Introducing Lina: A new dCS system, purpose built for headphone listeners
Lina is a new product series from dCS, designed to meet the unique needs of headphone listeners. Featuring a Network DAC, Headphone Amplifier and Master Clock, it reimagines the dCS experience for headphone users, and combines our world-leading audio technologies with new innovations developed specifically for headphone playback.
After more than two years in development we could not be more excited to finally share this with you all. Read more on the dCS Edit https://dcsaudio.com/edit/dcs-launches-lina
We’re taking an in-depth look at the Lina Network DAC–the first dCS DAC purpose-built for headphone listeners. Here, we reflect on the DAC’s design and the unique features and innovations we’ve developed to ensure it delivers an outstanding experience for all headphone users.
Following our in-depth look at the Lina Network DAC, we talk to the dCS engineering team about creating our first-ever standalone headphone amplifier. Here, the team discuss our design goals, the experience we set out to provide for listeners, and the challenges of making an amp that can serve a vast range of headphones and head-fi setups.
We designed the Grade 1 Lina Master Clock to minimise jitter and enhance audio performance when paired with the Lina Network DAC. Here, we explain its role within the Lina system and some of the unique features that help ensure it delivers an accurate and reliable clocking reference.
In 1999, dCS pioneered the use of external clocks in digital audio systems with the release of the 992. The 992 was a master clock developed for use in professional recording and production studios, where engineers would often be running multiple converters simultaneously.
Our smallest product series yet, Lina was explicitly designed for the head-fi market. At the same time, we always knew that Lina would reflect the same ethos of extreme craftsmanship and cutting-edge technology as Bartok, Rossini, and Vivaldi. These two design goals required all of dCS’s creative and engineering prowess to pull off successfully.
