Article: New Linn Selekt DSM: First Listen

[The Computer Audiophile]

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[One and a half]

Doesn’t the Katalyst upgrade support DSD, it does for the Akurate and the Klimax.

 

For the wheel of fortune at the top of the unit work for large collections , is there a filter for alphabetical selections?

 

The LCD looks like album art misses out.Roon certification should be ready by now.

[austinpop]

Yes I was wondering about the DSD support too. 

 

Perhaps the the press release is - horrors! - in-Akurate?

[The Computer Audiophile]

2 hours ago, One and a half said:

Doesn’t the Katalyst upgrade support DSD, it does for the Akurate and the Klimax.

 

For the wheel of fortune at the top of the unit work for large collections , is there a filter for alphabetical selections?

 

The LCD looks like album art misses out.Roon certification should be ready by now.

I was told it will support DSD64. 

 

The wheel wouldn’t be the best option for scrolling through a large collection. Just wouldn’t make sense. 

 

It will be Roon compatible not Roon Ready. 

[MetalNuts]

Linn DS is no doubt the pioneer of streamer using ethernet connection and its products are of  good quality.  However, it still only accomodates to 192khz and with Katalyst upgrade, it barely supports DSD.  With the same price range, there are a lot of choices with wider choice of input and with more supported file formats. 

[firedog]

1 hour ago, MetalNuts said:

Linn DS is no doubt the pioneer of streamer using ethernet connection and its products are of  good quality.  However, it still only accomodates to 192khz and with Katalyst upgrade, it barely supports DSD.  With the same price range, there are a lot of choices with wider choice of input and with more supported file formats. 

 

The question is: will you hear the difference? My recent experience is that very good conversions makes the difference inaudible, or so close to inaudible that they are barely noticeable. 

[One and a half]

6 hours ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

I was told it will support DSD64. 

 

The wheel wouldn’t be the best option for scrolling through a large collection. Just wouldn’t make sense. 

 

It will be Roon compatible not Roon Ready. 

The not Roon Ready brings the marks down quite a lot, and the DSD support ... even the higher priced models max at 128, and for sure convert internally to PCM. Not going to consider Linn, maybe in 5-9 years time when the formats are a wider range and Roon Ready is a reality?

 

I tried to start a Upnp server , took a little time with it, minimserver, but Server firewall got in the way, just didn’t have the enthusiasm any more to be involved with a lot more geek reading and less enjoyment.

 

Roon just works, detection, settings and go, nothing much to it and sounds great!

[The Computer Audiophile]

I don't get too caught up in specs, but that's just me. I've used Berkeley Audio Design DACs as a reference for many years and they only support PCM up through 24/192 (no DSD). I completely understand many people like to resample to much higher rates for PCM and DSD. That's OK too. In my experience the true test of a DAC is how it performs at 16/44.1 because this is the most difficult sample rate to convert. I've also found many DACs that work much better when users resample to higher rates because the DACs aren't nearly as good at lower rates. 

 

My bottom line is this, all products should be evaluated on their merits without bringing a previously used formula to the table. The formula may be unnecessary with the different DAC. 

 

The lack of Roon Ready in favor of Roon Compatible could be a showstopper for some, but I'm withholding judgement until I can use the Selekt DSM as a Roon endpoint to see what the difference are and if they matter to me. 

[austinpop]

Chris, do you know what they mean by Roon compatible? It’s a vague term.

[The Computer Audiophile]

17 minutes ago, austinpop said:

Chris, do you know what they mean by Roon compatible? It’s a vague term.

Linn products work as Roon endpoints but aren't as full featured as Roon Ready products. 

[mcgillroy]

Linn Katalyst streamers sound rather good. I’d love to see some independent measurements of them. 

[saturdayboy]

No option to install a hard drive and store music locally?

[#Yoda#]

A comparison between the Selekt DSM with integrated amp and Katalyst DAC upgrade vs. the Ayre EX-8 with all options would be interesting.

In my systems, the combination of Auralic Aries and the Ayre Codex clearly excels the Linn Majik DS.

[Sal1950]

Where's the tone arm?

Where do you put the LP?

I'm so confused.

[austinpop]

1 hour ago, Sal1950 said:

Where's the tone arm?

Where do you put the LP?

I'm so confused.

 

I think you mean Konfused. Maybe you should go out to the Sondek and lie down. 

 

?

[Ralf11]

that knob does look a lot like it should have a belt on it to drive the platter...

[The Computer Audiophile]

I think Linn could take it up to another level if the knob mechanically raised and lowered in connection with the proximity of a person. The unit already has proximity sensing for the display. 

 

Similar to this:

 

 

[Ralf11]

Great Idea!  And think of the price premium they could charge...

[fattkidd77]

This sounds like an amazing piece of equipment, How ever, it seems it would have been more user friendly if:

1.If you would have put the amazing top button on an angle of about 63-75 degrees.

2.) Made it so the user could change the back ground colour too what ever suited them. 

3.) Made the remote an extension for the awesome Voice command feature.

4.) Included an amazing digital graphic equalizer with the headphone amps at the very least.

5.)I get you want to have us take down our ad blockers for your benefit. well how about a Price at least a base price maybe add an upgrade calculator. Just my thoughts 

[The Computer Audiophile]

7 minutes ago, fattkidd77 said:

5.)I get you want to have us take down our ad blockers for your benefit. well how about a Price at least a base price maybe add an upgrade calculator. Just my thoughts 

 

How about this from the article:

 

Pricing and further details:

Selekt DSM $5,200
Selekt DSM with integrated power amp $6,825
Selekt DSM with Katalyst DAC upgrade $7,150
Selekt DSM with integrated amp and Katalyst DAC upgrade $8,755

[Hugo9000]

I love the elegant simplicity of its looks, particularly the display. 

 

 

[sls]

Exactly what Linn needed to do, but loses out badly to the Devialet 140 Expert Pro on price, power and functionality.

... from a former happy Linn Akurate system owner.

[Linnsound]

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the Katalyst DAC upgrade shouldn't be overlooked. A/B comparisons were very straight forward without volume manipulation or any trickery and differences were easily heard.

 

While I bought a SELEKT DSM, when I was at the dealer and he even did a blind test for me with/without Katalyst, I couldn‘t tell the difference and therefore choose the standard model. So I wanna know what traits of sound quality were easily heard?

 

I‘d rather expect a step up in SQ when Linn offers the Organik cartridge for Selekt DSM in 2023.

 

Quote

I look forward to getting a Selekt DSM with Katalyst DAC upgrade in my own listening room…

 

So did you, or did you change your mind meanwhile?