The Linn DS / DSM thread

If Francis has them in stock, Saturday might be the day. Hopefully in the meantime he will also get the BRs...

Very interesting...shall I connect the phonostage out to the CDR I guess, right?

This is typical of Linn......in fact you can usually pick up the Linn Black for £20 on Ebay. It also tells me that the Linn Silver is likely to be the VFM i/c on your system (for DS).

Yes you could connect the output of your phonostage directly to the CDR recorder or you could just connect the CDR recorder to the "Tape out " of your amplifier .

I have copied many of my rare pieces of vinyl this way and the sound quality including the vinyl warmth and character is transferred to digital perfectly with no loss at all .

Or maybe I could connect the phonostage to the line-in of my pc? Using an RCA-RCA to Jack cable?

Something like this might work? I could connect an RCA cables to the Tape-out of my amp and then straight into this adapter which will be connected to my MacBoo pro

As long as your macbook pro or PC has a good quality  A / D  ( analog to digital ) converter and the correct software then it should work  .

The main advantage of a CDR recorder is that most of the good ones from the likes of Philips, Pioneer ,Tascam etc ,had very good quality A/D converters which are essential to get the best quality transfer .

Right, managed to get the uPnP server working on my media server at last, so the hard wired connection is all in.

Sadly, no change, exactly the same as before. Certainly an audible improvement with the Klimax, but, as I said before, adding maybe 10% over the ZP90. Don't get me wrong, the Renew sounds amazing, but the problem is the ZP90 sounds amazing too. The ZP90 puts out a touch more bass and lower midrange, where the Renew is a little leaner, and as I said before, a little more detailed with better PRaT and slightly better separation.

Can I just clarify how others have their Linn DS connected up to their system, and how they had their ZP90 connected up, when they made the comparison in their own system?

I heard the comparison of DS and Sonos at a dealer through a Linn System and Arcam AVR600 / Kef Refs.

The MDS is hardwired to a RipNas and plays Flac, while being connected to my MF AMS 35i through Cardas Cables and sitting on Black Ravioli.

In my system it produces a very musical sound, with subterranean bass and rich mid-range (Class A amp has a lot to do with this)......and imo it can't match the quality of the ADS/1 let alone the KDS/0.

I did try it (at home) through a Moon i7, where it sounded bright, analytical and fatiguing, with less bass. I did really enjoy it through my AVR600 though.

I really hope you get to the bottom of what is going on. There are so many issues (imo) that can effect things, like the room, associated equipment, speaker position, cables etc etc.

Thanks for your reply Cno, but in your comparison was the Sonos connected via a ddigital connection or analogue?

Akurate is connected to the Primo with XLR cables / cat6 hard wired to switch / switch cat6 hardwired to router / PC & NAS cat6 hardwired to router.

I haven't made a real comparison or hard wired vs wireless. Just set it up hardwired when I bought it and have used it that way ever since.

Initially hooked the Akurate to the primo with RCA cables & did hear a difference when I swapped over to XLR.

Tune-in & Spotify both work well via Airplay.

I have never had a Sonos at home so can't offer any help there.

Have you contacted the seller yet to see if there is any input he can offer? Don't wait, get his help while there's still some goodwill from the sale!

Is this the case? I thought most PCs A/D convertors weren't that good?

Wouldn't the USB adaptor that Alex has shown have it's own A/D built in? Or does it send an analogue signal to the PC via USB? Doesn't sound right does it?

Either way, the CDR suggestion is a good one. Great to know you can get that same vinyl sound on your Akurate hey Alex? Can leave the Aston Martin in the garage for good now!

It was a few years ago now, but as far as I can remember, it was through analogue.

All I can think is that must be down to the DAC? I have never tried the analogue connection out of the ZP90 I've always had it connected via digital, therefore using the DAC in another devices. The Primare SP32 isn't great (I currently have it on loan until my new processor arrives) and was a definite step down compared to the D2v I traded in, but it is still a £4k audio only processor, so it must have a pretty good DAC in it which is bringing the performance of the ZP90 (which just acting as a digital transport, and hence may be having very little impact on the audio quality) up closer to the performance level of the Renew.

I can imagine that using the DAC in the Sonos and outputting via its analogue connections would produce a pretty poor result given its price point compared to a Linn DS (I'll have to give that a go on the Sonos and see what it sounds like), but I guess using the digital out on the Sonos then places the reliance on the outboard DAC.

That's the only thing I can think of at this stage anyway!

Thanks Neuphonix, what difference did you notice switching to XLR, was it better or worse?

Good idea - I've contacted the seller (Richard at Krescendo Hifi), and I'll see what advice he can offer.

That will almost certainly be part of the answer to the discrepancy in sound, as that is what I had in mind (wrongly so) when thinking of the Sonos.

IMO. Your speakers are brilliant, and I believe your source is brilliant....so is it possible that something awry is happening in between?