PS Direct Stream Vs. Lumin X 1 Sound quality difference?
I think I'm going to purchase a Lumin X-1 and sell my PS Direct Steam Dac. Can anyone share their experience with these 2 products, particularly in sound quality?
kren0006, I can’t believe how much fuller and immersive the soundstage is. The surround sounds better than my home theater equipment! Solo’s leap out at you. Again, I say it sounds through the speakers like listening with headphones. It took a while to get to this point compared to the sound the first week, it has improved leaps and bounds since then.
It is truly better, quantitatively 2X or more over the PS Dac. It should though, it costs 2x more! Well worth the extra cost in my opinion. I’m lucky I was able to trade in and sell several pieces of equipment to make the cost difference less painful.
mecani, I have about the same amount of hours on my X1. I would say it will probably improve at a more gradual rate going forward, based on what I have read. When is the end of improvement? Who knows? I am very happy at this point.
First impression, perhaps a little sharp sounding, but its new and I assume a break in adventure is needed.
I know this was written back on July 7 so perhaps this has resolved with burn-in, but I was curious if you have been using the Stillpoints Ultra SS. My U1 sounds so much better without footers (I’ve tried BDR carbon fiber cones and Golden Sounds ceramic cones). I get the richest, dyanmic, while remaining neutral sound simply using a Symposium Segue platform. I’m going to compare to an Ikea bamboo board soon. Cones however just kept giving me a sharp treble edge and stole bass.
Yes, I am using the Stillpoints Ultra SS under the X1. I just tried it without the Stillpoints and I prefer it with the Stillpoints. The SS provide a more focused image in the soundstage.
BTW, the sharpness has disappeared quite a few hundred hours ago. Sounds really good to me.
My X1 took well over a month even to start sounding good, and really 2-3 months before becoming exceptional. I have had it now for about 9 months and, seriously, I'm sure it is still improving. I've never before experienced such a dramatic change from running in of any component I have had, and over such a long time. After the first month I still wanted to sell it, and now I cannot imagine how a digital component could sound better.
I tried the isoacoustic footers with my X1 and I also found that it made the sound worse - sucked out the bass and lower midrange and made it sound thin. I just leave it with the stock footers.
I also prefer the ethernet input to the fibre optic cable, which I find a little artificial sounding. I use an Uptone etherRegen with a DH Labs ethernet cable which I found did make an improvement. And I also prefer native file resolution - no upsampling.
Charlie Watts on Get Yer Ya Ya’s Out- "Sympathy For Devil" is just insane!!! Love this version. His drumming, especially after Mick stops singing is sublime...
My hats off to all that contributed to this great thread.
I am contemplating a couple of upgrade options:
1) Lumin X1 stand-alone streamer/DAC
2) Lumin U1 streamer and an Audio Mirror Trubadour SE III tube DAC.
I also prefer the ethernet input to the fibre optic cable, which I find a little artificial sounding. I use an Uptone etherRegen with a DH Labs ethernet cable which I found did make an improvement. And I also prefer native file resolution - no upsampling
I have a similar setup, I have an ER before the X1 too. What kind of SFP’s did you try?
First I had Planet single mode SFP modules in them and that was really worse than the Ethernet from the B-side of the ER. After that I tried StarTech multi mode SFP’s recommended by Peter Lie from Lumin, and that sounds even better than the LAN from the ER...it’s hard to believe but these modules really sound different. BTW, it is very promising that it is still improving after 9 month, mine is about 1 month old now.
Note sure what the SFPs were - whatever I could find at my local computer store. I might have to try different SFPs, though at the moment I'm very happy with the X1 and don't really want to mess with it. I have generally found that ESS based DACs take a long time to run in - but usually weeks not months! I suspect it is the output transformer which is the major difference with the X1 and which takes a long time to burn in.
While I have owned the X1 I have also compared it periodically to my Mytek Manhattan II (also a great DAC). At first - during the first month - I preferred the Mytek. The X1 sounded rather two dimensional and muddled, with rolled off highs. Over time the highs extended, the bass extended and tightened, and the sound stage moved back further and further. The delta with the Mytek became greater and greater. Recently I did the comparison again and the X1 has moved further ahead, with the kind of holographic presentation and sense of realism and presence that it barely hinted at during the first month or two.
Ingresa tu texto ...It improves even more! Mine has about 400 hours and I am impressed, I have it connected by fiber with a melco s100 sfp multimode switch. This afternoon a colleague also has the melco s100 and he has brought it home to test, we have connected everything in series by fiber. !AWESOME! I'm going to ruin
Let Mecani answer but I’ll add that fiber is thought to be the best connection on some other well known audio forums. Explained there in lots of technical detail as well. No personal experience so just passing along. But it’s yet another thing to learn and spend on if you’re up to it.
Ingresa tu texto ...The melco s100 seems to me an essential device if you want to get the most out of the lumin, regardless of whether you are going to use the fiber or not
Not only is the melcos100 there are other more affordable models, they all improve the sound obviously some more than others https://englishelectric.uk/
I would guess the X1 would be the winner. Correct me if I am wrong, down the road if some, new magical DAC is released, you can keep using the x1 as a streamer and feed the new dac...correct?
