This particular customer has had an interesting journey with us, upgrading his HiFi system over the years and had a Linn Klimax DSM/3 (Organik) with a Utopik upgrade, driving a Naim NAC552 pre-amplifier and a pair of Naim NAP350 power amplifiers. Speakers are Dali Epikore 7’s with Dali SCRM-230ST speaker cables.
After attending our open evening where we used a Klimax DSM into a pair of Klimax Solo 500’s, the customer was so impressed he decided to get a pair. Because the Klimax DSM has its own pre-amp built in, which now sounds awesome with the Utopik upgrade, there was no real need for the NAC552 any more, so we went for an all-Linn system, and offered a generous trade in on the Naim gear.
The result is truly spectacular and presents the music effortlessly whilst still maintaining the timing and an improved soundstage. We connected the KDSM to the Solo’s with a Naim Super Lumina balanced pair (XLR) interconnect.
Now, because the Klimax DSM converts its analogue inputs to digital (I know it will horrify the analogue audiophiles out there) BUT an LP12 still sounds amazing through this. Therefore it is better to use a Urika-2 phono stage which converts to digital right inside the deck, and does all the RIAA correction in the digital domain more accurately and with zero phase distortion. The long signal path is now digital and less prone to the phase issues of an analogue interconnect.
Now, the reason a lot of audiophiles associate “harshness and clutter” with digital audio sources is mostly because of external influences which screw up the timing information, like RF noise and clock Jitter from a $5 chinese router. When the KDSM converts the analogue signal to digital its in a fully controlled environment with none of these external influences. (ie. all within the device itself). So, guess what – it sounds very, well, analogue !
If you want to hear for yourself any of the elements described here, come over and visit our showroom !