LUMÏN vs Esoteric Sound Stream
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
LUMÏN
Browse and play music from your UPnP AV server. Control your network music player, including configuration options. Enjoy your digital music library with ease.
- Browse UPnP AV music library
- Play music on LUMIN player
- Configure LUMIN player
- Network music playback
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Browse Music Library on UPnP AV Server. Play songs on LUMIN network music player. Configure LUMIN network music player.
Esoteric Sound Stream
Control your network audio player with this app. Easily select music, build custom playlists, and browse your library with intuitive navigation. Advanced search and tag utilization enhance the user experience.
- Select musical tracks
- Create custom playlists
- Intuitive interface
- Advanced search and retrieval
- Cache album artwork
- Sort library by artist, year, composer, category
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Esoteric Sound Stream is an Apple iOS application for the iPad/iPhone designed to work with Esoteric Network Audio Players. The basics of its operation include selecting musical tracks using the iPad/iPhone, creating customized personal playlists, and playing the selections or playlists. All screens for key operation, playlists, library, etc. are arranged for easy viewing, enabling even users unfamiliar with the app to operate it intuitively and trouble-free. Its high degree of refinement even meets the rigorous demands of advanced and experienced users. Key to this achievement is the app’s excellent search and retrieval performance, which takes full advantage of tag information. Since images are also cached in the app, album artwork can be instantly scrolled through and libraries can be freely sorted into such classifications as artist, year of recording, composer or category. This use of tag information even allows musical numbers of the same name which differ in format to be easily identified on the screen.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: LUMÏN at 3.6 against Esoteric Sound Stream's 3.0. LUMÏN also leads on update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 8 months) and ratings volume (57 vs 6). Esoteric Sound Stream's advantage is iOS requirement (11.0 vs 15.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
LUMÏN holds the better App Store score, 3.6 against 3.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: LUMÏN has 57 ratings behind it against 6, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 50% of LUMÏN's written reviews are positive against 40% of Esoteric Sound Stream's.
LUMÏN ships an update every 2 weeks, Esoteric Sound Stream every 8 months. The most recent releases landed on October 13, 2026 and October 4, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | LUMÏN | Esoteric Sound Stream |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.6 (57 ratings) — better | 3.0 (6 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 50.0% of reviews — better | 40.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 57 — better | 6 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks — better | Every 8 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 11.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 28 MB | 30 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Pixel Magic Systems Ltd. | TEAC CORP. |
Customer experience
LUMÏN
Esoteric Sound Stream
Bugs and requests
LUMÏN
Reported bugs
27 issues- DAC disappeared after upgrade
- Shuffle is broken
- Search function often registers zero
- Picky about displaying artwork metadata
- Song playing interrupted by app switching
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- Sometimes shows offline
- Cannot use search track option
- No sound
- Does not work with streamer
- Crashes after updating
- Auto-stops playback
- Crashes frequently
- Cannot press play
- Rendered streamer useless
- Demands login repeatedly
- App no longer functions
- Album art gets messed up
- Very buggy, crashing and freezing
- Cluttered design
- Handles playlists poorly
- Crashes when manipulating playlists
- Eats storage
- Crashes each time
- Tab options not working
- App does not work well
- Prone to crashing
- Volume control doesn't work on attached Linn preamp
Requested features
13 requests- Add universal Apple iPhone/iPad widget for track control
- Ability to play a song in the middle of an album and have following tracks continue
- Add repeat 1 song feature
- Full Tidal features from the full app version
- Deezer integration
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- Ability to shuffle entire library
- Add playlist within a playlist
- Add booklets from MinimServer
- Add search by folder
- Ability to select radio stations
- Ability to edit meta tags on music files
- Create random playlists based on genre or artist
- Ability to clear cache and set max storage limit
Esoteric Sound Stream
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
LUMÏN
No in-app purchases
Esoteric Sound Stream
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is LUMÏN free?
Is Esoteric Sound Stream free?
Which has better reviews, LUMÏN or Esoteric Sound Stream?
Do LUMÏN or Esoteric Sound Stream have ads?
Which is updated more often, LUMÏN or Esoteric Sound Stream?
Other comparisons
