The Lumin L2 is a unique component; Lumin describe it thus; An advanced dual-drive music server requiring zero setup configuration and containing a 4-port audiophile-grade network switch.’
Which may be technically correct but what does it actually do for you?
How we get to that answer is the really interesting story and within this narrative we’ll unpack many aspects of the evolution of better digital sound.
Having recently spent several weeks with the Lumin L2 I was very happy with how it enhanced my listening but was struggling to work out the hows and whys. A very good client who is also a Lumin owner with the P1 was interested in hearing the L2 within his own system and we were able to co-ordinate this. He has been able to provide a vast amount of useful feedback on the sound, operations and features of the L2 within his system, especially around the use for fibre – the optical ethernet connection – which is a key element in the L2 story.
A better description of the L2 might be ‘Digital Housekeeper’. The L2 tidies up your system, neatly storing music, cleaning and de-cluttering the passage of information in a way that makes music from both streaming services and existing albums you have accumulated sound considerably better and more easily found.
Another reviewer nails down the L2 as ‘the component you didn’t know you needed (if you’re a geek) and the component you’ve been waiting for if you’re more of a music listener than a digital mechanic.’ This review is highly informative so do that the time to read it.
Searching ‘Digital Housekeeping’ will bring you to a more grounded article from Norway which looks at the realities of connected homes. ‘Every now and then, we might experience our Wi-Fi signal dropping, having to set up a gaming account for the kids, or managing photo storage on our phones.In all of these examples, we are engaging in digital housekeeping, which is somewhat overlooked in statistics on household chores. Everyone engages in digital housekeeping in one form or another.’
Managing music storage even makes it into the movies.
But back to the Lumin L2. If you have an existing library of recorded music, the L2 is the ideal place to put it. You might think that all forms of file storage are the same but this couldn’t be further from real life.
A computer is as hostile an environment for music as it’s possible to be; electromagnetic and radio frequency interference from power supplies and processors. A smartphone comes with even more compromises. To resolve this there is literally an industry built around some crashingly costly storage solutions out there; We have been closely evaluating all the options, looking for a component that delivers on the promise of better performance, ease of use and value.
We have been here before. You may remember the Nativ Vita – A dedicated audiophile server with SSD drives, its own operating software and great connectivity. While Nativ sadly became a victim of the pandemic related economic turmoil, I still have and use my own unit. Using this as a benchmark we can make a direct comparison with the Lumin L2.
The Lumin approach builds on a sold base of pre-existing engineering and control software. The L2 shares the same casework as the new T3x and U2 and connects seamlessly. These two aspects immediately elevate the performance while benefiting from the obvious economies of sharing parts and technologies between models.
Copying music to the L2 is fast and easy. It dovetails into any Lumin based system. Every track and album sounded appreciably better without exception – there was more music to hear, the space and tonality of every song became more natural and relaxed with improved detail and ease. The Nativ was good but the sonic improvement delivered by the Lumin L2 was immediately obvious and compelling, well before we’d even considered optimising our set up.
You don’t have to spend too much time reading between the lines of reviews and looking at prices to appreciate that Lumin are bringing something special to the party; there’s a body of experience, rock solid in-house software that’s being continually improved, the economies of scale and manufacture present, as Lumin are based in Hong Kong and part of the much larger Pixel Magic organisation, with vast resources and broad digital experience.
Inside the Lumin L2
Storage within the Lumin L2 is simple and flexible; you can order a new unit with or without built in SSDs – the present configurations are 4 or 8TB and these can easily be changed or upgraded. The advantage of choosing Lumin installed SSDs are full Lumin warranty and the assurance that you will get the promised performance.
Of course all this assumes that you have or are building a library of digital music. In our recent exploration of both the Lumin U2 and Tidal’s greatly improved service I was starting to question the need for this. What the L2 does re-open the gap between locally stored and remotely streamed music, essentially setting a new quality benchmark. To some extend, the format in which your music is stored will determine just how great this gap is; ripped CDs are never going to be anything other than 16 bit 44.1kHz but the playback from the L2 gets rid of all the mechanical compromises involved in CD replay and it was obvious that there was a lot more going on in our oldest albums.
