I bought the LINA Network DAC recently for use in my speaker system. This was after a dealer demo with my own amplifier and stand mount speakers (closed back) I am familiar with.
I had a brief demo of the Lina clock which did add refinement, but which is out of budget.
The Lina as a streamer/DAC is great in my system at home for treble and mids, but is a bit muddy in the lower frequencies, which wasn’t evident at the demo (different larger room, closed back speakers) With my normal amplifier (Norma IPA 140) the Lina sets up a bass boom, which I can reduce, but not eliminate, with another amplifier (Naim Nait 50 - great amp .btw for small room listening) I have on loan. I have also adjusted different filters and mappings in the Lina to improve this aspect.
My speakers are good quality standmounts (rear port) good interconnects and Shunyata Venom power cables. Small listening room. Network is optimised with a clocked switch and ADOT fibre optic connections. Playing both from Qobuz and locally served files the SQ is near identical.
I have just installed my Auralic Aries G2.1 in the chain and playing via a good quality USB into the Lina (set to Master clock) the transformation is considerable after listening to just a few tracks. Bass definition is there, boom eliminated, overall quality still very good.
My Aries and previous DAC are up for sale to cover the cost of the Lina - so a conundrum.
Q1. Does anyone else have experience of a separate external streamer / network bridge feeding the Lina Network DAC,
Q2. Would the Lina Clock have a similar impact in a speaker system ?
My headphone use is limited so I have no intention of buying the Lina Headphone amp.
That is very unlikely. It is more feasible that the Lina’s predecessor had bass shortcomings ameliorated by the placement of your speakers to reinforce it. Hence when you now have a DAC providing a more full ( and correct - dCS are very careful about such things) frequency response but the bass now sounds excessive in the lower frequencies with speakers remaining in their earlier placement.
I would spend time moving the speakers ( especially away from the wall - particularly problematic with rear facing ports). Close to corners is definitely out. You may even need to deal with the rear ports’ output by reducing it by stuffing little wedges of foam into them.
Adding a clock is not likely to make much difference to a bass boom issue. As you say :
Yes, refinement. It doesn’t change the frequency balance.
Completely concur with Pete’s analysis and conclusion.
However are you saying that the LINA driven by the Aurilac G2.1 via USB is giving significantly better bass definition than the LINA driven by its network input? (You state the first part but only imply the second part).
That is not something I would expect and I see no obvious explanations either. Even if there are small differences in ultimate sound quality achievable with the different inputs dCS themselves usually suggest the network input for optimum sound quality.
In my case, with the Oyaide Tunami Terzo V2 XLR interconnects the Lina has significant bass boom with the Utopia22. With the Cardas Clear Beyond the bass is tight, i.e, well-defined, controlled, has a precise, focused sound and a quick response without being muddy or boomy at all.
If you are in the US, there are places to borrow cables. I don‘t know if it‘s within your budget, though, to try some of the lower priced Cardas cables.
To paraphrase James Carville, in my case „it‘s the cables, stupid.“
Can you maybe clarify a bit what you mean by ‘bass boom’? As others have mentioned this sounds like a room interaction with your speakers, but changing inputs on your Lina DAC should’t change the frequency response enough to impact this. Is the effect you’re hearing maybe something more subtle?
When we normally think of bass boom it would be something your could easily measure and identify using a mic and Room Eq Wizard, then adjust your speaker position/room treatments to address.
This is still a work in progress but part of the solution has been to change the interconnect cables - to a UK specialist make “Townshend DCT 300 RCA” which are transparent in their nature. This has improved the bass definition, along with speaker placement. Still a way to go.
I am running the ‘burn in’ process, or a repeating playlist, overnight to get the Lina and its connected components to a consistent level. The Lina is an ex-demo unit and I don’t know how many hours it has on it.
Certainly part of the cause of the room interaction is that the Lina delivers a deeper level of bass from the same music tracks / source compared with the previous DAC (of which there are two), and my turntable.
