[Equipment Evaluation] Source of High Quality Music: LUMIN U2 Mini Digital Streaming Pure Turntable

remember that when the High End audio started to play digital streaming files many years ago, many people still used the existing PC or laptop as the main playback source, and then digitally output it to DAC for decoding by means of USB, SPDIF, etc. At that time, many burning friends found that as long as the software or hardware of the computer or laptop was optimized and adjusted, the sound would be significantly improved, and its importance was indescribable. After many years, many manufacturers in the High End market have introduced digital streaming pure turntables. There are many products ranging from tens of thousands of entry-level products to even more than one million levels. The products are quite mature. Enthusiast no longer need to build them by themselves. It is definitely time to invest for digital streaming customers, regardless of the system level. You will be surprised at the sound improvement it brings, and the attached rich functions and convenient and friendly operation will make people fall in love directly.

Lumin can be said to be one of the earliest brands to invest in High End digital streaming. Its market-leading design, specifications and functions, and its self-developed powerful APP have many loyal users all over the world. We have also evaluated many Lumin products before. This agency arrangement is U2 Mini digital streaming pure turntable using Lumin's latest generation processing system, which replaces U1 Mini, which was widely popular before, in terms of hardware and software, the overall upgrade has increased the flexibility of the resampling frequency (resampling), which can increase or decrease the frequency between 44.1kHz and 384kHz/DSD256. The 4-core clock system and 5 digital outputs originally carried by U1 Mini are all retained. Among them, the USB decoding capability has been improved to DSD512. In terms of appearance, the silk processing of high-order model P1 is also adopted, with better texture. Although it is the entry-level model of Lumin, it is already quite perfect in all aspects. It is not too much to say that U2 Mini is the elite version of the high-level model. As a pure turntable, it has a very complete range of up to 5 kinds of digital output. However, the support format, coding, communication protocol and streaming service that burning friends are most concerned about are basically reassuring when they hear Lumin, as long as they have all the Lumin they want. The U2 Mini supports up to DSD512, PCM 32Bit/768kHz, MQA, Roon Ready, Tidal, Qobuz, Spotify, Airplay... and more.

U2 Mini as a pure digital turntable, all kinds of digital output is very complete.

U2 Mini is extremely neat and clean, and the sound is natural.

LUMIN's own special APP can be said to be a classic representative of digital streaming equipment. It was almost the same when asked about the market a few years ago. It is simple, friendly, intuitive and powerful. It can be seen that the re-sampling options are more diversified, which also depends on the improvement of hardware.

this menu has to be mentioned, showing the functions of U2 Mini, including Leedh Processing Volume Control high-quality digital sound control, and the patent from Gilles Millot of Acoustical Beauty in France. If the front stage of the system itself is not very good, then you can completely consider using U2 Mini digital sound control to adjust the volume. At this time, your comprehensive expansion or front stage volume should be set at unity gain. In addition, there are MQA, Roon Ready... and other settings. If it is found that some functions cannot be used, go to the menu first to see if the function is opened.

's Best Network Streaming Player for Getting Started (Ted Chen)
As the most popular new product type in the fever market in recent years, how to choose is a big topic. If you want to achieve similar functions, everyone's home computer is fine, but not everyone is good at computers. Moreover, computers are an open multi-function device and often have to face small problems such as installation, update and compatibility, not to mention the shortcomings of computers that endanger sound performance, it is not impossible to solve these problems, but not everyone has the energy and ability to do it. Instead of this, it is better to choose a special equipment that is not too expensive, has complete functions and is easy to use. Any update in the future will be completed automatically. Lumin U2 mini is such a network streaming player that can make people listen to music easily and directly integrate into the original sound system.

U2 mini is a product designed for high-quality music playback. In terms of hardware design, it can meet the critical hearing requirements of enthusiasts, and supports the functions, file types and playback methods that most enthusiasts will use. It also has the functions of up-frequency and down-frequency, and then loses it to the DAC decoding originally used by users. The transmission methods include USB and other common methods, an interesting description "hit your DAC's sweetspot" is mentioned in the original factory description. When everyone pursues the highest format, have they also noticed the sweetness of their DAC decoding? Doing it well and doing it well are definitely two different things. This is why Lumin provides the function of frequency reduction. Assuming that we have high resolution files such as DSD256 in our hands, DAC decoding in PCM is more in line with your auditory enjoyment, then U2 mini provides space for users to switch to PCM and output to DAC for decoding after specifying the sampling rate. If you only like the original flavor, you can also listen to music without any frequency increase or frequency reduction.

convenience and support
Lumin is a brand that has been developed since before the popularity of network streaming players in the market. They know very well what the market and users need. For the success of the product, ease of use is definitely no less than a key to function or sound performance. Lumin has both hardware and software development as soon as it enters the market. Lumin App is a control software that fully meets the performance of the player and replaces all the control keys required by the player, therefore, you can't see any button on every Lumin network streaming media player, and Lumin App is very complete, beautiful and clear at a glance. It only takes 5 minutes to get familiar with all settings and control methods. As the market changes, Lumin can also support Roon, MQA and Spotify Connect at present, and will continue to support more online streaming media playing methods in the future. Finally, of course, the most realistic selling price is mentioned. When this article was published, the Lumin U2 mini was priced at 75,000 yuan, which is not much more expensive than a computer, but it allows users to enjoy high-quality online streaming and playing music once and for all. It is both convenient and flexible to use, seamlessly linking the original sound system, and users do not have to give up the original equipment, just like exerting a magic on the old system, instantly links the infinite world of flower music in the network.

