Use LUMIN "U1 MINI" to get multi-function of PC audio with Hi-Fi system

LUMIN U1 MINI

　With the spread of smartphones and the establishment of flat-rate music streaming services, the style of listening to music has changed significantly. Even now, the need to "listen to your favorite music with good sound" does not change. In fact, portable audio devices such as headphones and earphones have become very popular with the times.

Using a USB DAC to extract high-quality sound from a highly versatile computer

On the other hand, stationary audio equipment was never idle. Various products have appeared to respond to changes in the style of listening to music, and the most significant change in the last 10 years is the use of D/A converters (USB DACs) that can be connected to a computer with a USB cable. It has come to occupy a very important position as a source machine that replaces the player. USB DACs come in a wide range of price ranges, so there are plenty of options for installation. The style of "PC audio" combined with a USB DAC has come to show a great presence in order to reproduce sound sources that are usually listened to on a personal computer with higher sound quality.

　The PC audio system here is something like the picture below.

Example of PC audio: Connect SOtM's USB DAC "sHP-100" to a laptop and output analog to Marantz's AV amplifier "NR1608". Monitor Audio's "MASS 10" is used for the speaker. The sHP-100 also has a headphone output, so you can connect AKG headphones "K701".

　In the system in the photo, a USB DAC (and headphone amplifier) ​​is connected to the laptop. It is used not only for speaker playback, but also as a stationary headphone playback environment. It's desktop-centric, but it's a perfect system for listening to music.

　Constructing a system that connects a personal computer and a USB DAC is easy to understand, and has the advantage of being able to take advantage of the high versatility of the personal computer. Also, as an advantage unique to a personal computer, it is also attractive to be able to use various playback software and music streaming services. That said, it's not as versatile as traditional audio equipment.

　For example, in a PC audio system, a computer plays the role of a "player". In other words, when listening to music, the computer must always be on. Some people may feel that "waiting for the computer to start up just to listen to music is a little...". Aside from the system that can be completed on the desktop like the one in the photo, if you try to introduce PC audio into a system that is made up of general Hi-Fi components, you will have problems such as where to place the computer and how to operate such as music selection. occur.

　In terms of sound quality, it is not a specially developed audio device, so the negative effects peculiar to personal computers cannot be avoided. In addition to the noise generated by the computer itself, such as the fan used for cooling, various high-frequency noises also adversely affect the sound quality of other equipment. If you pursue sound quality with PC audio, the PC itself will eventually become a bottleneck.

　Therefore, I would like to propose "network audio". In this article, considering that it is a step up from PC audio, we will take up LUMIN's network transport "U1 MINI".