I recently purchased a DS DAC Sr and am considering upgrading my streamer from the Bluesound Node 2i to a Lumin U1 Mini (or U2 Mini). I have seen a few comments on this topic in this forum. Just want to get some additional input. Is the Lumin app (for Android) a quality UI? I have seen some complaints elsewhere about the Android App being less than impressive. How does the Lumin App compare to the BlueSound App? Does using Roon (with all the additional cost) add a great deal to the streaming experience?
Go with Innuos Zen MK3. I bought this unit new three weeks ago and it is superb. The Sense app is terrific to say the least. I also have had a Bluesound Node and although the app is good the Sense is in another league. I have tried Roon and I don’t think it’s worth it. You can always try a Roon trial subscription and see for yourself. As I said the Sense app is remarkable, stable and fun to use.
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I have the Lumin U1 Mini with aftermarket PSU and the Innuos Zen Mini with the PSU, and doing A/B I prefer the Lumi unit.
I would sell you my Innuos, but I need it to serve my CD collection. I will say that I’m not a smitten with the Lumi UI for Tidal. I actually thinks its pretty crappy. I tend to use the native Tidal app instead, because I find it way easier to locate the music I want to play. It should ne noted tho, I use the iPad App, not Andriod.
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I concur completely with jpg55 having an Innuos ZENith MkIII, the Innuos Sense app is very good in deed. I am using the IOS app, not Android. When I was looking I preferred to Innuos to those server/streamers I auditioned including the Lumin.
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Thanks so much for the recommendation! Have never really looked at the Innuos line. As I am not really planning on doing anything but streaming Tidal and/or Qobuz, Roon would be a stretch as far as overall cost. That is why I was hoping to find a solution in the streamer category.
Good to hear you’re happy with the U1 Mini, for the most part. Do you stream Qobuz by any chance? Curious to see if the Lumin app does better with Qobuz. How do you use the native Tidal app with the Lumin? I thought you would have to use their app to stream Tidal through the Lumin.
Thanks! Another vote for the Innous Zen MKIII. Definitely taking a look!
Another vote for the Innuos Sense app. It prompted me to quit Roon, the only feature I miss being Roon Radio. The Zen MK3 sounds better than any set up of Roon I had, too.
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Have had a chance to look at the Zen MK3 briefly. Looks impressive, but it might be overkill for me. Lost all my vinyl and the modest CD collection I had in Hurricane Katrina in 2005. When I got back into audio about 5 years ago, I have pretty much stayed with streaming. So, I really don’t need the CD ripping or storage capabilities. Does anyone have any experience with the ZenMini MK3? Is the streaming on that unit pretty high quality? Hubbman you said the Lumin U1 Mini beat out the ZenMini on SQ, but I would like to see if anyone else had experience with that. I could live with the capabilities I really don’t need on the ZenMini at that price point if the SQ is an improvement over the Node 2i.
I have Zen MK3 and my best audio friend has a Lumin U1 Mini. We’ve compared directly and both prefer the Innuos app. To me the Lumin sounds more detailed and sunny and the Innuos a bit darker and richer. The Innuos has a deeper soundstage and the Lumin illuminates vocals more.
Any chance you can hear them at home? My friend bought the Lumin because he didn’t need the CD ripping. Honestly we could both happily live with either, as the sound of them is much less than speaker differences and less than amplifier differences.
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Michael, Thanks for providing that information. The quality of the app is important to me, as is the sound. Do you stream Qobuz, by any chance? If so, are there any shortcomings with the Sense App and Qobuz? I currently use the Bluesound App and it has some issues with Qobuz. Playback is fine, but there are limitations in handling playlists and albums that are a bit irritating.
Yes, only Qobuz for streaming. All of the playlists from the Qobuz app are in Sense. You can search Qobuz and add things to favourites via Sense.
You can build playlists in Sense but they stay there and aren’t available in Qobuz. The integration us really very, very good.
Michael, Excellent. Thanks for the info! I could live with a newly created playlist needing to be created in Qobuz. But, if you add songs to an existing Qobuz playlist in Sense, do the newly added songs appear in the Qobuz app playlist as well? As you add playlists in either Qobuz or Sense, do they fit into the existing list of playlists alphabetically or do they just get added onto the end of the existing playlist in Sense? (This happens in Bluesound with Qobuz and there is no way to fix it.)
You can only edit playlists where they were created. A Sense playlist can’t be edited in Qobuz - this makes sense because the Sense playlist can contain items not sourced from Qobuz, but from local files. And vice versa, obviously.
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OK, got it! Many thanks!
If you aren’t using the latest firmware, I believe that now enables playing directly from Tidal to your Lumin. Caveat: I’m using a T2 and don’t know that definitely applies to the U1.
Edit: If you haven’t already replaced the power supply, the effect was NOT subtle on my T2, but it’s also the DAC. I went with the SBooster unit, but others are available. It may be bad form mentioning Upscale Audio here at the moment, but they have the adapter kit for your Lumin as well.
Yes, I use the Tidal App most of the time. I believe the original questions was asking about the Lumin App specifically.
And yes, I also have the SBooster for my Lumin Mini. I purchased it at the same time I purchased the UI Mini. Further the move to the P15 Power Plant was AMAZING! I had an issue with the PP, so its being replaced right now, but its an amazing upgrade to my Lumin Transport, the Holo Audio Spring DAC3 and the PS Audio M1200 / M700 amps in my set up.
Let me make sure I understand the Lumin U1 Mini and its “native support” for Tidal and Qobuz apps. That means you can use the existing Qobuz app on your Android or Apple phones and you do not need to use the Lumin app?
Yes.
LUMIN supports Tidal Connect to play to the U1/ mini from the Tidal app. There is no Qobuz connect but you can use Airplay if your player supports sit.
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