Lumin X1 and Upgraded DC umbilical cord for power supply.

Thanks willgolf for your experience, sounds like a worthwhile investment. The Lumin has a 10-pin configuration which seems to make the aftermarket cords limited to just a few companies.

Since I am using a high-end power cord (AQ Dragon) and a Synergistic Master fuse, I guess the natural evolution (for me) would be to upgrade the cord connecting the external power supply to the Lumin proper.

So, I took one for the team and went ahead and ordered the umbilical cord from Audio Sensibilities. There is even a 30-day guarantee!

I should have it late next week.

So, all you Lumin users take note...

ozzy

Thanks for the comments. Does the Westminster Labs cord use better contents than the Audio Sensibilities?

The latter, is said to be made with solid pure silver conductors and graphene etc.

Wonder why the Westminster is so much more expensive? I haven't been to discern its design.

ozzy

Yeah, it's too bad I couldn't get a dealer to let me try one while I have the Audio Sensibilities cable to compare. I would then follow the sound quality.

ozzy

spenav,

Well now you got me talking. (posting) With my Lumin X1 I am using Critical Mass CS2 1.5" footers on both the power supply and on the Lumin proper. I also have installed the new SR Master Fuse.

Both of these were very BIG improvements and easily a very high noticeable improvement in sound quality.

ozzy

Found this info from the manufacturer of the cable from Audio Sensibilities.

"The Lumin X1 power supply (PSU) provides five independent DC rails of power (one high current, four lower current). The Lumin X1 power supply cable uses top grade 10 pin Japanese DC connectors. All 10 pins of the connector are used with the required five twisted pairs of wire.

Like all high-end equipment manufacturers, Lumin provides very basic AC and DC power cables with the X1. This keeps the base cost of the X1 as low as possible. The customer can then independently decide if they wish to upgrade either of the stock cables.

The stock Lumin DC cable uses PVC insulated tough pitch copper (TPC) which is of a lower grade than OFC (better) or OCC (best) copper. Estimated cost is $2.00/m.

The Audio Sensibility DC cable uses cryogenically treated Teflon insulated OCC silver. This is the same OCC silver used in premium audio cables such as the Wireworld Platinum Eclipse 8 line.

OCC silver is very expensive and is the primary material cost of our cables. The Japanese DC connectors are also not inexpensive.

BTW: For this DC cable we are currently using Neotech solid core OCC silver wire. Wire use is 115% of the stated length of the cable."

ozzy

The DIY parts alone add up to 2/3 of the price of the AS X1 DC cable.

maxwave,

Probably money well spent.

ozzy

Hopefully tomorrow I will receive the Audio Sensibilities umbilical cord. If USPS comes through...

azwill,

I was surprised that the Lumin X1 power supply would perform better (sonically) with aftermarket footers.

ozzy

Here is post from a gent from the What’s Best forum on the subject.

"If I were to rank the umbilical cords on a scale of 0 to 10 with 0 being awful and 10 being perfect (and by definition, unattainable), I would put the stock umbilical cord at a 2 or 3, the Audio Sensibility umbilical at an 8 and the Westminster Lab umbilical at a 9 or 9.5.

The AS umbilical is a HUGE upgrade over the stock umbilical, and as a value proposition, it gives you the best bang for the buck. The WL umbilical is a smaller upgrade over the AS, but it provides, at least in a high-resolution system, noticeably more resolution, deeper bass, more extended highs as well as a greater control over attacks and decays.

It’s the law of diminishing returns -- you get more versus the AS umbilical, but the incremental cost per unit of improvement is much higher than the incremental cost per unit of improvement afforded by the AS umbilical over the stock umbilical."

I just received the cable today. Boy, what a PITA it is to connect the cable to the Lumin proper! What a design! Took a little swearing...

ozzy

charles1dad,

First the unit has to be turned upside down. Then there is a long rear top overhang that gives little to no room for my fat fingers. Then you have to line up the pins, push the connector in/down and thread the round ring that tightens the connector down.

Requires quite a bit of swearing, my dog is still hiding.

ozzy

Well, it's been a couple of days now and the lean sound that was first present seems to be gone. I was a little concerned.
If it is made truly with high grade silver, then I guess some break in is expected. I think Steve said 150 hours.

ozzy

mtseymour,

First off, I have been using fiber to my Lumin X1 for a long time. Pretty big uptick in sound quality over the ethernet cable.

The SR Master fuse also was a pretty good upgrade over the purple.

The dc power cord with the AS umbilical cable was an ok upgrade. Certainly not to the level of the other 2 I just mentioned. I doubt if the Westminister version would be much better, but boy is that one expensive!

ozzy

Thanks markalarsen,

I totally agree. It is hard to believe just a fuse can increases sound quality.

ozzy