LUMIN X2 Network Music Player

Streaming should be the best-sounding source in your system, and the easiest to live with. LUMIN has spent more than a decade making that true, and the X2 is where it all comes together: LUMIN's polished app and rock-solid streaming, now built around the first DAC the company has designed entirely in-house.

Its predecessor, the X1, became a worldwide reference for streaming. The X2 keeps everything owners loved about it and rebuilds the heart of the player from the ground up.

LUMIN built its own DAC, then built the X2 around it.

The Discrete DAC

Most streamers convert digital to analog with an off-the-shelf DAC chip. The X2 uses LUMIN's own discrete DAC, built from individually selected components and tuned specifically for LUMIN's streaming engine. That gives the designers control over every part of the conversion: circuit layout, power delivery, clocking, and filtering, all optimised as one system.

The DAC is dual mono, controlled by dual high-speed FPGAs, and works in full 32-bit resolution. Because the clocking connects directly to the conversion stages, timing stays exceptionally precise, with very low jitter. A femto clock system with dual oscillators and FPGA distribution keeps everything in step. You hear that precision as music that feels relaxed, natural, and solid.

After conversion, a new fully balanced output buffer feeds dual Lundahl LL7401 output transformers, a LUMIN signature since the original A1. They give the X2 its true analog voice, with clarity, detail, poise, and warmth.

Power, Processing, and Network

The X2 draws its power from a separate solid-billet chassis with dual toroidal transformers, separate digital and analog circuits, and low-noise linear regulation. Inside the player, a dual-mono, dual-stage regulator feeds the analog converters for maximum channel separation.

It also runs LUMIN's fastest processor, introduced in 2022, which brings more processing headroom for upsampling, more storage, and room for the features LUMIN keeps adding through free firmware updates. The X2 plays native DSD512 and PCM up to 768kHz, and can upsample everything to DSD256 or PCM 384kHz.

For the network, the X2 offers an SFP socket for optical fibre, which isolates the player completely from noise on the rest of your network. A second RJ45 port acts as a built-in switch, so you can connect a NAS or the LUMIN L2 directly.

How It Sounds

Reviewers keep coming back to the same qualities: naturalness, coherence, and an uncanny sense of real musicians in a real space. The Absolute Sound's Neil Gader praised its ability to convey the silences and pauses in a performance and the decay of each note. FIDELITY heard the fluidity and coherence usually associated with a sophisticated R2R converter. 6moons found it revealing, dynamically alive, and precise, with its great strength being how it keeps the musicians' craft and their space intact.

Streaming and Control

The X2 plays from virtually every source you're likely to use: Roon Ready, TIDAL and TIDAL Connect, Qobuz and Qobuz Connect, Spotify Connect, Amazon Music, AirPlay, Plex, and your own library over UPnP, plus Audirvāna and JPLAY certification. The LUMIN app ties it together with fast browsing, high-resolution artwork, and full control of the player's settings. Leedh Processing lossless volume control lets you connect the X2 straight to a power amplifier if you like.

Where It Fits

The X2 is LUMIN's flagship and the natural centerpiece of a high-end digital system. Pair it with your preamplifier through its balanced outputs, or run it directly into a power amplifier like the LUMIN Amp using its lossless volume control. For a library of your own music, the LUMIN L2 matches its looks and shares its optical networking. If you'd rather use an external DAC, LUMIN's U2X transport shares much of the X2's digital engineering.

Press Recognition

• Hi-Fi News (May 2026), Andrew Everard, Outstanding Product Award. Everard found the app a pleasure to use and the sound simply remarkable, and the X2 went on to appear in the Hi-Fi News 2026 Yearbook. Read the review (PDF)
• Audiophile Style (April 2026), Chris Connaker, CASH Award. Connaker found the X2 surpasses the X1 in every way and called it a listening experience he wished everyone could have. Read the review at Audiophile Style
• The Absolute Sound (Issue 372, July/August 2026), Neil Gader. Gader described the X2 as the destination everything in LUMIN's history has been building toward, with a musicality and naturalism that go well beyond its specifications.
• High Fidelity (February 2026), Wojciech Pacuła, Gold Fingerprint Award. Pacuła heard a wide, deep soundstage, very low bass, and clearly shaped instruments, and named it one of the best complete file players on the market and the best LUMIN has made. Read the review at High Fidelity
• FIDELITY (August 2026), Carsten Barnbeck, HIGHLIGHT Award. Barnbeck called the X2 seamless, cohesive, and fluidly musical, and one of the best streamers on the market.
• 6moons (September 2026), Frederic Beudot. Beudot found the X2 uniquely special, even against his more expensive reference. Read the review at 6moons

The X2 also earned an Aanrader (Recommended) award from Hifi.nl and five stars from Norway's Stereopluss.

Thinking about how the X2 fits your system, or how it compares with LUMIN's S2 or the U2X and your own DAC? Give us a call. We're happy to help you sort it out.

Specifications

• Type: Network music player with integrated DAC
• DAC: LUMIN discrete DAC, dual mono, dual FPGA control, full 32-bit operation
• Clocking: Femto clock system, dual femto crystal oscillators, FPGA distribution
• Analog output stage: Fully balanced, dual Lundahl LL7401 output transformers
• DSD support: Up to DSD512 (22.6MHz), 1-bit
• PCM support: Up to 768kHz, 16 to 32-bit
• Upsampling: DSD256 or PCM 384kHz, all files
• Analog outputs: XLR balanced 6V rms (pin 2 hot); RCA unbalanced 3V rms
• Digital outputs: USB (native DSD512, PCM to 768kHz); BNC S/PDIF (PCM to 192kHz/24-bit, DSD64 via DoP)
• Network: SFP optical (Gigabit), RJ45 Gigabit Ethernet, usable together as a built-in switch
• Other inputs: USB storage (FAT32, exFAT, NTFS)
• Streaming: Roon Ready, TIDAL Connect, Qobuz Connect, Spotify Connect, AirPlay, Plex, UPnP/OpenHome, Audirvāna, JPLAY, Amazon Music, TuneIn, KKBox, QQMusic
• File formats: DSF, DFF, DoP, FLAC, ALAC, WAV, AIFF, MP3, MQA
• Volume: Leedh Processing lossless digital volume control
• Power supply: External solid-billet chassis, dual toroidal transformers, separate digital and analog circuits, low-noise linear regulation
• Control: LUMIN app (iOS, Android, Apple Silicon Mac, Chromebook); compatible with LUMIN IR Control Package
• Feet: IsoAcoustics isolating feet
• Dimensions, player: 350mm W x 345mm D x 77mm H (13.8" x 13.6" x 3.0"), 8kg (17.6 lbs)
• Dimensions, power supply: 106mm W x 334mm D x 77mm H (4.2" x 13.1" x 3.0"), 4kg (8.8 lbs)
• Finishes: Black anodised or raw anodised aluminium, with matching power supply
• Designed in: Hong Kong