As many of you know we have been singing the praises of Linn turntables for a long time – in fact a good number of you own one.
Since day one Linn have always preached that the most important component in any good audio system is the source, and some time ago they decided that they would apply the same philosophy to digital sources that they have to analogue.
The result is their current line-up of DSM music streamers. We have been playing around with Linn’s streamers for a couple of months – and we are pleased to now have them as a permanent part of our product mix.
Majik DSM. This is a neat, well priced streamer plus pre and power amp in one compact box. The amplifier is rated at 90watts/channel, it has 15 inputs, including phono and HDMI, and supports virtually any digital format up to 24bit 192kHz. Simply add a pair of speakers of your choice. $5,495
Selekt DSM. In is basic guise this is a stereo streamer and pre-amp in one chassis. It can then be upgraded by converting it to multi-channel (up to 5.1), by upgrading to their Katalyst DAC architecture or by adding power amplification. $7,995 – $28,995 depending on configuration.
Akurate DSM. This is a superb pre-amp/streamer that comes with their Katalyst DAC on-board. $11,995
Klimax DSM. When only the best will do. $34,995. “Sometimes it doesn’t take long to realise a product is special. In this case, just a few minutes with Linn’s range-topping streamer is enough for us to come to that conclusion. Extended listening confirms it.” What Hi-Fi.
All of Linn’s streamers incorporate a technology they call Space Optimisation. Every room stamps its own character on the performance of your system, in fact the room can be the biggest influence on how the system will sound.
Space Optimisation uses sophisticated acoustic modelling to build up a complete picture of how your speakers, their placement, and the unique characteristics of your room interact to affect the sound you hear. It then identifies frequencies that are artificially distorted, accentuated or absorbed by your environment, and adjusts them accordingly. While the impact of this technology varies from room to room the result can be quite dramatic – and certainly it goes a long way towards improving the enjoyment of your music.
Whatever speakers you use, and however you’ve designed your room, you’ll hear a performance that’s optimised uniquely for you.