But the moment we jumped up to 24 bit downloads, the improvement, both from and remote streaming made a lot more sense. But for me, the number one reason to actually buy the album rather than stream is simply to support the artist – while remote streaming services give to easy access to a vast range of music, the actual payment to the artists can be just a form of modern slavery on some platforms (looking at you, Spotify). By all means explore and find new music by streaming but when you can, buy the album and then safely store and hear it at it’s very best on the Lumin L2. The sound quality delivered by the L2 makes a compelling case to do this.
One aspect of the Lumin L2 that can’t be understated – it just works. You don’t have to read many reviews of network connected audio components (or have personal experience) to appreciate what a big deal this can be. Just plug it in, jump into the Lumin app and there is all your music, ready to be played. No fuss, no bother.
Networking
Which leads us on to the next part of the L2 story – the purpose and effect of the Network switching and Optical connections.
While the analogue audio transmission path is well understood and mature with a broad range of quality cables, home networks remain a mystery to many and often turn into a veritable rat’s nest. And if you are going to have problems with digital, 9 times out of 10 they will be network related. A comment from a good client has prompted me to look at things like different ethernet cables which then lead us down the rabbit hole of reading forum comments on these and network switches. I emerged from the tangled combination of information and opinion with a clearer understanding of what not to do. And appreciated the clearheaded design of the Lumin L2 even more.
The L2 has 4 network connections – two are for normal wired ethernet and two are optical. This is all you need when it comes playing music.
If you have a modem with optical fibre network outputs, use these with the L2 – there are real benefits to be had with the electrical isolation and transmission speeds. While these optical network cables are quite different from the audio TOSlink connections you may be used to, they are readily available and inexpensive when compared to analogue audio cables.
Everything makes a difference and the better your system becomes the more obvious these differences are. The trick is know what is actually better. The L2 delivers more and is astonishingly transparent – from the moment of its introduction into our system it was obvious that more music was being delivered, both in terms of information but also the less tangible, emotive aspects such as the sense of space and involvement. Most telling was the reaction to the removal of the L2 from the system (to the benefit of one of our clients who also wanted to hear it); I ended up chasing my tail trying to find a similar improvement by reseting and changing everything else I could. But different is not always better and it’s only a matter of time before a new L2 becomes resident at Totally Wired.
For owners of the many Lumin players already equiped with the optical network connection – the X1, P1, P1 Mini, the new new T3X and U2, the L2 makes it clear exactly why this connection is better.
With earlier models and the U2 Mini and D3, the L2 has a nice trick up it’s sleeve – the two conventional ethernet connections switch the optical signal from the modem back to electrical. And even in an system with no optical option at all, the quality improvement made by the ethernet switching within the L2 is readily apparent; again, there’s no mystery in this – it’s well established that high quality ethernet switches sound better and the Lumin have more than enough engineering knowledge to build an exceptional switch into the L2.
The bottom line is that the L2 provides a very clean and simple solution for connection that solves many problems and most definitely sounds better
This, combined with the storage abilities, is why the Lumin L2 is also a fantastic introduction to the brand for anyone looking for a no compromise server system.
“Why do you or I need the Lumin L2? The Lumin L2 arrives already configured for optimal performance, is supported via personal interaction with Lumin engineers, and is incapable of being screwed up. That’s important to most audiophiles, and should be important to all audiophiles, even those who are tech savvy. If one values time, the Lumin L2 is capable of giving you back your life to enjoy music rather than mess with off the shelf commodity storage solutions. ” audiophilestyle.
- Lumin L2 – NZ$6,200 including GST & Delivery – choice of silver and black finishes
- Lumin L2 with 4TB SSD dual drives factory fitted – NZ$8,100
- Lumin L2 with 8TB SSD dual drives factory fitted – NZ$10,000
Conclusion
The Lumin L2 is good design in its purest sense – it does exactly what is intended and promised, with no compromise. Demonstrably and consistently better sound, complete reliability and ease of use are combined in a precision engineered form that redefines how we look at systems. In describing it as a ‘Digital Housekeeper’ we highlight how essential it is – the alternative is literally unkept chaos.
The primacy of the source component within a music playing system is a concept that is well established; no matter how good the speakers or amplification, if the musical signal running into them is compromised, the sound coming out will fall short.
The Lumin L2 is an exceptional source component. It delivers digitally recorded music, both stored on SSD and streamed via network without compromise, and should be looked at as the heart of a modern digital system. For all the plaudits and awards Lumin have gained thus far with their network players, the L2 elevates the performance of all of them. If you are serious about better quality sound, the L2 is where you start.