Where should I go from here with my digital front end?


Good morning

My digital front end consists of a recently purchased  Lumin U2 Mini hard wired with Supra ethernet cable from an Eero mesh unit. Modem and Eero router located on 2nd floor. My listening room is in the basement.

My listening is 100% streaming from Tidal and Quboz with a budget of under $1k

should I:

1) upgrade the supra cable

2) add an Etherregen or Eno filter

3) add an audiophile switch such as the English Electric

4) other

Thanks!

 

emil

Showing 4 responses by audphile1

Here’s the thread I started where I posted more details on the comparison between different ethernet configurations including the optical set up.

 

@emil I also use EERO and had Lumin U1 Mini. I highly recommend Purist ethernet cable. It’s a sleeper.
If you can pick it up used its insane value. New retail is around $370. I A/B’d it with Supra ethernet cable(stock and the telegartner terminated versions) and there’s a significant difference. I sold the Supra.
Purist gives you lower noise floor, much better details and soundstage and more vivid presentation. 
If you want to spend more, the Network Acoustics Eno streaming system is very good but it’s more of a different flavor than the Purist in that the Eno does everything that Purist does but in a slightly more relaxed way. I like both the Purist and Eno.

I tried the fibre optic solution with Lumin U1 Mini and while it did lower the noise floor and presented a more detailed soundstage, it didn’t sound as natural as the purist or the eno. I ended up sending that stuff back. I would not recommend a switch as the Purist or the Eno will be enough of an improvement and result in less clutter. 

Here’s the thing with the fibre optic conversion…it’s resilient to the EMI and RFI after the signal is converted into fibre optic, however the converter modules themselves introduce their own garbage into the signal. In my system it manifested itself as glare, glassy and thin sound and that didn’t work out for me. YMMV.
 

You have to find the solution that does the least amount of harm while removing what doesn’t belong in the signal.
That is why ultimately I returned the fibre optic converters and went for the passive Network Acoustics Eno streaming system.

I agree with Amazon return policy it would be a sin not to try this fibre optic stuff. If it works for you, that’s an awesome first step. 

@emil LOL

Glad to hear it made a difference. The drop in the noise floor is in line with what I experienced in my system as well. 
Now you can add a better Ethernet cable like that Purist I mentioned or another good cable of your choice and take it to the next level. The Purist May rebalance the bass to a degree. It’s one of its strengths.