More than just a network music
player, this midi-sized component features a built-in CD transport, DAC,
headphone amp and preamplifier with digital and analogue inputs
The high-end audio landscape has changed
beyond all recognition in recent years. Visit any of the world’s major hi-fi
exhibitions today and you’ll find high-end manufacturers demonstrating their
wares using computer audio as a source.
Slot-loading
CD drive is hidden under the lid (not shown) while the chassis holds a
switchmode PSU, Anagram ‘Sonic Scrambling’ and digital filter on an Analog
Devices DSP with Wolfson WM8742 DACs at the output
No, this is not simply a ‘fashion thing’. Imagine,
for instance, Wilson Audio wanting to show off the capabilities of its flagship
Alexandria XLF loudspeakers priced not far short of $336,339.69. To demonstrate
them at their best the company will play hi-res ‘master’ recordings stored on a
HDD – as will any specialist audio company designing and manufacturing today’s
state-of-the-art amplifiers, loudspeakers and, of course, digital-to-analogue
converters.
Lindermann
Musicbook 25 Review 1
A new way of life
The migration of music consumption from packaged
media to computer files might necessarily have started with compressed files
(due to internet bandwidth restrictions), the cost of data storage and consumer
desires to play music on portable devices. The convenience of having a music
library accessible at one’s fingertips, for instant replay anywhere, always was
a no-brainer for general consumers. The fact that it can be done today
losslessly, without compromise – ie, at better than CD quality – has gradually
made it a way of life for progressive audiophiles too.
These days pretty much any specialist hi-fi
electronics producer possessing the technical and financial wherewithal has some
form of computer audio related component in its portfolio alongside its disc
players (if it still makes them) and amplifiers. Enter Lindemann audiotechnik,
a boutique brand from Germany focused on high-end music replay for the past 20
years. Lindemann was, in fact, one of the world’s first high-end brands to
offer a USB-to-S/PDIF converter for conveniently connecting a computer to an
existing DAC in a hi-fi system. It was quick off the mark to make a
USB-equipped DAC too.
Lindermann
Musicbook 25 Review 2
Identifying what the company sees as a new
trend for ‘downsizing’ complicated audio rigs, it has entered what represents new
territory for the company in developing a new range of midi-sized products
dubbed Musicbook. Extremely handsome they look too, housed in 6.5mm-thick
aluminium cases boasting immaculate fit ’n’ finish and with added-value OLED displays
that lend a serious touch of class.
Lindemann’s Musicbook components are expensive:
the range is aimed at audio enthusiasts who really don’t want to compromise
sound quality when choosing something bijou and modern looking. Currently the
line-up comprises four source components with computer audio very much to the
fore, and which also provide preamp functionality. If you want a complete
compact system there’s an identically-sized and styled power amp to make a
two-box stack. Priced at $2,673.90, the Musicbook 50 is a 2x100W/8ohm Class D power
amplifier employing ‘patented, improved UCD technology’.
