The booming popularity of music streaming
must have the people at Linn sitting back and muttering ‘told you so’: the
Scottish company has been making streaming servers and players for ages, runs
its own record label offering high-resolution Studio Master downloads, and
almost three years ago canned its range of CD players in favour of streaming
hardware.
Now, with its DS layer range challenged at
every turn by rivals old and new, Linn’s made a pursuer-foiling swerve with the
launch of its Kiko system: it doesn’t look like anything else on the market,
doesn’t work like any other manufacturer’s streaming system, and maybe isn’t
even aimed at the same kind of audio enthusiasts Linn tackles with its
mainstream products.
Linn
Kiko
So what is Kiko? In simple terms, it’s an
all-in-one system, sold complete with active speakers – there’s a digital
crossover and two amps per channel inside the main control unit – and designed
to make streaming simple. Its basic role is to stream music via Ethernet –
there’s no wireless connectivity – from a computer or NAS drive, but the system
also has a couple of analogue inputs, a couple of digital, and a trio of HDMI
ins and a monitor output, with video passthrough. So you can run your video
sound through it, too.
And Linn is unashamedly going for the
‘lifestyle’ market with Kiko: the publicity material is all very ‘designer
living’, and along with the curvaceous styling, the system comes in a choice of
six colours. You can have the white of the review sample, black, silver,
‘champagne’, or light or dark blue, with finishes being to a very high standard
on the metal casework of both the main unit – officially designated Kiko DSM –
and the Aktiv Kiko speakers.
There’s only one control on the Kiko DSM,
and that’s a power switch on the right end-panel… or the top-panel, should you
choose to use the unit standing vertically rather than horizontally. Should you
choose to do that, the Kiko DSM’s display also reorients itself, which is a
neat design touch.
Mind you, there’s not much to that display
beyond a start-up logo, source indication and a volume control, as most of the
‘driving’ of the system is done using Linn software (of which more in a
moment).
Plug and play… almost
As with all its products, Linn recommends
you have Kiko installed by the supplying retailer, but to see how easy it was
to set up – and not just to be awkward – we insisted on doing it ourselves. The
computer-run ‘wizard’ provided on the Linn website (see panel opposite) works
with features built into the unit to make this a breeze: the speakers connect
using cables terminated with foolproof Neutrik Speakon plugs, and the system
will then play a programme of music to allow you to check you have them ‘the
right way round’. And once you’re networked, a sample of music lets you check
all is streaming as it should.
In use, Kiko is rather different from
appearently obvious rivals such as the Naim Uniti range and the Cyrus
Streamline. Those rivals are designed to ‘pull’ music from a computer or NAS
drive; the Linn is a system to which music is ‘pushed’, either using Linn’s
Kinsky software running on a computer, phone or tablet, or the simpler Songcast
application to turn the system into your audio output device for whatever
hardware it’s running on.
So, with Kinsky on an Android or iOS
tablet, say, you can choose music on your computer or NAS, and set-up playlists
for Kiko to deliver. Or should you have music stored on an iPad, for example,
you can stream it wirelessly using your home network to Kiko.
In other words, just like Apple Airplay
without actually being Apple Airplay.
Getting used to using Kiko and its
attendant software takes a little familiarization – the term ‘thinking
Scottish’ was mentioned a couple of times – but the sound requires much less
acclimatization: in typical Linn style, it’s agile and well-detailed without
ever trying too hard to show you how hi-fi it is.
If
you’re after high-quality sound from an all-in-one, Linn’s got it covered
That’s emphatically A Good Thing: Linn has
always majored on delivering the most involving musical experience, and whether
it’s playing a hi-res classical work from Linn’s own label, thundering out some
electronica from the recent Bleep Guide to Electronic Music or streaming
internet radio services – yes, it does those, too, with set-up via the TuneIn
platform – the sound is big, confident and easy to listen to while at the same
time drawing you into the musical. It’s even a riot when playing video or
digital TV sound through the HDMIs.
Provided your network is up to snuff – and
this is something the installing Linn retailer will be able to sort of you –
operation either straight from your computer, or from phone or tablet, will
become instinctive, and should you get really hooked the software can play to
multiple Kikos – so you could have one in every room of the mansion.
Yes, Kiko would be challenged hard on pure
sound per pound by more conventional rivals – think Naim UnitiQute and Neat
Iotas, for example – but the style, quality of build and well thought-through
ergonomics give the Linn an appeal all of its own. For its target market, or
as a second-room system for existing Linn DS owners, we reckon it’s bang on the
money.
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Details
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Tech specs
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Power 44W per channel Formats FLAC, Apple
Lossless, WAV, AIFF, WMA, AAC, Ogg, up to 24-bit/192kHz Inputs Phono x 2,
optical, coaxial, HDMI x 3, Ethernet Outputs speakers, headphones Dimensions
(hwd) Main unit: 7.5 x 28 x 27cm/2kg, Speakers: 25 x 14.6 x 19cm/3.1kg
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Price
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$3750
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Ratings
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5/5
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