Lumin X1 or dCS Bartok

As a point of clarification on the Lumin X1's USB connection, it can be used as an output with Native DSD512 support, PCM 44.1–768kHz, 16–32-bit, Stereo. As an input it supports connection of USB storage, flash drive, USB hard disk (Single-partition FAT32, exFAT and NTFS only).

bill_k,
Sorry, I am not too computer savvy. What does a single partition Hard Drive mean? It is a Western Digital hard drive that only has my music file on it. However they are in folders by artist.

ozzy

Hey Ozzy! A hard drive can be partitioned to appear as multiple drives instead of a single drive (i.e. a 5TB drive can be single partitioned with its full storage as D:, or be partitioned to appear as multiple smaller drives such as D:, E:, and F:) Sounds like yours is in the standard single partition, folders are not an issue.

However while I believe the Lumin will recognize a hard drive like yours connected via USB, to have full indexing and metadata display they recommend that you run MinimServer which is free server software. So I think you’d be best off connecting the drive to a PC on your network and run MS on the PC to support that drive, or else use a NAS drive instead of a USB drive and run MS on the NAS drive.

I don’t own a Lumin myself but this is from what I’ve read about them. I’d suggest discussing your setup with a Lumin dealer to ensure how it will work with your current drive, what limitations is might have, and how to set it up with MS if needed as I know Lumin recommends.

bill_k,

Thanks, I think I understand most of what you stated. I'm nearing 68 and  I missed most of the computer generation.
I like to keep it simple, if I can.

ozzy

Late to this discussion but recently I trade my DCS Bartok in on a Lumin X1 and I am very happy with the switch.  Not having them side by side I did not A B them.  But I can tell you that the Lumin and Bartok both sound great.  They both run or ran through a Mcintosh C22 and MC462.

It terms of the difference I think the Lumin just sounds more real.  I am a guitar player and I notice that with the Lumin it sounds like an acoustic guitar playing in the room.  It sound like high end analog without the fuss or records.

One more point I was very happy with the DCS and never felt like I needed more but I was using Sonos through the DCS for multi-zone music and I could not use Tidal and was limited to spotify. To build a multi-zone system with DCS would have been very cost prohibitive.

That led me to the Lumin X1 paired with the two M1s for my other zones.  The Lumin M1 is a self contained amp dac streamer.  I now have the perfect HiRes 3 zone set up.

I also run a Lumin T2 with a Mcintosh MA6500 (which has 2 zone built in) in a second home.

I love the dependability and resale value of Mcintosh.  Paired with Lumin which provides ease of use, world class sound and rock solid dependability you have a great combination that will last for years.

One last comment I like the thought of having a tube component (C22) in the chain.  It would be interesting to try a solid state pre in place of the C22.

Happy for now.  LOL