You comments are interesting and somewhat contrary to the near universal praise of the Lyngdorf by those who have heard it. I get the impression that Kenny is as impressed with the Lyngdorf 2170 as much as Grannyring is.
I don't
believe my comments are somewhat contrary to the near universal praise of the
Lyngdorf.
I, too, was impressed with the Lyngdorf. So much, in fact, that it competed
with the might Chord DAVE. Indeed, that's when I began to question how much of
Chord's sound quality was in the power of suggestion versus a "real"
quantifiable judgement in SQ improvements.
However, there are different levels of heaven. If it weren't so then we
wouldn't have nothing demarcating "this" from "that," or
"that" from "this." The Linn just happens to be on a
different level above anything else I've heard after considerable scrutiny. It
has nothing to do with cost (though I'll admit that I didn't pay anywhere close
to retail for the Linn).
My mention of the Linn KDS/3 was to add a little sauce to the discussion,
whether readers think it's a real-world option or not. The fact is, in the
audiophile world, the search for the last 1%-3% of SQ is again, using distance
as an analogy, the greatest distance to traverse in our search for nirvana. It
is within this far distant realm that the Linn lives, at to me that might or
might not incur an acceptable cost to performance ratio. People spend much more
in those last percentages on cables, cords, and magic hoodoo boxes.
That said, USB is dying - or at the very least it should be killed - for there
really isn't a reason for digital streaming to go through a separate box to get
to your main processor. It's a whole sub-industry that functions on antiquated
technology: one that is flawed, and becoming divisive, not to mention the
almost universal skimping on more robust/delicate internal power supply
integration. Too many cookie-cutter products out there, which the Lyngdorf
is not; nevertheless, short of HDMI as a transfer protocol (which isn’t
galvanically isolated), the inputs are as standard as the rest of the “standards.”
Galvanic isolation is also a must when you’re spending $5k-$6k on a unit.
I would say
that the Lyngdorf is a smidge darkish, but only a tad. I attribute this to the
Class D integration, which, in the Lyndorf’s case, a far sight better than
too-bright signature of competing Class D like NAD. The effect is that it
imparted a little warmth, which was very pleasing.
At the time,
the Lyngdorf was driving my EggelstonWorks Andra IIs, in a very open room with
lots of furniture, so the room correction worked its charm, though without
being setup properly, it could also sound artificial. With a little work
(though not much) I got the unit singing!
Also, at the
time, the Lyngdorf’s competition was the Chord DAVE and the Metrum Adagio, both
DACs using either the Benchmark AHB2 or the D-Sonic amp I had in at the time,
to compare upper-echelon Class D.
In the end,
the Lyngdorf was a great performer, and I went with the Chord DAVE, because at
the time, admittedly, I bought into their business model, which I later found
to be lacking, despite the excellent SQ. Could I have lived with the Lyngdorf?
That’s tough, because I knew I was getting an ever so slightly skewed, though
pleasing, performance. Then again, what isn’t skewed one way or another, for
better or worse? Everything is colored, but for me, I try to whittle it down to
the lesser of an evil in my evaluations.
Eventually,
of course, I went with the Linn KDS/3 because it was the Chord DAVE + the Chord
Blu2 in one unit, with the extreme benefit of having a direct ethernet input,
Chord-like power supplies for every phase, to ensure signal integrity, and a
pre-amp volume without degradation and/or added distortion when you goose the
volume. Also, like I said above, although it doesn’t have an amp like the
Lyngdorf, the principle is very similar, in that the signal has its final
conversion right before the RCAs or XLRs, in affect keeping it digital until
the last possible moment (the Lyngdorf might have the edge of this, though, even
if it doesn’t matter for the above reasons, and more). Throw in the Linn room
correction and periodic software updates, and those are added bonuses.
I don’t do benchmark tests, although I enjoy
reading them, but I care about specs to a certain extent. I’m still learning
(shouldn’t we all?), so I’m always fascinated by reading thoughts and feelings
on other people’s gear. However, there had to come a time where I quite auditioning
the latest flavors, bringing in $50k worth of MSB, dCS, and TotalDac to
audition. My pockets aren’t that deep, and it’s a good thing, too, because
lesser priced units like the DAVE, the Linn, the Lyngdorf, the Metrum, and the
DEQX were “destroying” them, as they were “miles better,” the former units
being priced for people with more money than sense.
