An experience of the Linn Klimax DS - First High End digital stream music player

Linn Klimax DS - tested at home for 5 days


1/ Owner’s visit
2/ Operating the Klimax DS
3/ A growing user interface
4/ Comparative listening : Linn Klimax DS vs Linn CD 12

Not so long ago, I was rather afraid of the inevitable process of recorded music dematerialisation. Once the CD would be over, I was picturing myself wandering across the Internet, in search of uncompressed files that would allow me to discover new releases in hardly decent conditions, with my personal computer connected to the audio system … but in the final hope of finding some old Duke Ellington LP in order to enjoy the real plentiness of music as it had been conceived. Hopefully, since Linn’s new Klimax DS has come visiting my system, I feel relieved. CD stopping and the failure of SACD will not frustrate the audio-freak and music-lover that live within me, far from it. Even if I cannot currently afford spending 15 000 € to acquire this beautiful piece of work, the Klimax DS is demonstrating that music can eventually benefit from this behavioural and technological revolution.

1/ Owner’s visit

From the birth of the cult-ish Linn Sondek LP 12 turntable, and till the not less famous CD 12 player, the Scotland-based Linn Products has made its speciality designing analog and digital front-end which are musically and technically outstanding. Facing the issue of medium dematerialisation, Linn’s design centre has put all its guts on the conception of a system which mission is to even outperform the CD 12. This latter box was the result of Linn’s own research program in the aim of “extracting as much information and music as possible from a mere CD”. The Klimax DS device uses in its turn a mass storage device to record the information extracted from a CD or downloaded from the Internet, thus removing - once for all - the vibrational problems, errors and jitter proper to CD optical replay. In practical terms, the Klimax DS is a sophisticated digital-to-analog converter, linked to an external hard-disk drive (or to that of your personal computer), which contains uncompressed .wav or FLAC files (this format being an open, lossless encryption scheme). The resulting stereo signal is then delivered to the preamp under the analog form, using either symmetrical or asymmetrical outputs, as with any conventional player.



From left to right : the analog outputs (both symmetrical and asymmetrical), an earthing post, two RS232 connectors, the Ethernet port, the power switch and IEC socket.



Technically speaking, the Klimax DS is able to read any LPCM encoded audio file, up to the 24 bits - 192kHz format. Its architecture is based on a Xilinx chip which performs oversampling at 384 kHz or 352,8 kHz (depending on the original sampling frequency), before it passes the data stream to a Wolfson WM8741 D-to-A converter of the latest generation, working in a multi-bit and Delta-Sigma mode. The whole thing is driven by a floating master clock which also buffers the stream coming from the HDD through an Ethernet link, keeping jitter as low as can be. Although Linn does not disclose too much information about it, one can think that an important part of the Klimax DS sound quality just comes from the specific attention drawn to the clock and buffer management. As for the others guys of the Klimax family, the building quality of the DS is no less than exceptional : from component selection to the chassis itself (machined from billet aluminium in order to individually house all sub-parts, carefully shielded one from the other), everything has been done to draw the utmost performance from any single part of this very innovative circuitry.




On this image, one can clearly see the display and logic circuitry on the front, the switching power supply to the right, the data processing and conversion set at the center, and the analog output stages on the left of the box, well isolated one from the other.

The Klimax DS does not feature any digital output, nor any digital input that could be linked to an external drive unit (or integrated player). It cannot either reproduce motion soundtracks or any other digital media that would be read by your own computer, as some more conventional servers do. This lack seems to be the price to pay for achieving the extreme quality level of the Klimax DS. It will supposedly not bother music lovers in search of an ultimate front-end allowing them to enjoy their music in the best condition. Still, spending much of my daytime in front of a computer, I regret that I cannot use it as a more universal converter.

