Will add pictures soon, as i'm working on the A.V Rack
.
Currently I have had the experience at home of following:
Lumin P1 to Octave V80 SE to ProAC k6 signature.
Before going there:
I use synergistic research XLR cables between P1 and Octave(have mogami 2803 and Oyaide XLRs here, both of which are no match for the synergistic research XLR interms of lower end retrival, sound stage and resolution ! Mind = blown difference here, many blind tests done with other guests as well).
In speaker cables I tested two speaker cables before I ran out of money
. I have studio connections abbey road as well as Oyaide Tunami Speaker cables. I think its a case of choice. The oyaide cables are more stronger on the ear and the weight of the song is higher. I prefer the studio connections cable as its very soft on the ear, analogish and fatigue free. Trasience is strong on both.
So, keeping the cables out of the picture.
I have tried four sources for the Octave plus ProAC combination. Before going further into the sources, at the onset the generic sound signature of the combination is quite simply put - very tightly controlled. Not very tubey. Just mild overtones of tube. I tried using some 300B amplifier(cayin mk2) and found it impossible to listen to after listening to the octaves. The octaves can control ProACs like hendrix can control the guitar. I had used the Octaves on the Q acoustics concept 500 earlier and the sound was utterly musical but the control was very poor, except for the ultra smooth midrange and buttery vocals. The dynamic range changes would make the concept 500 go a bit mental. Too loud muddy etc. With the ProACs its just utterly tight. The bass is strong, the resolution is very high, very strong transience. However, what you loose out is the harmonic sweetness. This is substantially reduced but you gain soundstage, insight, PRAT
.
So overall Octave plus ProAC is exactly that. Very clear, very seperated, high trasience and very strong control on dynamic range. Not lush or warm. Inviting but not loving. The rhythm and groove is the dominant ear pallette. Vocals are just one other instrument.
Coming to source components. I have tried 4 source components.
1. HQ player to Holo May LTE 2
2. Lumin P1
3. Cambridge CXN v2
4. MAC to hifiman EF400
The options 3 and 4 are not even worth considering on this system. Cambridge is suited for people who like detail and V shape(which I was until I was blown away by the current chain). On the current chain its makes the sytem sound dull and boring and slow and lacking in every area. It was much better paired with my earlier set up of Parasound Halo P6 and Q Acoustics Concept 500. That synergy was good. On this chain though, even EDM sounded like 60s Jazz. I tried it for a couple of days and stopped trying.
Same with EF400. The output voltage was very poor to be able to send info to the Octave.
Net, net looks like you need really high voltage sources to make the system sound like a 30 lakh system.
Back to the sources. I tried a lot to find a used Mola Mola tambaqui on the market(still trying
). But ended up with lumin P1 after some testimonials from other X1 users. Mola mola can wait. I already have the Holo May ln my headphone system and that is my second source. Let me compare both of the systems here.
1. Holo May is utterly musical and makes you loose yourself in the music. After a point you are essentially relaxed and dont bother much with whats playing. The midrange is buttery smooth. The vocals are a bit recessed but not as much as lumin. The sound stage is okay. The bass is there but again comes out only when the artist intends it to take centre stage - like thunder etc. Otherwise, its very coherent, organic and detailed. Melifluos.
2. Lumin P1 is totally different beast( i strongly recommend the fibre optic cable here). The system loses a bit of that life that is in holo but what you get is utterly captivating sound. You are mesmerised by the details and presentation. The layering is almost scandalously good. You can hear things in a song that I bet you never knew existed. The transience and dynamic range is through the roof. Sound stage is almost 270 degrees. You will hear sound from well outside the speakers and the room. Sometimes even from the side of the ear. What you gain is total understanding of each instrument and its role in the song. I still get goose bumps thinking about ella Fitzgerald and the vibrations she made on each word. The timbre isnt as good as holo. You will not here one song, like in holo may. You will here many many songs in a single track. Each time lumin makes you here a different complement of instruments. Its warm but if Holo was 30 percent warm lumin is 5 percent warm. Its bass control is mindblowing, same with midbass. Midrange lucidlity is the only area where holo wins hands down.
Back to Lumin P1 and one big plus. Lumin sounds the same at even very very low volumes. With every other Source I tried I had to keep increasing the volume. This is the first source componet where I can listen at 50 db and feel the same way as 70/80 db. This is due to its leedh volume control I presume. But this could be a clincher for many.
Having done the comparisions. Let me address the sources I tried.
1. I tired Roon
2. I tired HQ Player into USB
3. Lumins own app(tidal/Qobuz)
4. Hard disk(DSD files)
5. Apple TV HDMI
6. Airplay
I tried their upsampling and non upsampled modes. The broad findings did not change much. Clearly Airplay and spotify were the worst performing by a distance. If you need to use Airplay I would recommend using your MAC system audio directly. This is the best way to listen to Apple music, unless you want to do HDMI ARC from Apple TV. The phone Airplay sucked as much as spotify and i never managed to listen to these again.
What it tells me is that lumins own app for everything else plus HDMI ARC for apple music/youtube should do.
As a one box solution its perfect. The dac is very neutral and analog sounding. May be 5 percent warm with a tube amplifer
. But its presentation is one of a kind and it has the abilty to bring each artist of a song to the forefront. Strongly recommended for anyone who likes these things. You loose velvetyness. You gain everything else including the almost exclusive advantage of low volume listening.
. But it is short of exactly 3 tubes compared to the AMR 