I have experimented with speaker placement and they are now 60cm from rear-to-wall, previously 30cm. Being even further out improves bass definition/removes room interaction further but it is impracticable in a 4m wde room with a 3mx3m walking/rug area. The speakers are not in the corner but there is a 15cm -deep alcove formed by an artifical fireplace - the room layout precludes any other wall or boundary being used.
As this is living room for the family I don’t want to introduce bass traps or other devices, but a couple of discreet panels may help. I don’t have the technical skill or laptop computing devices for a room eq wizard process.
Switching to a different analogue interconnect has provided slightly better bass definition and less room mode too; I don’t yet have standard-in0the-box XLRs from DCS to set a baseline which the dealer accidentally left out of the box of this ex-demo unit. They are on the way this week.
These small steps have made a cumulative improvement so I can ‘enjoy the music’. In summary the concerns I raised are lessened. I will still test the Lina clock in the future.
60cm is a decent distance which should ameliorate the most excessive bass reinforcement. As @PAR suggests you could also try experimenting with loosely plugging the rear ports with cotton wool or foam to see if it makes things better or worse.
I’m using a Lina dac as well and it’s still burning in. (New unit)
Yesterday evening I did some serious listening and the Lina sounds so good, no bass boom whatsoever. Must admit that I have the Lina connected to my amp with RCA interlink perhaps that makes a difference?
Bass frequencies are physically long wavelengths so wall panels won’t help. Bass traps are usually quite large in comparison and may not be suitable in a family room , especially as simple remedies. Panels may be helpful dealing with higher frequencies but that is not your concern.
One thing that has come to mind was when I was involved in installing a small system in my Godson’s bedroom. Small speakers but not stand mounted and placed directly on a flat surface ( his storage unit). A poor result but using some devices to separate the speakers from the supporting surface helped notably. In fact my large standmount speakers also gained significantly from separating the speaker from the stands’ support platforms with Isoacoustics pucks. A small but very effective investment.
Of course I do not know your setup in detail but perhaps this may be of use.
I commissioned Mitch at Accurate Sound to design a convolution filter. No laptop here either but it was easy to upload to my Roon Server. $750 and one of the best audio investments I have ever made, probably the best in fact.
Bass modes can be very effectively addressed by a FIR filter. See below:
Sounds like a very good choice and it’s likely not the cables then.
The Townshend DCT 300 interconnects cost about the same as the Cardas Clear Relflection interconnects. Clear Relfection is what Angela Cardas’ family - she runs Cardas Audio - uses at home with the Bartock. One reason I went with Cardas interconnects for the Lina and also one reason I paid more attention to dCS in the first place when I was looking for an external DAC. The Clear Beyonds need a lot of burn-in time but they sound better and better by the day.
I recalled the previous advice from DCS (I used to have a Network Bridge) to use UTP Ethernet cables and not STP.
I removed the Shunyata Alpha Ethernet/RJ45 from the chain (ADOT FMC —> Lina) and replaced it with a straightforward homemade Cat 7 STP Viablue with Telegartner connectors that has the shield disconnected at one end - this has made a big difference and I now have a ‘happy Lina’ and user. The other changes have certainly also helped.
I will also try the UTP supplied in the Lina box, which has already been put away.
This is the opposite to my Auralic Aries G2.1 and my Chord 2Go which both benefit from the Shunyata Alpha RJ45 which has filtering.
I have SolidSteel SS6 stands under my S+S Mu2 speakers. The SolidSteel tripod stands have a steel ball isolation design with the balls between the top of each leg and the base platform on which the speakers are placed with Isofix (cf. Blutak) paste.
The design concept is similar to the Naim Fraim stand, although easier to install.
The Serhan+Swift speakers themselves have been developed in Australia using these Italian stands…. Small world.
That suggests that the Lina DAC isn’t “seeing” an external clock input.
Definitely worth doing a factory reset on the Lina DAC from the front panel menu and confirming whether the issue persists after a factory reset.
If it does then drop me an email over to [email protected] along with the serial number of the DAC and Clock and we’ll pick up working the issue through.
