Audiophilepure

The other two connections are two USB-C connectors that are color-coded. The black is the data and power, and the red is used for supplying extra power when the desktop mode is enabled.

Again, my only dislike here is that the FiiO QX13 performs best when you use two USB-C taps and offers a desktop mode with more power on tap.

It would have been nicer to have both USB-C plugs on the same end, and opposite to the headphone taps. I can already see extremists carrying an extra power brick to activate the desktop mode on the go.

By the way, to ensure USB compatibility, you can slip the QX13 into UAC 1.0 mode, selectable within the onboard screen menu or via the Control app alike.

You can also obtain an SPDIF out signal from the 3.5mm jack, but you’ll have to outsource the adapter because FiiO doesn’t include one. You also have to select the option within the onboard screen menu, or again, within the control app.

https://www.headfonia.com/laiv-hp2a-review/

Of course, you can also use the supplied remote control to navigate through the settings and to adjust the volume of the unit. This then is a whole lot easier, especially when you are not sitting right next to the HP2A.

It is a very simple and easy experience with the HP2A. Especially with the supplied remote control. The only thing to keep in mind is to have the correct shape setting on the volume control and the unit itself to use. You will find a triangle and a square shaped symbol on the remote. In settings you can assign the corresponding shape to your LAiV.

What I love is that you can use one remote for all LAiV’s products. You just have to assign the symbols to them.

A feature I put very highly is to limit the output power after startup. You can set the output volume to -50 (my setting), -40, -30 or even -20 db. This will then limit the potential of damaging your ears and the headphone’s drivers with too loud music.

https://www.soundstagehifi.com/index.php/reference-components/1953-recommended-reference-component-bluesound-node-icon-streaming-preamplifier

Roger’s conclusion that the Node Icon “provides an unbeatable combination of sound quality and practical features” and offers “exceptional value“ earned it a Reviewers’ Choice award when the review was originally published. The Bluesound Node Icon’s strong performance compared to the Cambridge Audio EXN100 and Eversolo DMP-A8, along with its impressive lab-test results, leaves little doubt in our minds that it merits the Recommended Reference Component award as well.

https://www.hifichoice.com/content/lumin-u2-mini

The Linn is another matter. Thanks, we’ve little doubt, to the contribution of its Death Star-level dual mono Organik DACs, everything immediately sounds cleaner and clearer, more powerful and precise. Stereo perspectives are startlingly believable, imaging palpable, separation absolute. The Linn has simply astonishing powers of resolution and an ability to hear deep, deep into a recording. It’s all desperately impressive and you’re left in no doubt where the money has been spent.

And yet, while unable to compete on level terms or be as immaculately on point, the LUMIN holds its own in terms of musical satisfaction. No, it doesn’t dig quite as deep or hit quite as hard, but things are a tad warmer and more spacious with an affecting focus on nuance, temporal flow and musical inflection. With an admittedly glossy recording such as Al Jarreau’s Through It All, the music positively shimmers with colour and confidence. Dan Shea’s slick keyboard layering sounds smooth, sweet and soulful and the U2 Mini also displays a real penchant for giving the right weighting to the subtlest ambient cues. It’s a deliciously rounded and complete rendition. In matters of timing, focus and rendering of micro dynamics, the Linn might lead the way, but the LUMIN is clearly playing in the same high-end ballpark and, more than that, hitting a home run.

Moreover, violins don’t just produce single sine-like tones; they generate an evolving spectrum of frequencies that interact dynamically with the surrounding acoustic space. Preserving these subtleties requires a system with exceptional resolution, phase coherence, and low distortion across the entire audio band. Many systems either smear the detail or introduce unnatural edges to the sound. Achieving believable violin reproduction demands not only excellent components but also careful system matching, room acoustics, and source material quality. When done properly, the result is breathtaking realism; when not, the violin becomes a harsh caricature of its true self.

Meyers plays a 1741 Vieuxtemps Guarneri del Gesù violin, not a Stradivarius. While both Stradivarius and Guarneri are legendary violin makers from Cremona, Italy, the Vieuxtemps Guarneri is particularly renowned for its power, depth, and pristine condition.