timbo

Yes I’ve had that problem as well, but I know what caused it, but it may not be the same as your situation. I’ve learned never to ask Roon to ‘clear up’ library, as when it does it will remove any Qobuz favourites that it can’t find in their database for whatever reason… I’ve lost dozens of albums from my Roon library and Qobuz favourites this way! Best way is to do what you have done and export regularly to Soundiz - you can also export from Roon to a spreadsheet file, this can then be loaded into Soundiz later if need be. I don’t think Roon talks nicely to Qobuz sometimes so I’ll probably be leaving Roon when Qobuz Connect comes online shortly.

Thanks for the suggestions all, I've opted for the Lumin U1 Mini in the end... I realised that it's not all about how it sounds, it's about what it means to me. I've been in the hifi wilderness for a long while, making do and making ends meet sort of thing - all good fun and I have the most amazing pair of DIY speakers to show for it! But now I don't have to do this anymore so the Lumin is a statement of intent more than anything else... I'm sure it will sound great and stand me in good stead for a long while, it will certainly look amazing in the rack - and you know, that's important too! 😊 Thanks again!

Can anyone tell me if this is a shielded network cable (as it seems not to be recommended in the post by @wklie above for the Lumin?) It might not be obvious form the image, but the cable is totally flat, so even though it seems to have a metal connector maybe this cable isn't shielded?

HI all - I've been asking around and hoping for some consensus - is something lovely and sexy like the Lumin U1 Mini really an upgrade in sound quality terms to say an Allo DigiOne Raspberry Pi solution? I want it to be, I mean it ought to be - £1695 compared to a few hundred? I would very much like a real piece of hifi in my rack, but to be fair if it doesn't sound any better then... 🤔 At present I have Roon feeding a DigiOne into a Denafrips Ares II DAC and through a Heed Obelisk SI integrated, coming out through my own DIY Mark Audio full range single driver floor-standers - the system is surprisingly transparent to source changes I have found. The Ares II prefers SPDIF input so that rules out the majority of USB streamers there seem to be about. The Allo is a great little intro to streaming but I really fancy something more audiophile and looking the part... maybe I'm just being silly and as they say a fool and his money are soon parted! 😂

Just to say I've been trying to send to an Auralic Mini in UpNP Renderer mode for many weeks to no avail, each time Qobuz release a new version of the Mac desktop app I try, it doesn't work and I send them the Activity Log, they say thanks... getting a bit like Groundhog Day. Wonder why they suddenly decided to implement UpNP, wonder if they are wishing they hadn't bothered! ? I would love to use the excellent desktop app to send full fat hi-res music to my Auralic Mini, the Lightning DS app is driving me crazy with odd behaviour, bugs, poor integration with Qobuz new features and no updates for months! I understand it may work well with those who still serve up files but for a Qobuz from end it is sadly lacking. On an interesting note, I did talk to Chord as I have the Mojo as my main system DAC and thought maybe the Poly might work as that's a UpNP endpoint, but they say probably not but they are working with Qobuz now towards something or other... hmm ?

Hi folks - I can see lots of posts in here about linear power supplies for the Mini but most of the recommendations seem to be stateside, as I am in the UK I was wondering if anyone would like to offer any advice on which of these little chaps might be the better option for me. I am using a Chord Mojo DAC connected via USB and hoping I might cut down on the digital edge a little? Wasn't after spending lots of cash so these seem ideal just to try - I am sure I read in here that R-core transformers were a 'good' thing but I can't find it now! ? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Finished-65VA-Ultra-Low-Noise-linear-Power-supply-5V-9V-12V-15V-18V-etc/221873423925?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649 https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/272802743541?clk_rvr_id=1457468207335&rmvSB=true Cheers Tim

Just a thumbs up here for the app and the Qobuz service, I find the app (iPad and iPhone) absolutely stable and often updated with new features. The Mac OS desktop app is brilliant and reading the articles (somewhat strangely called Panoramas?) then playing albums and tracks from there is great way to discover new artists and music. I did moan to them when I first took on the Sublime Plus service as some of the albums marked Hi-Res will only stream Hi-Res if you buy them first, but that is becoming rarer now as more labels get accustomed to the idea to allowing Hi-Res streaming. I actually cannot praise Qobuz enough, I can't stand Tidal's over emphasis on urban dance music, whereas Qobuz invite me to an eclectic range of new music discovery. I find their app feature development (OK it's not Roon but it's getting there!) quite astonishing considering their size and market reach - I wish them every success for the future. (Of course they are French, there is that, and sometimes I can spend a while explaining a problem in an email that simply doesn't translate all that well - but maybe that will change with US integration! ?)

