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CD Players, Digital Music & Servers Aurender, dCs, Esoteric, Lumin. |
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#1
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Auralic Aries G 2.1 or Lumin U1 ?
I'm looking for a new streamer/network player.
I have a DAC I like. Any opinions on these two great units? User friendly and sound quality are my top priorities. Any and all opinions are very much appreciated. |
#2
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I owned an Aries G2. I actually liked the software better than the Aurender interface I use now. It was a good sounding unit. It might depend on what DAC you are using… mine was a bit too revealing and the noise floor was a bit high and caused central image confusion. That went away with the two Aurenders which I tried. At least that was my conclusion. So, I guess, it is like all components, they are somewhat dependent on the system you put it in. It is very well reviewed. I have no experience with the Lumina.
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George Main: Aurender W20SE music streamer, ARC REF 9SE DAC / CD, Linn LP 12, Koetsu Rosewood SignCartrige, ARC REF 3 Phono Stage, ARC REF 6SE Preamp, ARC 160s amp, Sonus Faber Amati Traditional Speakers,Transparent Ultra IC & SC Library:Aurender N100, Ayre QB9 2020 DAC, Woo WA5-LE amp upgraded tubes, Focal Utopia HP, Sennheiser 800s HP, LCD HP. |
#3
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Deviating from your current shortlist but since you mentioned you'd appreciate all opinions I'd like to suggest the Innuos ZENith Mk3, which is a streamer-server-ripper, excellent built, sound quality and user interface, and can act as Roon end point. I'm using one in my main system with great satisfaction, coming from the Auralic original Aries which is now running in my secondary system.
Regarding the 2 units you mention, from what I gather (but no direct experience with those specific models) the Lumin will sound a bit more leaner vs the Auralic. Actual owners of those models will correct me if I'm wrong and elaborate further on their sonic attributes. So I totally agree with George, in the end it's a matter of system matching. Ideally you might want to borrow those units from your local dealers for testing in your home system. If you're buying used then pick the one that made top of your list after making your rounds on forums and if it doesn't match your system then at least the re-sell pain is lesser and you can move on to the another unit... Good luck and keep us posted!
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Sonus Faber Elipsa SE | REL S/812 | Goldmund Telos 280 | EAR Yoshino 912 | Merason DAC1 | Innuos ZENith Mk3 | Clearaudio Innovation Basic + TT5 + Lyra Delos | Studer A810+A807 | Nakamichi Dragon | RDacoustic Hybrid Acoustic Diffuser |
#4
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I’d second the advice from above about the Zenith Mk3 - it’s a great unit and Innuos are about to launch their own app control as well which will complete the picture.
I don’t have any experience with the Auralic or Lumin but the Aurender N10 and Esoteric N-03T are both solid performers as well. Good luck with the search! |
#5
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I have the U1 and the sound is incredible, input to the DAC of my K01x. It will up or down sample any format making it compatible with any DAC. The user interface is very pleasant and easy to use. There is a full array of inputs negating the use of USB which I'm told has the poorest sound quality.
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System: ML:5206,5302 Serafino's Nordost Lumin U1 RM15 |
#6
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+1
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Doug 2-Channel McIntosh C2700, (2X)MC601, MEN220 Lampizator Baltic 3 Sonore opticalRendu, SGC sonicTransporter i5 (Gen 3), Roon Thorens TT TD318 B&W 803D3 JL Audio (2x)f110v2 Shunyata Denali/S v2, Alpha v2 PCs, WW Gold/Silver Eclipse Interconnects, Platinum USB Whole House Music Listening Bluesound Vault2i, PowerNode2, PulseMini2i, Pulse2, (3x)Flex 5.2 System Above using Passthru Marantz SR7012 Oppo 205, Apple TV (4th gen), Sony XBR850e65 B&W HTM2 D3 Second 5.1 System Castoffs from Upgrades LRC Paradigm Millenia 20, Velodyne MiniVee 10, KEF surrounds, DefTech AW6500 |
#7
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I might go for the Auralic between those 2 choices unless you must have the first unfold of MQA in which case Lumin is your only option (I know Auralic claims to have a filter that mimics MQA, though).
The Auralic is newer and seems very well designed and can hold an internal drive. I have a Lumin A1 and X1 and I don't like the sound of any upsampling. Your opinion might differ but if you generally prefer to upsample vs listen in native, weigh the capabilities of the Auralic for that because they might be better than Lumin. As far as the app, I don't love the design of the Lumin app. It works well but could be more user friendly from an ergonomic standpoint. It's got tons of options, though. I like the look of the Auralic app better though I've never used it.
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Christian south: Mark Levinson No. 52 pre, Bricasti M28 amps, Lumin A1, Oppo BDP-205, Pioneer CT-43, Sony SS-AR1 Speakers, Audioquest Dragon PCs, Audioquest speaker cables, Audioquest interconnects, HB Power Design Powerslave Star Galaxy power distributor north: Vitus SIA-030, Luxman D10X, Sony TC-KA3ES, Harbeth 40.2, Siltech cables |
#8
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Great replies...Thanks for all the feedback.
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#9
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'I like the look of the Auralic app better though I've never used it.'
Sorry, I can not agree- I tried the Auralic G1- fantastic sounding streamer- BUT the Auralic app (DS Lightning) is a disgrace. Constantly crashing- adding songs to playlists you haven't selected, awful search function, confusing interface. I gave up after 2 days of total frustration trying to get this app to work properly. Back it went to the Dealer who admitted that they couldn't get it to work properly in Store either. The software needs a lot of work and until they sort it out, I cannot recommend Auralic Streamers- no matter how good they sound! |
#10
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Quote:
If the app still runs as you have described....that would be a deal breaker. |
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