Controlling the Klimax DS is done through a proprietary graphical interface (named Linn Gui), accessible from a Tablet PC featured with touch-screen and WiFi facilities. This allows browsing through your music library and editing playlists. As soon as these playlists are created, it is possible to browse titles as anyone can do on a standard CD player, either via the Tablet PC or thanks to the small remote control provided with the machine. The Klimax DS can also be managed from any other computer (PC compatible, at the time being) or be integrated into a full IP network, but its prime function is to play the music stored on a HDD. Full stop.

2/ Operating the Klimax DS

To start with, one needs a computer to load CD contents or stored files into the HDD data bank. Linn recommends using Exact Audio Copy, a piece of software which makes CD copies by repeating misled tracks replay until they are fully understood. This operation, although non-critical, can take up to 15 minutes or so per CD. Linn retailers are invited to find local partners likely to transfer your whole CD library to the HDD for you. I’ve got 2000 CD : I would then spend some 500 hours doing it by myself … probably a good idea to give it to someone else !
Ideally, the Klimax DS has to be connected to the Internet, on which it will recover all useful information related to the recordings (artist, titles and timings, …), and also high-resolution music files (24 bits – 96 or 192 kHz). As of now, one can buy them from sites like Linn Records, the sister company to Linn Products, which offers its entire music catalogue with master-like quality.
Still, once all information is stored on the disk, it is also possible to use the DS thing without a connection to the Web, through a router device (that is, a network distribution thing) able to attribute an IP address to any component in the connected system. But the DS still needs an external WiFi modem, in order to communicate with the Tablet PC that acts as a smart remote control. This WiFi link will also allow copying CD information from the computer to the HDD while getting rid of one more wire connection.
I still regret, by the time of installation, that the supplier has not integrated the whole thing into one box. I can appreciate that a WiFi modem would have compromised the Klimax DS ultimate sound performance (WiFi standard is also due to evolve, and this would make an integrated modem become obsolete soon), but less understandable is the fact that The Klimax DS is not the very center of the system, by incorporating the IP router facility. One could even have imagined the possibility of a direct link to a CD ROM player, together with an integrated copy software that would have eased the databank daily update. If Linn wished to offer the ultimate front-end and nothing else than that, best would have been to offer a totally integrated physical interface. But future is not written down yet ! The Klimax DS has just been released and overall development is starting now. No doubt that new features will soon be added to the initial ones, in order to provide a more ready-for-use device.

3/ A growing user interface

As you may have understood, installing the Klimax DS requires a minimum level of networking skills, and your retailer will normally deal with this. The machine is a wonderfully looking component, simple and elegant, machined in billet aluminium, but deprived of any key or button, and hence has to be remotely controlled.
To be frank, the Linn Gui user interface currently provided is not up to the device’s standard. Building playlists requires using a graphical menu featuring neither scrolling facility nor search engine that would have facilitated usage. Once prepared, the playlist only show track titles, but no clue on the album it comes from nor on the artist who did it : we’ve seen best ! Hopefully, one can swap from a track to another via the small plastic remote control provided with the machine … which still does not have rewind or forward functions, but can only skip to the previous or to the following track. What a pity ! Especially when one thinks that signal is coming from a HDD.
But all this is due to evolve quickly. Linn has chosen the open UPnP network protocol for controlling their machine. Peripheral and remote control suppliers will hopefully undertake developments around this spreading programming language, for the sake of the user-friendliness. At the time I am writing, one can already replace the Tablet PC that I used with a Nokia N800 Pocket PC. Both smaller and smarter, it will soon offer new features and a more intuitive management of the Klimax DS.



Shown above, the Nokia N800 provided with a graphical interface which allows controlling the DS. We are still far from i-tunes ergonomics, but a lot of evolution is forecasted within the coming months, including the display of the selected record covers.