Oh and while I'm here, does anyone notice a degradation in sound quality using the Mini and it's own internal DAC whilst streaming TO it via AirPlay as opposed to streaming FROM it? I was comparing normal res 16 bit files from Qobuz the other day streamed over AirPlay compared to played direct via the Mini and I must say the AirPlay was noticeably poorer qoulity sound? The reason I was doing this is because Infeel the Qobuz apps and particularly their desktop app are miles ahead of the Lightning app in usability - I wonder why the input from the Mini's own streaming API links to Qobuz would sound better than the AirPlay stream? Surely it all arrives unaltered to the built in DAC?

Yes I've moaned at Auralic for that as well, somit seems like they can't do it as 1,000 tracks is there maximum to hold in memory and shuffle perhaps?

Yep and it sounds as good as needs to for me - this isn't classical or jazz or raw blues recorded down to two track tape in 1956, this is modern, much processed, multi-tracked and well fiddled with pop, it has probably worked its way through thousands of circuits in hardware and software before it had reverb added and goodness knows what else to get just the sound required by the producer - well maybe that's a bit over the top but you know what I mean!! ;-)

Heard the Hugo at Bristol Show - unimpressed - maybe it was just to noisy in the room with all the other stuff?

> Version History - aTV Flash (black) > NEW: 24-bit and 32-bit audio (downmixed)

Yes, I do see most people like the 'sound' of these programs, but I was really looking for a reason they might sound more accurate I suppose - after all if BitPerfect outputs bit perfect and iTunes outputs bit perfect then… well you see my drift :0) I do understand that other things come into play, such as jitter or digital 'noise', but surely thats down to hardware, not software. Surely all the software does is cue up the file and send it to the OS (core audio?) to output via the chosen port? You could probably do the same thing via terminal commands or a little programming script! Obviously if the software is manipulating the file in some way it would sound 'different', but then it wouldn't be bit perfect. I can also see how loading the file into RAM before sending to the I/O could help with interface timing/buffer overflow what have you, but does this do anything other than stop pops or stutters? My understanding is that providing your DAC pretty much immunes itself to interface issues, re-clocks and maybe uses an optical interface - then any two sources into that DAC should sound the same - if they are both outputting the same file and they both output bit perfect. I am not saying that PM or Amarra or BitPerfect don't sound different (in fact I didn't realise BitPerfect was so sensibly priced so I shall probably download and try it for myself with Toslink straight out of the Macbook) it's the 'why' I'm after really. Because so far it is sounding remarkably like the audiophile tweaks and enhancements I left well and truly behind when I bit the bullet and allowed a noisy PC into my listening room and was amazed at how wonderful it sounded :0) PS. Maybe some DAC's benefit from what this software does more than others?

Thanks so far, all sounds very interesting! :0) @wgscott Thanks for the 'non-snake-oil' bits! I can see where the sample rate switching would be very useful when I have some more HD tracks to play with, presumably these programs talk direct to core audio and do this (wonder why iTunes doesn't?) and I had read about reading the file into memory before playing, I can see where that might help with busy systems, reducing HD access and possibly buffer problems. In general I am trying to avoid getting caught up in audiophile tweaks these days, unless they have some empirical and logical justification. After 'downgrading' to the ADM's my Meridian system went to a good home, along with thousands of pounds of cables, isolating platforms, power supplies and what not! I now have just the digital source and the speakers… wonderfully minimalist - and these active digital speakers are stunning. I was just about to spend three times as much on a pair of speakers to add to my original Meridian system and then these came along and blew the whole thing right out of the water! :0) I 'like' the idea of optical digital interface where computers are concerned, alleviates the worry of digital interference getting down the cable at least, I presume my ADM's DAC up-samples and re-clocks, either way the extra reported jitter from things like ATV or AX doesn't seem to worry them at all. Obviously computers (even lovely Macs!) are digitally noisy things, and I wonder if this could be improved by SSD instead of a spinning drive, and maybe a 'hog' mode that turns off all system activity other than that used to deliver the audio file to the I/O? (I thought that's what 'hog' mode did - I just send system sounds to my internal speaker, that seems to avoid stuff coming through the hi-fi). I do concern myself a bit with Airplay streaming, is it just basic computer network stuff, in which case every bit that gets sent will arrive exactly as sent or will be resent until it does (there are far more crucial systems that send bits across networks than audio! If networking wasn't 'bit perfect' the worlds financial systems would be in serious trouble - oops! they are! :0) I mean - what is exactly inside an Airport Express, a network card with USB printer sharing and a DAC presumably? It's amazing that little device - now, has anyone thought of opening one up and replacing the digital out with a bit perfect straight through version - so we could get 24bit/96Khz streaming? That would be fun!