bright and lively tone, natural and listening
Although it is said to be an entry-level model, the performance of the U2 mini is not inferior at all. Listening to the reference Dominique Fils-Aime "Nameless", the overall tone of the U2 mini is relatively bright and lively, the music is bright and energetic when playing, and it has quite good disclosure ability in sound lines and details. The overall music is light and flexible, and the frequency band balance is not abrupt. The sound lines of the human voice are accompanied by a good sense of audio and video positioning, and the separation from the background makes the stereoscopic impression obvious. The middle and low frequency bands do not particularly emphasize the sense of quantity but the trend of natural composure. The overall dynamics are suitable. When listening to other popular music, they are very natural and resistant to listening. Almost no selected tracks have a very average replay level.

background, strong music narrative description
U2 mini is suitable for playing almost any type of music, not only simple vocals, but also in complex and huge orchestra music, which is in line with the characteristics of a wide range of use. Referring to Hans Zimmer's "The World of Hans Zimmer", I feel whether Lumin U2mini is enough to show magnificent and detailed performance in the huge and multi-level music. In "The Da Vinci Code Orchestra Suite", the female singer brings the height and transparency of the appearance from the beginning. With the calm voice of the male chorus and the performance of the orchestra, the overall background is dark and quiet, which makes the music better portrayed in the space and shows sufficient small details and dynamics. The low-frequency and chord music makes the main melody more suspenseful and picture.

opening and closing (Wacko Wang)
Before using the Lumin U2 mini stream to play the turntable, listen to the "Ultraviolet" song sung by Freya Ridings. You can already feel that the whole song gives people a vast and magnificent feeling. However, although the song gives people a great feeling, you always feel that the picture in front of you seems a little hard to let go, like being pinned down and a little awkward. After using the U2 mini streaming playback turntable, I felt quite relieved to see that the whole picture was liberated, all kinds of sound details were freely running in front of my eyes, and the whole ostentation and ostentation were more magnificent. There was a kind of eyes that were originally half closed and completely opened up, and I felt the panoramic outline more clearly.

drums has also been significantly upgraded to a higher level. The original drums have been hitting the rhythm quite enjoyable and full. With the vibration of the air, they spread in front of their eyes in a rich and dense way, which is a feeling of bombardment full of impact. However, after using the U2 mini streaming playback turntable, its tightness has increased a lot, and the overall drum sound can be felt more continuous, with an uninterrupted vibration resonance. The comfort and satisfaction of listening are all increased because the sound is more connected and smooth.

details are clear and the charm is retained.
This was followed by the song "Quattro (World Drifts In)" from the album "Raise the Roof", a track performed by Robert Plant in collaboration with Alison Krauss. As the overall picture is more open, the details in the music are of course clearer. From the beginning, the light and dexterous plucking sound can be felt. In the center of a quiet background, the strings are quickly plucked in a compact and lively way. The feel of the strings and the positioning of the strings are very clear. With the beating melody, the overall picture is more vivid. The low-frequency part always maintains appropriate accompaniment, and the height of the music is raised in a timely manner in the song. At this time, you can hear the stable presentation of the middle and high audio segments in front of your eyes, and you can easily enjoy the different timbre aspects given by the music. Although the string rhythm of the track itself is slow to listen to, various medium and high-frequency musical instruments add a lot of light feeling to the rhythm, presenting the track in a perfectly balanced way. After listening to it, you can feel it quite well. The charm still lasts for a long time and is difficult to dissipate.

sound makes the music more coherent and smooth
Finally, the "Amazing" song by Teddy Swims was played. The original feeling was not so great, but after using the Lumin U2 mini streaming playback turntable, the sound of the piano at the beginning of the light can make people intoxicated. The piano sound is very clean, the sound of the medium audio will not make people feel particularly crystal clear and bright, but the crisp characteristics still cannot be covered up perfectly, and the feedback feeling of pressing is very sufficient, which is quite real. The part of the human voice can be heard quite clear and clean. Under the background of the bass drum, the result of matching with the slightly hoarse voice has created a quite calm and thick performance, which makes people feel full of strength, but not too vigorous. It is a just right sound.

at the end of the song, you can feel the air vibration resonance of the drums and the sound of the piano and the sound of the light to achieve a beautiful combination effect. If the sense of vibration of drums is insufficient, the human voice may be easily taken away by other musical instruments. However, if the sense of vibration of drums is too much, other musical instruments are easy to be ignored. However, the drums here are quite full and maintain appropriate strength. The relatively medium and high pitched piano sounds and pale sounds are slightly neutralized, presenting a fairly average timbre performance, and the human voice is set off and held in the background, after listening to the whole song, I can feel the coherence of the music and it is very smooth.

The above content is reproduced fromMY-HiEND