4/ Comparative listening : Linn Klimax DS vs Linn CD 12


One could argue that, due to my personal attachment to Glasgow’s flagship HiFi Mark, I miss the necessary objectivity to judge the Klimax DS. Believe me, this is damn wrong ! Some years ago, when time had come for me to spent more than 15 000 € on a reference front-end, I spent some time scanning all the competition that market offered before choosing the CD12. A competition that I keep on knowing well and enjoying much, as an audio journalist.
At once, I have been convinced that the Linn Klimax DS was an exceptional music front-end. The kind of music flow that suddenly irrigated my system was pretty much comparable to that of a high-end turntable. This homogeneity, this total lack of stress was all the more blatant as comparisons were done with the very same tracks played on the Linn CD12 then on the DS.
On Hadouk Trio Baldamore live album, the CD12 makes quite an excellent job. Despite its age (almost 6 years for the 24/96 version which I am the happy owner), it develops a musical quality, a liquid character and trackability which I think are still unrivalled. Ok, there is the same sort of material sense and natural expressiveness on a Nagra CDC or a Naim CD 555, but these qualities are not fully present on a DCS Puccini or an Esoteric X-01 D2. These latter references can give the impression they go further in terms of accuracy and raw dynamic range, all fields in which they benefit from the technology of their last generation circuits and computational power. Their merits are clear to the careful ear, but they don’t bring me more listening pleasure. The Nagra CDC possesses the same sensual and liquid ability, this lack of digital stress, whereas the Naim CD 555 pushes forward its marvellous sense of rhythm and an equally impressive full spectrum. But none of these two really outperforms the CD 12 on pure musical terms.
Still, with the Klimax DS, the marvellous diversity of Steve Shehan’s hand touch and groove sense on the track “Hijaz” appear under a new light, being like magnified by the length of tones extinction, together with the tonal perfection of the sound of metal ringing under its fingers. The drum kick seems even more focused in space, and when Loy Ehrlich gumbass comes in, it underlines the track with a fully controlled energy, totally integrated to the melody. This gives an additional depth to the stereo image : indeed, the whole soundstage has just opened in front of our ears. The sense of presence and the tonal quality of Didier Malherbe’s doudouk brings an hallucinating realism to this wonderful live recording. Nevertheless, it is going back to the CD 12 that I can better pinpoint the differences in subtlety and details richness between the two components. As it is always easier to figure out exactly which gap has been jumped when going back to a source of “lesser” quality.
Faced to the homogeneously spread out sense of rhythm and energy of the Klimax DS, the CD12 seems more reserved, almost dark, as if information was missing for a perfect recovery of instrumental micro-dynamics. What is really striking is that analog recordings as badly transferred to CD as Pink Floyd ‘s The Wall benefit from being “played” on the Klimax DS. On the track “Nobody Home”, which starts by the remote sound of a TV set and a yelling man’s voice, the Klimax outlines the sound perspective with an outstanding accuracy, whereas one very progressively discovers the heartbeat coming from the far end of the soundstage. On a global basis, each and every added detail is more delineated, better focused and still perfectly integrated into the melody. As a result, the rhythm seems to have slowed down, become more peaceful, and one finds out a new perspective on the track’s elements, gaining a depth which recalls that of vinyl replay. This is an impression I also felt on “The plaint”, from the magnificent songs collection Music for a While by Henry Purcell starring Alfred Deller. On this track, recorded in a church, Deller’s voice is accompanied by a harpsichord and a bass viol, and the melody’s melancholy is revealed with a new truth. To the extent one could think of having swapped to another master ! The violist’ breath, the density of the viol’s body, the plucking of the harpsichord, everything has acquired a new suppleness, without any loss of detail, whereas the voice, even more delicate as with the CD12, is better set in its acoustic space.
Here, the Klimax DS demonstrates its ability to resolve low-amplitude signals, all these reverberations, these resonances that are the life and the presence of the music. The Klimax DS succeeds in bringing full tonal richness and articulation, or alternately in reproducing the genuine dryness of a chord, without falling into the caricatural trap of a soliciting and irritating over-definition. Clearly, it extracts any available piece of information, just to integrate it into the melody and not for a cold analysis of its single parts only. Do not think that this seductive elegance hides any flabbiness, some kind of excessive softness, or suffers from lazy attacks on a more kicking program. In this field, the huge but cleverly applied dynamic compression of Madonna’s American Life will show the opposite. A great credit is given here to the engineer’s work. The natural and soft depiction of all intricated layers of effects, re-recording gimmicks, synth bass impulses, that the Klimax DS brings invites to raising the volume again and again, beyond reasonable measure. What a kick ! Stereophonic artefacts blossom, invade the whole room, and going back to the CD 12 is strikingly felt as image-shrinking and tone-darkening. Obviously no one has lowered instrument pitch, but the upper part of the spectrum is so detailed and the bass is also so defined with the Klimax DS that I discover a new side of this album I know so well.
Same impression prevails on Broken Rhythms by Trilok Gurtu, where traditional indian percussions are bouncing off with unheard joy and fluidity. The quality of tones’ attacks is properly astounding. On the second track “Kabir”, one feels like being surrounded by all the percussions, whereas the singer’s voice dominates this rhythmic avalanche with ease.
Be it on Bill Evans’ piano, Miles Davis’ trumpet, the wild progamming schemes of Radiohead’s tracks or on Laurie Anderson’s psychedelic delirium, the Klimax DS always displays its superiority over the CD 12, with a varying degree of importance. In general, the DS lets one enter into the music more easily, brings more things to hear, and blows the traditional stereophonic triangle limits. The image completely fills the room, with no degree of projection or roughness.
Strangely, I have been less impressed by the differences between tracks stored under the CD format (16 bits – 44 kHz) and their 24 bits – 96 kHz version, than between the same track played on the CD 12 and then on the Klimax DS. So wide is the gap jumped by the Klimax DS reading a mere extract from an ordinary CD, that I had hoped the same sort of difference between standard and high resolution excerpts. The better sharpness of hi-res files is nevertheless sensible : there is a gain on depth and precision, especially on the upper part of the spectrum. But this listening test will have to be done again when there is more material available than the three tracks provided with the machine.

