In my case the curve look is fine, just the on/off switch is far too prominent.
But most probably I’ll hide the streamer anyway to keep the look plain and simple, as otherwise it would have to sit on the DAC…
You can always get a Signature Rendu SE. It’s fantastic. I will be comparing the AirLens to the Sig Rendu when the AirLens becomes available.
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This is very helpful. A bit of background. My wife and I are old ( we are boomers ), however, we are both retired, highly educated tech heads. I am the hardware jock, she is the software jock.
The NAS is UPnP and has it own software for control ( you do not charge people what it cost and tell them to find their own software to run it ). It has only three I/O ports: Ethernet for Network, Ethernet for DAC and USB (A) two way port.
If my wife decides she wants Roon I will, of course, agree, but it will be her asking people questions about it not me.
I definitely plan on using USB for the Lumin to start. I will play with other options once it is up an running.
I hope to start installing stuff this weekend and I will show your post to my wife.
Thanks again.
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Think of this as Bridge III in a box with lots of improvements and circuit upgrades.
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Great idea. Will look into it
Dependent on which NAS this is, it seems likely that there are 2 ethernet ports for general use:
a DAC doesn’t generally “speak” ethernet unless it has a streamer built in (like the Bridge II on the older DS DAC).
If it is a NAS designed specifically for music use only or primarily then the 2nd RJ45 could be I2S rather than ethernet.
You really need to tell us what NAS it is…
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Thanks Paul,
I have an isolated empty slot in the chain galvanically waiting for the AL.
No problem. With my memory it could easily have been me who misremembered.
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That’s where my core curiosity lies; comparisons to the transports that have been on the market for quite some time.
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Amen Brother!
We have Qobuz and Roon and we are just starting to scratch the surface of new (to us) music.
Have you listened to any Marcin’s songs…amazing.
Just my thoughts,
Steve
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Agreed! 
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IMHO/ most consumers are looking for the best bang for the buck.
“Substance over style” has been our motto for over 45 years in the restaurant business. It helps us offer a higher quality product for a more reasonable price.
We are PS Audio customers, because we believe they offer the best bang for the buck in high end audio equipment.
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Hello, indeed that would be a more capable NAS than usual. Before buying anything else, recommend you set up the Lumin between the NAS and the DAC and see how it goes.
Some folks like to use USB to the DAC. Others would recommend using AES. Though USB can do higher levels of DSD. What level of DSD files (64, 128, 256, 512) do you have? PS Audio supports up to DSD256.
Sending DSD over UPnP can be tricky too. Many media server programs (maybe all but Twonky) do not support DSD (i.e., maybe only Twonky does support).
Other matters: The Lumin app will give you the choice of Tidal or Qobuz. But Qobuz does not have the equivalent of Tidal Direct. So Qobuz support is not as complete with the AirLens, which does not have its own OEM app.
I am waiting on one crucial piece of gear that is supposed to arrive tomorrow. The house we live in was built in 1973. There was no such hting as the Ethernet back then so I have no cabling of any type in my walls. My WiFi and Ethernet come into the house from a WiFi router supplied by my ISP. It is in the lowest level of the house where our TV system is. When we recently got a smart TV I decided to run 65’ of Cat8 cable from the router to the TV my wife was not happy. When I suggested running 125’ of Ethernet cable from the router to the far corner of the lower level and then drill a hole through the sealing and floor to reach the second level of the house were my audio system is my wife had a one word answer, NO!
Thus after much research I have a supposedly great WiFi extender that will give me four Ethernet ports were I need them. I made certain this NAS welcomes and supports DSD and the maker knows about the Twonky server software. Once I have Ethernet where I need it I will first setup the NAS and using its USB port to send DSD using DoP ( the NAS supports DoP ) to the DS MK2 until the Airlens arrives. Right now I record DSD64, but I have another ADC that will let me record DSD128, so I will give it a try once I have the NAS setup.
Setting up the Lumin will follow after the NAS is working. Your last paragraph about Tidal or Qobuz is beyond my current understanding. All I know about Qobuz is they have hi-rez PCM files. As I said above I got into this for the NAS to be a music server. If the streaming works that’s great, if it doesn’t work I will return the Lumin.
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I sympathise with you on the Ethernet coverage, or lack of, Wi-Fi is a lot more hassle when it has problems!
Best of luck with the adventure, and please, remember most of us are “gear heads” here - please do report back on results, and when you can, that music focussed NAS sounds interesting too
I’m a synology user, but for basic file sharing services only (smb and nfs),
using raspberry pis for music server and streamers.
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I play files stored on a Synology NAS, using MinimServer installed on the Synology and controlled via an iPad with Mcontrol. DSD64 is no problem. I have never been able to experiment with higher-rate DSD because the Bridge II is limited to single rate, but AFAIK MinimServer will handle higher rate files.
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I live in an old house (built 1935) where all the walls are filled with closed cell foam insulation (which is awesome from an energy point of view, but horrible when it comes to running wires).
Instead of trying to run wires, I invested in a mesh network (Orbi). I get close of 900mb/s anywhere in my house (and it’s ~3500 sq.ft on 4 floors). And yes, I do have a 1gb fiber to that’s why the speed is so high, but the point is that it’s not limiting in any way.
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Who is your ISP? How does the Orbi work with it given that it does not use the same frequencies?
I have fiber from Frontier and they gave me 3 of the Amazon EERO devices. they do work great. Wired getting 900mbs+. On my iphone 13 I get 305 down and 235 up on last test I just ran. That is plenty
That being said, I still have everything wired, its the IT guy in me. But I am lucky that I had access to run all those before the walls went up.
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