Streamers: Lumin U2 vrs Aurender N200

@markmuse let it run for few days. If the streamer is new and was never used with Ethernet cable, that part of the unit needs to settle/break in. I wouldn’t dismiss that right out of the gate. Feed it some music 24/7, re-evaluate after 100hrs. 
Few other things I can think of, USB cable - DH Labs is not bad but it isn’t very refined up top. Not sure about your power cord. That’s easy to eliminate as a culprit - swap back to stock cord and see what that does. Get a baseline then see what the next steps would potentially look like. Don’t give up on it. Lumin U2 is a very nice streamer. But if you’re ready to get the Aurender, by all means try it. I love my N200 it’s awesome. But also requires careful cable and system matching. 

 

markmuse OP

224 posts

02-14-2024 at 06:18pm 

I’m feeding it fiber. Clean as a whistle. Cat 8 to converter, then fiber to the unit. All LPS. 
 

try copper. No converters. Run straight from router/access point into U2. Use a good usb cable and a power cord. You may be surprised. 

One other thing….not sure how it is in the U2 but with the U1 Mini that I had, enabling upconversion made it sound “processed”. So if you’re upgonverting may be try disabling it and do bit perfect. 
Also, Roon sounded slightly more natural than the Lumin app. 
But in your case, my money is on fiber conversion being the culprit. 

@markmuse cool. Forgot to ask…

how many hours on U2?
what USB cable are you using?

what dac?

@markmuse I’m familiar with DH Labs USB. It’s not bad but isn’t on the level of your front end. I’m using AQ Diamond and preciously had Audience AU24se+ and both are far superior to DH Labs. More refined and spacious sound with better bass and dynamics. Something to keep in back pocket for the next item to try of copper Ethernet doesn’t cure the issue. 

Can you get the stock power cables back on dac and U2? And use generic or DH Labs USB. Set the baseline. It’s very possible that your cables are influencing the annoyance in the presence region. Do you have silver or rhodium plated connectors somewhere in the chain?

A higher resolution component is usually not a drop and go or plug and play. Unfortunately making a major change like this may require additional changes elsewhere in the system. It’s voiced for the previous configuration. 

Getting the N200?

Somewhere there’s an issue. I’m not sure the U2 was the root cause. It probably just highlighted it. 

I believe it. Well good that you could return the U2. 
It’s all about synergy.