Linn Akurate DSM

[dubselect]

It's my first experience with LINN products, 
Linn has interesting approach to build  streamer with DAC but without option to connect external devices and actually use it as a conventional DAC. 


The most expensive DAC that I tried ( before I had Devialet) its Luxman d06 and after not hearing much difference ( by the way just like with speaker cables)  I thought to my self that all DAC's is pretty much the same and as long as you have something decent you should set it and forget it. 
If you don't like something about  your setup , you shod probably purchase a more expensive speakers or very expensive power Amp or pre, for sure not DAC, That's what I thought at least. 


Now I understand how wrong I was, and if I'll look at my self from a side I can't blame my self, there is a million products with weird names in HiEnd market , some more exotic then others , if you not a millionaire you just can't try them all  and come to conclusion by your self what is sound better and whats not, 
You  probably can't trust  audio magazines reviewers that they telling you the truth, and we all know why. 
Some time it's taking whole life to get to that step where you like what you get from your audio system, but looking back you realize how much Money, years, sweat and experience it took. 

So what I'm trying to say is that I'm so enjoying LINN Akurate that I couldn't believe that such relatively small change in the chain of my  system can do so much impact to sound quality and overall enjoinment,
I find my self listening to albums that I simply refused to listen with Aurender connected because of unpleasant sound that I got from my system, I of course blamed the recorded quality of the album and just moved on, 
yesterday night I found my self listening to Guns n Roses and Adel Live at Royal Albert Hall,  maybe there are worse albums in recorded quality speaking but with  Akurate and by the way my Devialet 250 that I upgraded not long ago and as well found much better then D200 (tried d200 x 2 and found d250 better, but that's another story) , it's just a joy to listen to music now. 

Dubselect, for your question regarding version of Akurate , it's DS/1 but with 4 RS232 in the back.
You know what version do I have ? And what are the difference between this and newer ?

Just form curiosity, does someone knows what DAC can compete with Akurate DAC ?

Actually Linn has a line of streamers with internal preamps and digital inputs - DSM.
I have Klimax DSM. It is streamer, preamplifier and DAC - it has several digital inputs.
There is also Akurate DSM - streamer, preamp, DAC and phonostage.

A DAC is heart and the most critical part of a any digital-based system. The overall soundquality of a system depends a lot on the qualty of a DAC. Luxman DA-06 is a good but not extra-high quality DAC so there is no surprise that there is not much difference between it and Devilet's DAC.
Linn Akurate internal DAC is much better quality - that is why you hear a significant improvement. And in addition I2S connection inside Linn instead of USB connection between Aurender and Devialet also did it's bit for the SQ (sound quality).
Don't forget that with Linn SQ of your system will depend a lot on the quality of analog interconnect cables (which you did not use with Aurender).

DS/1 is a previous model (second generation). The new model - DS/2 (with 2 Exakt outputs) - has better clocking system and different board, thus new DS/2 sounds better than DS/1 while it costs almost the same price. Some people even claim that Akurate DS/2 is very close to the Klimax DS/1.
If you will have a chance to try DS/2 in your system - do it. I doubt you will regret about it, especially takng into account the fact that you liked DS/1.
BTW, you can also upgrade DS/1 to DS/2 if you wish.

As concerns DAC which may compete with Akurate's - in my experiecne MSB Analog DAC with Aurender X100s sounded better than DS/1. But I am not sure about DS/2 - it may be very close (if not equal) to Analog DAC + X100.