Lumin P-1

[Puma Cat]

Update regarding the Lumin P1...

I've been racking up more and more hours on the Lumin P1, and I continue to be more and more impressed with it. I estimate I've got 100 or so hours of burn-in on it, as i sometimes leave it on overnight, with the integrated amp powered off, but the P1 on with music files running through it.

I calculated the other day that by using the P1 with a direct fiber optical l connection, I was able to eliminate a significant number of "devices" from the streaming reproduction chain: no need for an Ethernet switch in the main rack, no need for an LPS for that Ethernet switch, no need for a network bridge, so no need LPS for the network bridge, AND...no need for power cords for those power supplies, AND... no need for an Ethernet cable or a USB cable. That’s…six, count 'em six, fewer “components” overall in the signal path from music server to DAC.

Just yesterday I put all the "networked music server" components onto a Shunyata PS10 power distributor in the "remote music server room", and that brought about a significant increase in audio quality. Things have come a long way since the venerable little Hydra 4.

Anyhoo...the P1 continues to impress me with it's performance for any and all high-end audiophile attributes that we tend to "geek out" about.

More to the point, it just makes MUSIC, and in a most wonderful way, indeed.

Paired with the luscious Constellation Inspiration integrated amp, which I'm still listening to as my dual-mono power supplies for my First Sound preamp only arrived just today after being upgraded with Shunyata's latest CCI-X noise filters, this combination makes for an exceedingly musical "perfect pairing", if you ask me.





More later, count on it, but in the meantime, I'm goin' back to listening to some pretty wonderful music.

[Puma Cat]

Just an update on my Lumin P1: I now have >400 hours of burn-in on my Lumin P1 (which replaced my First Sound preamp, SOtM network bridge, and Lampizator Baltic 3 DAC), and just as the nice folks at Lumin have said, once you get past 400 hours on the P1, things get considerably better. I honestly didn't understand how that was possible, but sure enough, once I got past 400 hours, what was already a VERY impressive integrated streamer, DAC, and preamp just..."EXPLODED" with a notable increase in overall audio quality: increased resolution, clarity, depth, imaging, soundstage, detail, articulation, dimensionality, presence, and most importantly, unparalled expression of tonality, timbre, and musicality. I continue to be "blown away" by just how good the P1 is...and, from what I've read, it will continue to improve past 500 hours. I know my comments appear to be "waxing poetic", but...goddam!

I had a good audio buddy over a couple weeks ago, before I had 400 hours on the P1, and he is very knowledgeable about music and very discriminating, and I let him listen to tracks of his choice, and he remarked that he heard things in the presentation by the P1 on tracks he knew really, really well that he had literally NEVER heard before. So, he left VERY impressed, as well.

Honestly, I'd rank the P1 in the top 5 or 6 components I have EVER heard, along with products from Technical Brain, DarTZeel, TAD, Esoteric, and Constellation. And while not inexpensive, I think the Lumin P1 provides an exceptional value proposition, on the whole, especially when one considers they're getting a veritable SOTA streamer, DAC, and pre-amp in a single "box". I used to think that in order to obtain maximal perforance, one needed a seperate streamer/network bridge, DAC and preamp. But...the Lumin P1 proved me entirely wrong on that front. It's not only been an illuminating journey, but an informative and educational one, as well. And, I know some guys will read this and still say to themselves, "Yeah, well, that's all well and good, PC, but...I still need a separate streamer/network bridge, DAC, and preamp."

Look, I get it...I used to think that, too. But the P1 proved me to be completely wrong on that point.

And, now my view is: "No...you DON'T."

Bottom-line: when it comes to a streamer, DAC, and preamp, I'm...done. And...VERY happy.

[McMan]

Congratulations! The P1 looks incredible. Did you have a chance to compare the P1 to the T3?

[Puma Cat]

Originally Posted by McMan

Congratulations! The P1 looks incredible. Did you have a chance to compare the P1 to the T3?

No, i haven't. Once I heard the P1, I knew I was...DONE.

See all this gear?

All the gear inside the red borders (and even more gear you can't see that are cables) is now...GONE. 15 bits o' gear! Gone!



All replaced by the single box on the leff middle shelf....



And...it sounds SO GOOD it continues to blow my mind every time I sit down for an evening of listening (the fully segmented Shunyata Altaira system helps, here, too).

[Puma Cat]

Just an update: As mentioned above, I'm now fairly past the 400 hour "burn-in" point for the Lumin P1, and it continues to impress with just how good, no amazing, it is. The Lumin P1 is proving to be not only one of the most MUSICAL audio components I've ever heard, as well as one of the most SATISFYING.

Listening to Mozart's Variations in C "Lison Dormait", K264 by the etraordinary Yeol Eum Son on Onyx, and the P1's abilty to render power, dynamism, scale yet subtlety along with shadings of tonality, timbre, spatiality, hall ambience, and "intimacy", just to name a few musical attributes it presents and delivers supremely well, leave me "gobsmacked", as the Brits say.



I'll post a more detailed set of impressions over the weekend if I can tear myself away, but...Good Lord.