A pioneer in network playback with the Klimax DS, released in 2007, Scottish company Linn, which is now celebrating its 50th anniversary, continues to reinvent itself and, with the latest generation, the LINN Klimax DSM 3, presents one of the most accomplished players in the world. Thanks to its new Organik DAC, now manufactured entirely by Linn on an FPGA architecture linked to an analogue conversion stage using discrete components, the LINN Klimax DSM 3 achieves an almost untouchable level of definition and spatialisation, combined with a quality of timbre that has perhaps never been seen before.
Half a century ago, a Scotsman by the name of Ivor Tiefenbrun created a revolutionary floating turntable in Glasgow: the Sondek LP12 was born. Thirty-five years later, Linn developed the Klimax DS and brought out one of the very first top-of-the-range network players, while Deezer was still in its infancy and Spotify had just appeared. Over the next fifteen years, the brand’s engineers never stopped questioning their processes, and after adding upsampling upstream of the DAC – back in 1997 – and developing it until recently, they felt they had reached the limits of this method and needed to review the entire digital chain again to improve it.
So, under the supervision of senior engineer Phil Budd, they reviewed all the processes to create a new, entirely proprietary digital-to-analogue converter, based on an FPGA board linked to a conversion stage made entirely from discrete components.
Based on proprietary algorithms, the FPGA board is used not only to oversample the digital signal, but also to manage the volume so that the device can be used as a preamplifier. The converter stage then sets about delivering the analogue signal with a new design, thought out to reduce signal paths to a minimum and further limit distortion and noise.
To make the DAC even more user-friendly, it is completely separate from the other stages in the case, which although it has the same appearance as the Selekt DSM (€5,520), uses totally isolated digital and power stages, for a tenfold increase in weight from 7.2 kg for the Selekt DSM to 16.4 kg with the Klimax DSM/3. To perfect the architecture and avoid interference as much as possible, a sealed block was added to integrate the most critical part, the Organik DAC, and separate it from the analogue parts and the clock, the latter revised on the basis of a new oscillator to reduce jitter effects to infinitesimal variables.
Produced on a new CNC machine in which the manufacturer has invested specifically for its latest generation of players, the Klimax DSM 3 offers a shielded enclosure against all interference, with the aim of preserving the purest quality of the digital data and then the analogue signal.
With such an Organik core, the Klimax DSM 3 is capable of decoding streaming files up to 24-bit 384 kHz and audio formats up to DSD256, without going any further for the moment, or taking an interest in the MQA format. Its FPGA architecture allows for regular updates to limit obsolescence, even if the digital card can always be upgraded at a later date, just as previous Klimax units can now be upgraded with the integration of the new DAC, at a considerable cost, but less than the cost of exchanging your old DSM for a new one.
In addition to its display screen with highly refined light grey alphanumeric characters on the front, the LINN Klimax DSM 3 benefits from a plethora of output and input connections on the rear panel, designed on a stand-alone printed circuit board with a dedicated power supply. Not only can you connect the box to Ethernet via an RJ45 cable, but you can also connect it directly to optical Ethernet to link it to fibre, as well as playing audio files via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth if required.
Analogue XLR, RCA and RCA phono inputs are also available for use as a preamp, as are equivalent outputs and USB inputs, so you can turn the Klimax DSM 3 into a real server. Finally, the Klimax DSM/3 can be connected to other Linn components, such as Exakt active loudspeakers, via the two Exakt Link outputs, which can considerably reduce the cost if that’s the only use you’re looking for, since all you have to do is buy the Klimax DMS 3 in its HUB version, which costs half as much (€18,000). Conversely, the most accomplished users will be able to opt for the Klimax DSM 3 AV version, which incorporates no less than four inputs and an additional HDMI output on the rear right-hand side, and therefore a new card, for a price surprisingly equivalent to that of the LINN Klimax DSM 3 version, at €36,000.
The set up
Given the hefty price tag of this musical gem, borrowing the product was out of the question, so we carried out the tests at Audio Synthèse in Paris. So as not to distort our listening, the Linn Klimax DSM 3 was first integrated into a modest high-end system. Then it was combined with components of the same level, i.e. among the best, without ever showing the slightest weakness. At the same time, comparisons with the bottom-of-the-range model from the same brand, the Klimax Katalyst – kept in the catalogue because it cost €14,000 less – or with direct competitors in terms of price, have highlighted the incredible superiority of the LINN Klimax DSM 3.
