https://www.hiddensystems.co.uk/news/20 ... ds-players

Last Orders for Standalone Linn DS Players
Linn has announced that they are ceasing production of standalone Digitial Streamers to focus on their DSM Network Music Players. DSM Players include a pre-amplifier with digital and analogue inputs and HDMI switching, making it easy to integrate with your existing hi-fi and video components and make them sound better.
Owners of standalone DS Players can be reassured that Linn will continue to offer service and upgrades for these products.

If you would like one of the last DS models via HiddenSystems, the cut-off date for orders is 30 September 2018, with delivery early October.

Help this helps you guys/girls.

Do you know if the upgrade route from ds to dsm will stay available into the future?

Linn has already ended this possibility end of August (the 27th to be precise). It has not been communicated very clearly imo, I have the impression that even not all Linn dealers have been aware of it.

So the current situation is that you can only upgrade your old ADS with Katalyst, and your old ADSM to Katalyst. No conversion from ADS to ADSM anymore.

As from the 30th of September, you can also not order any new DS from Linn. Only upgrade your old ones.
It remains to be seen for how long this option will be possible.

mrco99 wrote:Linn has already ended this possibility end of August (the 27th to be precise). It has not been communicated very clearly imo, I have the impression that even not all Linn dealers have been aware of it.

So the current situation is that you can only upgrade your old ADS with Katalyst, and your old ADSM to Katalyst. No conversion from ADS to ADSM anymore.

As from the 30th of September, you can also not order any new DS from Linn. Only upgrade your old ones.
It remains to be seen for how long this option will be possible.

As a Linn dealer I just wanted to say that all the above is correct. No DS after 9/30, which includes Majik DS as well as Akurate and Klimax DS. No DS to DSM upgrades since August 27th with no word of bringing that option back at the dealer rollouts. Akurate DS and Klimax DS upgradeable to Katalyst for the time being, no commitment to future upgrades if something better than Katalyst emerges.

HIDDENSYSTEMS wrote: Last Orders for Standalone Linn DS Players ...

Owners of standalone DS Players can be reassured that Linn will continue to offer service and upgrades for these products.

A newly ordered Akurate or Klimax DS will be the Katalyst variant, obviously, but have Linn actually said they will offer hardware upgrades for these products when the "next thing" beyond Katalyst is released?

Music at Home wrote:

HIDDENSYSTEMS wrote: Last Orders for Standalone Linn DS Players ...

Owners of standalone DS Players can be reassured that Linn will continue to offer service and upgrades for these products.

A newly ordered Akurate or Klimax DS will be the Katalyst variant, obviously, but have Linn actually said they will offer hardware upgrades for these products when the "next thing" beyond Katalyst is released?

As I stated directly above, no.

Possible contradiction with the OP then. Stating that Linn will continue to offer upgrades for these products is a bit ambiguous and I was just trying to seek some clarity.

I'm pondering all this too; I'm sitting with a KDS/1 and KK/1 sitting on the carpet just collecting dust, at the moment. As my system's mostly used for TV sound, I'm just using the ADSM/3 to directly feed my 350A and sub DSP, but I am aware of how good the Katalyst KDS sounds and though I'd like to sell the KDS/1 and KK/1 (I don't so often listen to music these days; avoiding worsening my tinnitus has severely restricted my listening hours) I am very slightly tempted to upgrade KDS and re-install the preamp and KDS into the system, though it wouldn't be prudent spend considering the use it will get (so selling it is probably my preferred option).

On whether future boards are made for the KDS, who knows, but I do know that within a year of Katalyst KDS board being launched, a surprisingly significant proportion of all of the KDSs ever made had been sent back to get the Katalyst upgrade (it would be most intriguing to know what that percentage is as of today) so given how much revenue that must have brought in, I would be surprised if any future development in 'sonic architecture' - assuming that it's appropriate to fit it into an existing KDS box, of course - is not also 'ported' into a making new KDS board as it could potentially be too lucrative a revenue stream for any sensible business to ignore. Not only would make good business sense, but it would also show Linn in a very good light in terms of press releases and HiFI comics talking about the capability to upgrade an older product (in the same sense of LP12's being upgradable). Of course, that is merely me harmlessly speculating from the outside; I have no idea what might actually happen in the distant future!

Bri

Briain wrote:I'm pondering all this to as I'm sitting with a KDS/1 and KK/1 collecting dust at the moment. As my system's mostly used for TV sound, I'm just using the ADSM/3 to directly feed my 350A and sub DSP, but I am aware of how good the Katalyst KDS sounds and though I am tempted to just sell the KDS/1 and KK/1 (I don't so often listen to music these days; avoiding worsening my tinnitus has severely restricted my listening hours) I am just getting slightly tempted to upgrade KDS and re-install the preamp and KDS into the system.

On whether future boards are made for the KDS, who knows, but I do know that within a year of Katalyst KDS board being launched, a surprisingly significant proportion of all of the KDSs ever made had been sent back to get the Katalyst upgrade (it would be most intriguing to know what that percentage is as of today) so given how much revenue that must have brought in, I would be surprised if any future development in 'sonic architecture' - assuming that it's appropriate to fit it into an existing KDS box, of course - is not also 'ported' into a making new KDS board as it could potentially be too lucrative a revenue stream for any sensible business to ignore. Not only would make good business sense, but it would also show Linn in a very good light in terms of press releases and HiFI comics talking about the capability to upgrade an older product (in the same sense of LP12's being upgradable). Of course, that is merely me harmlessly speculating from the outside; I have no idea what might actually happen in the distant future!

Bri

I do agree with you though Bri. I had a very similar conversation with my dealer last week, although we were thinking of things more from the retailers perspective. Linns series of upgrades have provided excellent value for money for the customer and a good income generator for Linn and their retailers. I can imagine Linns designs being even more modular as time goes by in order to capitalise on their R&D expenditure.

Although I see some point to the suggested possibility of future DS hardware upgrades I think they are unlikely. I don't know if it would really be cost effective to develop a whole new motherboard for a product no longer being manufactured. I think it is more likely that any new Kataklysmic super DAC technology would come in as a DSM and Linn would offer KDS owners the ability to upgrade to the new Kataklysmic KDSM. They would likely get superior perfromance to their lowly Katalyst KDS, and should be able to turn the DVC off and use their choice of preamp, but there would still be the nagging question of whether it would have been even better if they had made a KDS version of it.

Imagine that: the Akurate DS/3 only had a lifetime of 6 months until its sunset. Even the Klimax DS/3 lifetime was really short (2 years) looking at the impact of the new generation of DAC technology.

I agree and feel there will be a moment when a limited time offer goes out to upgrade from DS to DSM.

Maybe not within the next two years but that is more likely to me than later upgrade possibilities with just DS boards with all the extra effort in just developing them for the upgrade.