Linn DC / NAIM Music Server and the likes

Hi Guys.

I have been thinking of getting one of the above mentioned gadget lately as I think CD player could become obsolete or a lot less popoular in a few years' time now that that lossless download has become quite common.

I have not made any purchase yet as these gadgets seem to be at an infancy stage and I do not want to get caught in a situation where I buy something which might become obsolete within a short time as it becomes victim of a format battle.

I wonder if anyone has the same intention and concern.

Cheers,

If you want to get "branded" stuff, yes, Naim, Linn , Bladelius, and PS Audio make such media servers.

If you want to cheap-out and get (almost) just as good , plus a freedom of DAC choices, u can get a PC based system and interface it to your own DAC of choice for a fraction of the cost.

Plus if you are a PC geek, you might want to do the latter as its more future-proof, and replacement costs are low.

Cheapest solution would be a PC based front end, and a Behringer DAC.
All for less than RM4K and u get Terabytes of storage.

Personally, I'd recommend to cheap-out on the front-end storage portion, but get a really good Modern DAC to do the D/A portion. Something like a PS-Audio Perfect wave DAC or a Wadia 521 to do high resolution 24/96 stuff.

To really avoid the Format Trap, you need to be pro-PC based system. The PC industry thrives on open standards, and will always strive to play "anything and everything" under the sun.
Good example. CD+R ? CD-R ? ... so they offered CD+/-R/RW,etc etc etc drives. Everything boleh jalan !


The analog electronics in the DAC portion are just too often overlooked. So better to invest on a good DAC there.

You'd be surprised how good certain MP3 can sound when its decoded via a high-end DAC like a Wadia/Mark-Levin/ etc etc.

when i asked roy gandy of rega whether rega would go the way of linn and make digital streaming players, he said he could not understand why anyone would pay lots of money for a digital streaming player when you can use a simple laptop which performs the same function.

actually he is right. use a good laptop (windows-based or mac) with usb outputs (or firewire if u want to buy the weiss), download a music player for free, download some songs (some free, some you have to pay), rip some cds and off you go.

but get a good dac though.

yes, we all know Roy Gandy is a very eccentric cheapskate with a strong disdain for "esoteric" & "high-end" stuff!

Format obsolescence is much less of an issue with computer-based music. The worst case scenario is that you'll have to spend some time converting from one format to another OR re-rip the original discs. But since just about any digital media players now support most popular formats, it's unlikely you will have to ever do this.

Personally, I would avoid all-in-one boxes (storage + ripping + playback) not built on open standards as this will curtail portability and flexibility. On the other hand avoid a full-PC solution unless you are a computer geek who loves tinkering to no end.

The best compromise is to do your ripping on a computer (this also allows for online purchasing of higher-res content from the net), save the media on a redundant NAS, and use a networked player like Linn DS for playback. The Linn players are built on an open uPnP architecture so it can stream from any uPnP-compliant device as well as be controlled remotely by uPnP apps which are available for most smartphone / tablet platforms like Androied and Apple iOS.

a cheaper way would be to buy the logitech squeezebox stuff.

mugenfoo wrote:
yes, we all know Roy Gandy is a very eccentric cheapskate with a strong disdain for "esoteric" & "high-end" stuff!

ya lah - especially "esoteric" and "high-end" stuff coming from linn....

sflam wrote:a cheaper way would be to buy the logitech squeezebox stuff.

I can "cheapskate" you one level lower ... Apple Airport Express . RM 359 !

I have a Linn Magik DS and I would prefer that because of the format it played on the system especially ALAC since I am using Mac and iPhone in my house. Do you consider the ALAC because you might end up getting an iPhone or Mac in near future.

I recently got a AC Ryan PlayOn HD for starters. At the moment, I've hooked it to the TV to stream multimedia into it.
I'm going to experiment this soon.
1. Move the POHD to the hifi rig.
2. Connect it to a Samsung LCD monitor via HDMI to DVI for browser display.
3. Connect a external HDD or DVD Drive via USB to the POHD.
4. Connect the POHD coax output to the hifi DAC component
5. Play all above as music streamer source.

There you are, perhaps also a pragmatic solution than a media PC or laptop, cheaper too. Whether its truly hifi or not, it does stream music.

Thanks guys for all the info provided.

ASAP wrote:I have a Linn Magik DS and I would prefer that because of the format it played on the system especially ALAC since I am using Mac and iPhone in my house. Do you consider the ALAC because you might end up getting an iPhone or Mac in near future.

Hi ASAP.

If you do not mind, may I know what CD players you have compared against the Lin Majik before you made the purchase. I am curious as I was think of gettinig the Esoteric X-05 or Ayre 7xeMP earlier.

Cheers,
Chen

I too have the Linn Majik DS and compared with the Majik CD, all I can say is that I have not touched my Majik CD since the DS was hooked up.

Initially I thought that if I just went the way of using a laptop I would be able to at least reach the SQ level of a good CD player given that I was playing lossless files.

But really... when compared with something like the Linn Majik DS, it was no contest whatsoever. Maybe if I had a very high end DAC things would have been different but then again.... mine is a full Linn Majik set-up anyway.

I am using a good DAC - Cyrus DAC XP + so both sound the same to me. I cannot really tell the difference. Theoretically, the DS should sound better.

ASAP wrote:I am using a good DAC - Cyrus DAC XP + so both sound the same to me. I cannot really tell the difference. Theoretically, the DS should sound better.

Thanks a lot for the info. I guess the difference is hardly detectable.

At least for me. Maybe other can hear the difference. With good DAC, the difference is minimum