Based on many different tests on two different locations/systems, ReadyNAS is the "one" NAS to consider. Same goes with Seagate HDD's. Likely there are differences in Seagate HDD's performance but they are all a GOOD step above the other. Great work ML, so we have a very good starting point here. S...

Musi Lover, thank you for the precious informations you've shared with us. Your findings about HDDs confirm mines, Seagate HDDs "sound" better than Western Digital. I've tried 7200.10 500 Gb and ES 500 Gb and both are clearly better than WD GP 750 Gb. Now it would be great to know which of the Seaga...

Hi Json, the "ReplayGain" matter did attract my attention too when I was doing some comparisons to find the best sounding settings for EAC. In my experience it doesn't make any difference to sound quality. The reason why it is included in Linn EAC profile is not clear, infact I'm reasonably sure tha...

[...]there was an Italian company involved with Linn that made a stand for the LP12 called the Audiotech (also hard to find) and some matching equipment racks. Later on some or all of the people involved in Audiotech formed another company and made the Archidea stand. You are right Thomas. Audiotec...

This is quite an achievement John!
I guess the only network device which could still have an influence on DS performance with your new architecture is the media-converter. Have you tried if also NAS/HDDs have become uninfluential to the sound?

Paolo

Thomas thank you for your very interesting report, great post! I've never had the possibility to compare different plinths in a controlled manner, but I'm always been courious about their relative influence on the performance of the LP12. There had been roumours in the near past that Linn was workin...

Hi Paolo, It's fabulous to browse my collection, stack up a playlist (or random) and relax, it's great! Agreed! I must admit I'm also actually enjoying the challenge of how to get the best out of it - playing with the network, building a PC from scratch and just from an engineering problem solving ...

Hello John As I see it from an IT angle, there can be no difference at the 'data' level, the extraction off HDD and the transport via ethernet will arrive 'perfectly'. However there must be noise being generated in the NAS, PC and/or switch to which the DS is sensitive. I agree 100%! Anyway, at the ...

Hello guys, I've made some more experiments on this matter. Here are my findings: - Intuitively (but still not easy to rationally explain), switches and NASes (HDDs?) have the most musically significative influence to the sound. Network cables' impact on tune is less important (but still quite easil...

Interesting tool, thanks Axel. BTW, I think I'm still missing something: I understand that with WavDiff you can compare two or more wav files, for instance, taken a certain song, one from RipStation and one from EAC. You can get the differences between the two, but how can you know which of the two ...

Hello Axel,
how did you get the information about the wrong samples?

Paolo

Hello everybody, I'd like to add my view on the Kinki. I couldn't directly compare it to other MM preamps like Thomas did, I've just had the pleasure to keep it at my place for some time connected to an LP12/Lingo/EkosII/Adikt side by side with my LP12/Keel/Lingo/EkosSE/Akiva/Linto. The difference b...

I've also quickly compared the two directions of a cable, it doesn't seem to make great difference, but again I'll not be 100% sure until I do a serious test. I was wrong guys! Just tried today, there's definitely a difference with the two directions of the same network cable. The difference is not...

Sommerfee, thank you for your extensive report, i find it interesting and very useful! I'm actually try comparing different switches to decide which is for me the best "architectural" solution with the DS, so I've still not made any methodic comparison with network cables. I've Just tried some I had...

I would like Linn to point out for us the following: 1. Should we use shielded ethernet cables? 2. Should the shield be connected at both ends? If not, Which end of the shield should be connected to earth? 3. Is it better to use short or long cables? 4. What grade of cables should be used? 5. Which...

Less is more --> connect DS to a PC with a cross cable. Nothing else than the music files should be on that PC. Well, except the Linn GUI and related SW to pass the files to the DS. To that PC you have a small monitor. If you then creates mart playlists, i.e. one for each artist (example all tunes ...

As far as I understand it, the DS range of players are networked digital devices, in the same way that your computer is a networked digital device. Observing a dfifference between two different digital cables is analagous to observing a different presentation of a web page when switching to a lower...

Are the DS products effected by the connection quality between the DS itself and the PC? I'm thinking about RJ-45 cable type and number/type of intermittent devices (i.e. switches and routers). Charlie1, being a network engineer I've been overly surprised to experience with the DS several "effects"...

Fantastic post Thomas, these are really very useful informations! What you've reported also clarifies to me why there has been some inconsistent reports from different trusty sources about the performance of the Linn Bahoing cable. I've always found this cable sincerely quite bad, being surprised to...

Though the sound may not be the same from different rips on different computers as you point out. I can´t argue there, but I have compared the results from EAC and Ripstation and the files contains exacly the same music signal. The difference lies in the length of the silent part at the beginning (...

Is there anybody out there using or considering using DS with Mac?! I'm struggling with the fact that LINN GUI etc are .NET-applications, not suited for Mac-users. I've found this UPnP-application that might work: http://www.cidero.com/mediaController.html , but what I really want is the possibilit...

Jewa, with regard to Ripstation and EAC, I'm sure that given the same song on a CD, they don't create the same FLAC file. Ripstation always creates bigger files and they sound louder than the ones created by EAC - maybe it's just a matter of "normalization". I Still don't know anything about how the...

Have you also noticed that Linn are now recommending Ripstation MicroDS to rip CDs instead of EAC? A download is available at http://www.linn.co.uk/ds_software MicroDS seems to be twice as fast as EAC. Very interesting...I've heard from a trusty source that Linn still doesn't have an official opini...

A very happy New Year to Fredrik and everyone!

Paolo

With CD, it's a very good player, highly musical, but despite what has been written, its tonality remains a far stretch from the fluid, more organic sound of the CD12. Spitfire Spitfire, I agree with you on this, the CD12 is still a machine on its own in every respect. Anyway may I ask you how many...