Bricasti M5 or Lumin U1 Mini or ?
I am a big fan of the M5. It is built like a tank and is just a superb roon end-point. I have a few customers using this and it is at its very best when connected via AES or Digital Coax. An interesting alternative that is very good is the Chord 2Go/2Yu combo. It has wireless features but is at its absolute best as a wired Roon Endpoint and is at its very best when connected via BNC or Digital Coax. They are both very good connected via USB. |
Some use nano pi, some raspberry pi. I use a raspberry pi4 as a Roon bridge to my DAC through USB. I don't see the hardware making much of a difference in a streamer if their software implementation is proprietary it might affect the sound. I don't think it's well known on this site how many music streamers are based on these little pi boards. SkylightPaycard |
I’ve only tried one streamer which is what I own, but I do question statements that streamers don’t make a difference, as wouldn’t the claim be true with CDP and Transports which in my experience they do. With the BS Vault 2 which I own, it’s easy to hear the difference between Qobuz or Tidal to the same CD I’ve ripped to the internal hard drive, which every time the hard drive copy sounds better which definitely has me wanting to hear if there are streamers that are closer to say CD without spending silly money? Glad this discussion started as I’m looking at both the Lumin and Bricasti. I also have a RME ADI fs2 DAC with a Teddy Pardo PS which really helped the Bluesound, which is a great product for the money but I feel it’s the weakest link in my system. I’d have to hear the U1 Mini, but I’m sure I’d have to forgo the switch power supply for a linear supply so now you’re up to the cost of the M5 which already has a LPS. Haven’t subscribed to Roon so that would be an extra expense whereas not required on the Lumin. The Lumin does sound easier to navigate out of the box, but wouldn’t the Bricasti with Roon be as easy? |
