That’s weird… when I upgraded my streaming from a laptop feeding my dac via USB to an Auralic Aries feeding the same dac via USB, the improvement was immediately audible. Lower noise floor, better separation of instruments, more apparent detail. I’ve toyed with the idea of trying out a lumin; your post really puts me off the idea.
Lumin U2 mini vs Mac laptop sound test
I compared and performed a blind test for a listening friend of the following streamer set ups.
1. Router hard wire into Lumin U2 then AES into DAC
2. Wifi into Mac air, out of Mac air via cheap USB cables from my printer and an adapter to go from USB C to whatever USB termination goes into the DAC.
Conclusion. My friend could not hear a diff. I "think" I hear a difference but not confident I could pass a blind test.
Rest of system:
SPL Director DAC/Preamp
SPL S1200 power amp
Kirmuss speaker cables
Audio Solutions Figure M
I did this for knowledge and fun. Please let me know any thoughts but I can not see how spending a lot of money for a streamer makes any sound difference.
John
Love this stuff