Conclusion

On a performance point of view, the Klimax DS is a really astounding front end, another total success to be credited to one of the best design team in the whole audio industry. It is certainly the most musical digital gear I had the opportunity to hear. One can always criticise the elitist approach of the company, since there are other suppliers which propose more versatile and far less expensive devices to whom wants to enjoy dematerialised music formats. But if one takes into account to the task that has been set to its designers – namely turn out the best digital source for the years to come – the Klimax DS component has no real competition to face. Surely, the user’s interface remains to be improved for day to day operation, and also for users of Macintosh computers, which probably represent a number of potential purchasers. No doubt that the choice of UPnP will lead to the availability of many smarter solutions for the management of the DS, be they brought by Linn or by independent developers.
In the end, those who think that the Klimax DS’ price tag is far too high will have to consider the following : on the one hand, this innovative player surpasses to date every no-compromise front end. Including machines which price equals or exceeds that of the DS. On the other hand, Linn already proposes a more flexible and less costly platform with the Akurate DS. … This component is priced around 6000 € and will soon be met by another machine using the same sort of technology, at half its price.
The question of transferring CDs on a server device will remain. Beyond the recourse to a tier party doing it for you, I suggest that Linn turns out a complementary piece of equipment housing both a CD/DVD ROM player and a resident copy software, to be connected to the Klimax DS. This box could also contain the Ethernet server plus a WiFi modem in order to be an integrated device of great user-friendliness.

The Klimax DS has been created to offer the best of digital for today’s and tomorrow’s use. By contrast with other current digital front-ends, its open architecture together with its 24 bits – 192 kHz capability and its independent storage device are a guaranty over obsolescence. This is the same sort of philosophy that prevailed to the Sondek LP12 spirit in its time … what a reference !




Playback system : CD player: Linn Sondek CD 12, preamplifier: Linn Kisto, Power amplifiers: Linn Akurate 3200 ( x 2) and 4200, Linn Akurate 242 loudspeakers and their dedicated 5 ways active filters, Bass reenforcement subwoofer: Linn AV5150. Interconnect: Cardas Golden Cross, Linn Silver Interconnect ( new connector), speaker cable: Linn K400 & K600.