Article: Linn Akurate DSM Review

[Audio_ELF]

Yep. Am aware of that thread.

 

Multi channel done well is superb in both film and music and it would not surprise me to see Linn get back into the game now that have the licensing for HDMI under their belt.

The Multi channel space is actually maturing and the constant upgrade cycle that was once needed has slowed considerably. If a small company like Primare can do it, Linn surely can. Their amps are so modular and are really perfect for an easy transition back into this arena.

Is Linn bigger than Primare?

 

I think Primare (like Arcam) have had quite a tricky time moving to HDMI and HD audio. Will be interesting how their second generation products fare...

[realhifi]

Is Linn bigger than Primare?

 

I think Primare (like Arcam) have had quite a tricky time moving to HDMI and HD audio. Will be interesting how their second generation products fare...

 

Yes. Linn is larger than Primare.

 

Primare's latest HDMI products are superb and by any measure cutting edge. Now that they have upgradeable boards I don't see them getting stuck in the quicksand as far as upgrades that are important. The HDMI implementation was the biggest hurdle for them and for many in the A/V realm and now that they have made that important move they should have no problem staying abreast. The improvements in A/V since the HDMI standard have been incremental.

[kfr01]

I never fail to enjoy reading your reviews, and I have a real appreciation for the wonderful photography as well. Thanks for all the great work!

.....

 

Thanks again for all your hard work, dedication to promoting the hobby and for sharing it with us.

 

I agree. Thank you.

 

I registered for your site to ask this one question:

 

What kept this DAC off your CASH list?

 

Thank you

[MikeJazz]

Hello Folks!

 

I had the good fortune of spending a few hours listening to music on my system, through one of this great players.

 

Long are the days of complications. Once you have a network in place, the akurate dsm finds it's network ip quickly. And then with a few clicks we configure it.

For this session, we shut off it's preamp facilities, and used it as a network dac (analogue out) and as a network digital transport (digital out).

 

As a digital transport it did not stand out notoriously from my linn sneaky ds. But use it simply as such would be to really left the best out of it.

As a networked dac, and comparing to the Lyngdorf, it come as a fuller, richer performer.

At the pianos, it gave more body and colours, and at strings it sounded more complex and less sterile.

Listening to the "invierno porteno" by David Grimal & Les Dissonance, was a very energetic, emphatic, directly connected experience, bringing more of the players intensity while leaving away some dryness, characteristic of the Lyngdorf.

 

This was a very revealing exercise as I heard this result using the ADC component of the Lyngdorf (losing maybe some transparency by making an avoidable dac conversion), so maybe with some good monoblocks the Linn Akurate DSM would even perform better...

 

Great fun, great piece of software, and good value, even if not cheap, you take home a good dac, a fine preamp (I believe the reports on this, did not test myself) and one of the best streamers around!

[Audio_ELF]

As a digital transport it did not stand out notoriously from my linn sneaky ds. But use it simply as such would be to really left the best out of it.

I believe Linn have offered the opinion that as a transport there is no difference between the Majik and the Akurate and very little difference between those and the Sneaky.

 

Eloise

[portfair]

Hi Guys - Thanks to the posts from some of you about flawless gapless performance, album art, and a specific album to test I was able to play gapless up through 24/192. I've updated both the main body of the review and the conclusion.

 

The problem is related to large album art just as jf3011 suspected. When I stripped the album art out as a first test everything worked great. This is great to know, but also points to a weakness in many renderers. The Rendu devices handle this large album art without issue.

 

Hi

 

Can you clarify this problem please? From reading the review it can be read that files over 500x500px present a problem but from reading the comments I think the issue relates to the size as in MB. I use a Linn ADS and the file I use for my 24/96 DSOTM is 1500x1500px at 176KB and the album plays gapless as expected. However if I embed a 6MB jpg in the flac files I do indeed get a gap during playback. Can you confirm if it is the size of the file in bytes and not pixels that caused the issue you experienced? If so I think this should be made clear in the review as this is an important issue for many people. I can think of no reason why an image file of MB size needs to be embedded in the flac files and for any reasonable use it would seem to me this is a non-issue.

 

Thanks

[The Computer Audiophile]

Hi

 

Can you clarify this problem please? From reading the review it can be read that files over 500x500px present a problem but from reading the comments I think the issue relates to the size as in MB. I use a Linn ADS and the file I use for my 24/96 DSOTM is 1500x1500px at 176KB and the album plays gapless as expected. However if I embed a 6MB jpg in the flac files I do indeed get a gap during playback. Can you confirm if it is the size of the file in bytes and not pixels that caused the issue you experienced? If so I think this should be made clear in the review as this is an important issue for many people. I can think of no reason why an image file of MB size needs to be embedded in the flac files and for any reasonable use it would seem to me this is a non-issue.

 

Thanks

 

I'm not sure how you got the impression that files over 500x500px present a problem.

 

The problem is most certainly about file size not image dimensions.

 

I think it's a bit short sighted to think an embedded image file needn't be over 1MB. I like high quality images for use with retina displays. I also want to embed the highest quality image I can find because I know one thing is certain, the future will not be the same as the present. I may display album art on a large 4K television, a super retina display, or some other device unknown right now. I don't want to find and re-embed higher quality images.

 

In addition, I have several image files embedded into some flac files. Front cover, rear cover, box set cover, etc... These add up in size quickly. Some iPad apps support all these images enabling me to read the rear cover for track information when it's in the image.

 

Also, future formats will support embedded images, PDFs, lyrics, video, and all kinds of stuff that will make some renderers choke.

[portfair]

Thanks for taking the time to respond.

 

I'm not sure how you got the impression that files over 500x500px present a problem.

 

 

From the review which says "...all played gapless perfectly when I embedded 500x500px album art rather than the larger images I had previously embedded". As you've now confirmed it's about file size not image size.

[One and a half]

There's a major revision to the Akurate DS/DSM announced this month.

 

Full support for Roon

 

From a little earlier in the year:

Latest Katalyst build supports DSD64, 128 via network and outputs through the analog outs only.

 

Katalyst can be retro-fitted to existing Linn players built several years ago, not a bad way to upgrade, highly commendable.

 

 

[Bones13]

So, the Roon, and DSD did get added recently. HDMI 2.0 also, including 4K with HDR.

 

Is anyone able to give an up to date review of the Akurate DSM by today’s standards of DAC? and streamers? 2018? I know it’s been upgraded several times (and I find that to be a great “feature”) but it was introduced more than 5 years ago.

 

Can anyone comment on the Phono quality of the DSM. I would be using MC.

 

Thanks in advance