After a few months of back and forth with ethernet vs fiber, I prefer the ethernet on my X1. When I use fiber, the sound stage collapses, no separation of instruments, etc, just very 2D sounding with fiber.
Ozzy, I have it connected just like Lumin recommends using a
TP-Link 8 Port Gigabit PoE Switch with 10Gtek
1.25G SFP Transceivers and
Beyondtech PureOpticsLC to LC Fiber Patch Cable Single Mode Duplex - 1m (3.28ft). I originally thought it sounded better. Then after about a month I switch back to ethernet just for the heck of it and I was like Wow! Big difference
Ozzy, people say the noise is eliminated through the fiber but that may not be totally true. Using fiber requires putting two more conversion circuits in the path, the two transceivers.
Ozzy, How do you figure??? Unless the switch has one built in where you can plug the fiber direct into the switch (which the switch would still have the conversion circuit), you must use a transceiver on the lumin end. If I'm wrong I'm all ears and would love to try what you are talking about.
Ozzy, you cannot plug a fiber cable directly to the X1, only a SFP Transceiver. Your answers are very vague. Please be more specific of what you are doing as I would love to give it a try if I'm doing something wrong.
Yes, I am confused as well reading the last two comments. Let's get the terms settled and confirmed so that everyone is clearly communicating and describing the connections.
@ozzy I think the X1 does not have a built in transceiver, or at least mine doesn’t :) I have installed and tried different modules, it can be removed and replaced as it is shown on the diagram.
I did have to install a transceiver into the X1, its been a while, and I can blame it on the fact that I'm old... and I forgot. As I now recall, I did buy a pretty good transceiver to use with it. So don't cheap out on that one. And, I eventually added a Uptone Ethernet converter for the conversion to fiber.
Also, for the conversion to fiber, use cat 5 cable. Stay away from the higher 6,7,8 they have more shielding in them. Big upgrade for me though over the Ethernet cable.
Everyone, don't just assume using fiber with the X1 will result in better sound as results will vary. I currently like the ethernet over the fiber but willing to give one more try with different transceivers.
Aloha! Arriving late to the discussion....a very good and informative one I must say! Hope this is not a hijack or that it should be a separate post. So up until a few weeks ago I was on course to buy a U1 streamer to run into my Luxman D-10X DAC section. Well those plans got a bit derailed and I am now putting CD playback on a back burner as far as upgrading right now. No more D-10X at least for now. So my thought goes toward the X1. And at this point it is really the only Streamer DAC I am considering. So that part is easy :-) Question is...I use Roon (sometimes reluctantly) and wish to also use the Lumin app. I stream Qobuz and have a reasonable sized library of Hi-res and CD quality stuff. BTW....my modem and router are next to the hifi rack. What do I use to get al this stuff to the X1? A NUC, Nucleus, NAS? As you can tell, I am a complete digital idiot! I figured I ask the easy stuff first before digging into ethernet, switches etc...hahaha. Mahalo for your help.
mauidj, I will do my best, I have an 8TB external hardrive plugged into the usb port that has all my music on it and I just use the Lumin app.
I stream Qobuz daily but the X1 is Roon capable. BTW, they just added 40 high quality radio stations.
Thanks ozzy. So if I dont have a huge need for Roon's interface, multi room stuff or DSP tricks I would not need any computer to play my music and Qobuz streams? All done within the Lumin app. I have to think it would sound better than having a computer in the way...no? Like I said...I'm a digital idiot!
People read all of this (forum)in hopes mining information. I'm one.
I just got an X1 and sure enough at first it sounded thin and harsh and then after more use BAM..I can't get enough. I had a T2 and it comes close to the X1 but the X1 is a bit more resolving.
For those of you wanting to upgrade or jump right in the X1 is all that it's professed to be. Make sure your chair is comfortable for you will be spending more time there.
My other learning has been that sound always is better when your iPad isn't by your head bouncing sound waves off the surface.
If I understand it, the clock goes into the EtherRegen overriding it’s clock? What After Dark one did you get please? ( apologies if you already said) Same with the fiber cable? I currently have an off the rack optical cable and switch recommended on the LUMIN web site.
For the EtherRegen power supply I was thinking an S Booster. Thoughts?
Yes, the clock is to improve on the EtherRegen clock. I bought the AfterDark clock that is supposed to mate well with the EtherRegen, I think it is called the Queen. If you buy the AfterDark power supply for the clock it has 2 power outputs, one for the Uptone and the other for the AfterDark clock. Yes, I put a QSA red inside the Lumin power supply. I also moved the Synergistic orange fuse to the AfterDark power supply.
Oh, the fiber optic cable was from what was available from Amazon. That stuff is relatively cheap. I did however buy a pretty good transceiver for the Lumin to plug in the fiber cable.
And, if you want to spend more money, the Critical Mass footers are very good under the Lumin.
Ok..found theAFTERDARK. BLACK MODERNIZE LINEAR POWER SUPPLY FOR SYNOLOGY DS918+ & QNAP HS-453DX or is it the other smaller one (I see the 2 power outputs in the photo)? But (getting my ducks lined up) what cords are using to go for the Afterdark PSU to the EtherRegen and the Afterdock clock?
As for transceiver upgrade that sounds good too. What did you go with?
I have decided to get the extra works for the 1X. On list Audio Sensibility power Signature Lumin X1 Silver DC Cable.
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