Linn’s convinced this is the future of music at home – Andrew Everard considers his options

Well, it certainly got Linn a lot of publicity: the company’s announcement that it was ending production of CD players as of the end of 2009 garnered no shortage of ‘Death of the CD’ headlines, and lead to heated debate on the internet forums between those who have already switched to computer-stored music, those who say they’ll be sticking to CD for the foreseeable future, and those still small voices saying “Actually, I happen to prefer LPs”.

The thing is, for all the media hoo-hah surrounding this announcement, it wasn’t quite as revolutionary as it seemed.

Linn isn’t the first company to abandon CD manufacture, as at least one company who gave up on it some years back was swift to point out; it’s not giving up making hardware able to play CDs, in that its Unidisk machines carry on; and its record label, Linn Records, will continue to offer music on both SA-CD and CD as well as in the form of downloads in a variety of resolutions.

In fact, Linn boss Gilad Tiefenbrun went on record as saying he’d still be buying music on CD from his local music retailer; it’s just that when he got the disc home he’d be ripping it to one of his company’s servers, then streaming it using a Linn DS player.

Less than huge news, then: Linn, one of the last specialist audio companies to embrace CD, simply because it felt the format didn’t sound as good as LPs played on the iconic turntable on which it built its business, becomes one of the first to stop making CD players because it feels there are more convenient, and better sounding alternatives.

The move is also said to be in response to the way its customers are reacting to its product range: its CD player sales are in decline, while those of its DS series music-streaming devices are up. Which, given that Linn had already stopped making its high-end player some time back, and has been very actively promoting the DS concept for a good while now, is hardly surprising.

It’s not hard to see why the DS concept appeals, especially to Linn’s generally well-heeled current clientele, more likely to be asking its retailers for complete solutions than getting its hands dirty mixing and matching separates systems.

The company can install a complete system in the buyer’s home, from storage and ripping solutions to a variety of streaming devices, and the system can either be controlled at the point of delivery, using a player/client connected to a main hi-fi system, or via a range of control solutions over a home network. You can have a complete DS system ‘driven’ from a netbook or computer, or even using an Apple iPod Touch/iPhone, not to mention other brands of ‘smartphones’ and PDAs.

But with the arrival of the Majik DS-I, not entirely coincidentally making its debut just before the Big Announcement, Linn seems to be targeting a different kind of user.

This is, after all, an all-in-one preamplifier/power amplifier/music streamer unit, selling for £2500 and able to accept not only all of a user’s centrally-stored music, but also offer connectivity for what the computer-music evangelists call ‘legacy’ audio components. That takes in your existing CD player – should you wish to be all Luddite and keep it, that is! –, radio tuners, sound from your TV, and even a turntable.

In essence, then, the Majik DS-I is an integrated amplifier with a digital-to-analogue converter and Ethernet port built-in. It delivers 2x100W using Linn’s Chakra power amplifier topology, is powered by the company’s latest Dynamik power supply, and supports streamed music in FLAC, ALAC, WAV, AIFF, AAC and MP3 audio formats at up to 24-bit / 192 kHz native sample rate.

The onboard DAC upsamples 44.1kHz and 88.2kHz signals to 358.2kHz before conversion, and takes 48/96kHz inputs up to 384kHz, and as well as the streaming input there are three electrical and three optical digital inputs.

Analogue sources are catered for by four inputs, one of which is configured for moving magnet phono, but can be converted into an extra line-in, or upgraded to moving coil at extra cost, plus a front-panel 3.5mm stereo socket for portable players.

peaker outputs are on substantial combination terminals, and there are also optical and electrical digital outs, a set of line-outs for a recorder, and preamp-level outputs to allow the use of an external power amplifier.

In usual Linn style the Majik DS-I comes complete with a remote handset and cables, and there’s also a CD included containing manuals and links to set-up software and the like.

PERFORMANCE
Courtesy of Linn Records, I built up a small library of high-resolution files with which to test the Majik DS-I, in addition to the fairly extensive collection of material I have already to hand on my network storage, and which I currently stream via a NaimUniti.

The company offers recordings up to 24-bit/192kHz, and has an interesting classical catalogue, as well as offering downloads from other labels offering high-resolution audio content. With those stored on a network-attached storage device, I hooked up the Linn to see what they could do.

Or rather struggled for a while to do so, given that the DS system is based around a wired Ethernet connection rather than the Wi-Fi I normally use, and should ideally be used on a sub-network using a dedicated wired router, rather than simply ‘hung off’ an existing unit. In the end, for the purposes of testing, I ended up with two set-ups: one involved a network storage unit connected directly to the Linn, the other using two routers.

Even then the Linn proved slightly reluctant to find music on the storage unit via its own remote control – something to do with a clash of media server software, I gather – and the manuals and software provided did little to solve the problem.

I was, however, able to ‘drive’ the system using the Kinsky Desktop software provided: it found both the storage and the DS-I, and it was possible to link music on one to playback on the other.

But there’s another however: at the time of writing, the Kinsky software only works on PCs, so those using Macs will either have to run a Windows system in parallel, or forego this option. I ended up using a budget Windows netbook, but as previously mentioned, there are control options via a range of handheld devices.

All in all, then, installing the Linn is rather more of a faff than I had expected, and probably best left to a dealer if you’re not sure what you’re doing. But the rewards for getting it right are considerable: playing some of the Linn high-resolution downloads proved an almost magical experience, with a degree of detail and presence unavailable from all but the finest recordings.

As I noted last month, the Dunedin Messiah is simply thrilling in its ‘hi-res’ form, and the Majik DS-I, used with some high-quality speakers, is more than capable of delivering all that extra impact and ambience. But the same was true with other orchestral and instrumental music, not to mention the Linn label’s excellent recording of Tallis’s Spem in Alium, which just drips with atmosphere and has the interplay of voices laid bare for inspection.

The Majik DS-I makes a solid case for the storage and playback of high-resolution recordings at home, and is also a rather good integrated amplifier for those ‘legacy’ music sources, I suspect not least due to that upscaling digital to analogue conversion of music stored in standard CD resolution, which also sounds very striking through the system.

But as already noted it’s more a product for professional installation than swift ‘fit and forget’ set-up, even though if you want to use it without running Ethernet cables around the home you could always use the likes of PowerLine transmission systems to make the bridge from room to room.

It’s all a long way from the purist Linn of the past, in which only an amplifier and turntable were allowed to be connected in the ‘music room’; but as a taste of what the future of music at home can offer, the Majik DS-I as accomplished as it is intriguing.

Just make sure you get it installed and set up by a Linn specialist dealer…

Linn Majik DS-I
Type Music streamer with stereo pre/power amplifier
Price £2600

Music formats supported FLAC, ALAC, WAV, AIFF, AAC and MP3 audio formats at up to 24-bit/192 kHz native sample rate
Inputs Three optical/three electrical digital, three line-in, MM phono (convertible to line or MC phono), aux in on front panel, Ethernet
Outputs Optical/electrical digital, line-out, preout, one pair of speakers, headphones
Other connections Infrared remote, RS232
Power output 2x100W
Accessories supplied Remote handset, network and audio cables
Dimensions (WxHxD) 38.1x8x35.5cm
www.linn.co.uk