the ethernet input.

I would have loved to have heard the DCS Bartok at the same time, but from comments on various forums I suspect I have made the right choice. The DCS sound is reported to be more analytical, and less "musical". I can't comment from experience (yet) but the Lumin is definitely at the "musical" end of the spectrum, while giving up nothing in detail and other "hi fi" attributes.

very happy with my Lumin T2...the Lumin app is pretty easy to use, my only wish is that the software would organize my Qobuz catalogue by artist not just date added....if I adopt Roon, that will solve that issue.

We love the pairing of the Lumin T2 with the Innous Zen or Zenith feeding an ultra low noise repacketed data stream via its ethernet port to the Lumin T2.

As the Lumin T2 works woderfully well with Roon as the device is a certified Roon endpoint.

Take your Tidal or Obouz data stream to DSD 512 on the T2 and boy are you in for a treat, you have the option of running the uncoversion in the Lumin or at Roon’s DSP setting.

We have yet to find a combination at the price that can beat these two which are great used separately but make real magic when used together.

For 2020 we will be doing a shootout of the Lumin T2 vs the $2,000.00 more expensive Bricasti M3. The Bricasti M3 is reported to sound fantastic and does have digital inputs, and a pure balanced analog volume control, the M3 also has dual dacs technology meaning that PCM plays through a dedicated PCM dac stage as well as a true 1bit DSD dac stage for ultra pure DSD decoding

For most people a pure streamer is ideal we are testing the Bricasti as a possible option for those people who want thouse features also the M3 has an optional $500.00 headphone stage that should also be smoking.

We have many clients with the Lumin gear it is so nice to see that other people agree with our findings.

Rosbit we agree with you and your choice for the X1, add a set of Isouacoustics footers and a good power cord for even better sound.

We compared a DCS Pucchini  CD player/Dac many years ago as we had a client who wanted to move up to streaming, and we orchestrated a trade for a Lumin A1, the Lumin was $7k vs the DCS which was a $18k product the A1 was signfigantly more musical and nearly matched the DCS’s resolution, both has a big soundstage, but the A1 was clearly more involving.

The Lumin X1 and T2 are so much better than the original A1 but the demonstration was very informative.

Dave and Troy
Audio Docto NJ Luimin dealers
Happy 2020 leveryone!

Part of the X1 secret is the class A Lundahl output transformers. Makes for a more musical approach.

The ESS9038 pro chip is also contributing to the stellar end result you are hearing.

This reads more like an advert for Audio Doctor NJ.