Listened to at length with Raidho X-2 loudspeakers (€12,900 a pair), the network preamplifier/recorder was then integrated into Raidho C2.2 loudspeakers (€22,500) and then onto the gigantic TD-3. 8 (€88,000), while the entire system was purged, from the mains input via a Nordost Odin 2 cable (€16,695) to an ingenious combination suggested by our on-site concert master, Régis, involving the use in series of two Bonn N8 switches from Silent Angel, both connected to the same brand’s Forester F1 power supply, for tenfold stability of the mains connection.
In such a context, listening could only be perfect, but it proved to be even better than our expectations, and the Klimax DMS 3 was only challenged on numerous files and very different recordings, without ever separating its preamp or network part from the conversion part. It should be added that, in order to make network playback even more stable, it is possible to connect the device directly via an optical Ethernet cable, or fibre throughout the digital chain, which we were unable to try out during our test, as we were already very confident in the purity of the data streamed thanks to the chain of switches mentioned above.
The sound of the LINN Klimax DSM 3
If high-fidelity is a world, the Linn Klimax DSM 3 has opened its doors to take it to another universe, so infinite do its possibilities seem. Listened to immediately after getting to grips with the already splendid Klimax Katalyst, the Klimax DSM 3 gave the impression of shattering all the partitions in the room, leaving only the music free to roam. First tried with jazz singers Diana Krall and Melody Gardot, the network player and its internal Organik DAC seemed to transport these artists into the room, with a presence almost as strong as when we heard them live.
The LINN Klimax DSM 3 was less precise on details such as lip-smacking and breath-holding during the first listening sessions, but seemed to us to be more homogeneous, more lively and much more natural in its transcription, with a quality of timbre rarely, if ever, achieved before. Then, after a few denser tracks, we realised that the less well perceived details and the slight narrowing of the soundstage compared to a DCS Rossini, for example, were due to the fact that our Raidho X-2 speakers simply couldn’t handle the signal any more, given the streamer’s almost limitless information.
Combined with the giant TD-3.8s, the Klimax DSM 3 found no limits and brought an infinitesimal level of detail to the slightest whisper, while maintaining a free and superbly pleasant sound and listening experience. Tested again and again with polyphonically complex works, such as the violent ‘Dies Irae’ from Verdi’s Requiem, chosen for several recordings, our digital jewel extended the soundstage to the limit of its possibilities, with a complexity never heard before at such a level, without ever creating a primary or secondary layering effect, but with the most perfect integration of all the components.
We then experimented with a number of rock groups to delimit the ambitus of the spectrum, and in particular the bass register. Here again, the Klimax DSM 3 showed no limits and enabled us to reproduce with perfect clarity all the basses of the most diverse instruments, always with infinite precision in the slightest string scrape or percussion strike.
Our conclusion
A true magician, the latest-generation Klimax has never lived up so well to its name. Capable of taking the listener to new heights every time they listen to it, it allows them to rediscover each recording by taking it to the limit of its possibilities, without the slightest perceptible limit, as much for the amplitude of the spectrum developed as for the incredible breath and life released from the soundstage. We’d like to call it natural, but we were in the room for Melody Gardot’s live performance in Paris and at La Scala in Milan for Barenboim’s performance of Verdi’s Requiem, and in both cases, the sound quality we experienced was superior with the LINN Klimax DSM 3.
For a product such as this, we have to call it a supernatural success, not because the player is trying to transform the sounds, but because it makes them so precise that you would have had to be in ten places at the same time, and in particular in the conductor’s seat in the Milan hall, to hear the same thing, or stand on stage and stick your ear a few centimetres from Melody Gardot’s lips to be able to discern the same level of detail.
At €36,000, Linn’s new digital flagship costs the price of a nice car, but it’s capable of transporting the listener thousands of miles, without making them leave their living room.
Author: Vincent Guillemin
Technical sheet: LINN Klimax DSM 3
- Origin: Scotland, Great Britain
- Weight: €36.000
- Dimensions: 350 x 126 x 350 mm
- Weight: 16.4 kg
- Digital inputs & outputs: Ethernet (1000BASE-T RJ45), Optical Ethernet (SFP socket), 2 x Linn Exakt, Toslink, SPDIF, XLR, RCA, RCA phono, USB Type B, wi-fi (802.11ac), Bluetooth, HDMI (on AV model), HDMI ARC/eARC (on AV model)
- Analogue outputs:
- XLR
- RCA phono
- HDMI (on AV model)
- Audio formats: FLAC, Apple lossless, WAV, DSD (64/128/256), MP3, WMA (except lossless), AIFF, AAC, OGG up to 24-bit 384 kHz
