lindemann 820s hifi · comparison with dcs and mark levin-son ... derful old and new jazz...
TRANSCRIPT
D I G I T A L
Reprint Issue April 2007
hifi& recordshochwertige Musikwiedergabe
Das Magazin für
»The S-Class«:Lindemann 820S
D I G I T A L
Before I began this review, I was aware that Lindemann
audiotechnik made SACD players and that the company
had developed the 680 model, the very first SACD player
on the German market. But I had never heard one, or even held one
in my hands. I had to wait until the 680 made way for the 820, and
finally the 820 S.
Let’s just say that fate played a part in bringing Norbert Linde-
mann to my door with one of the first samples of the brand new
820 S for review. The maestro was in rather a hurry at the time,
and promised that he would discuss the technical details later on
the phone. And yes, my dCS combo would of course be in a differ-
ent league sound-wise. And I should be careful not to let my ima-
gination run away with me when comparing the two players. After
all, there is the matter of a not insubstantial price difference be-
tween the two. Obviously. Although I had no intention of letting
my imagination get the better of me, this conversation deflated my
expectations rather quickly. Still, nobody would call Norbert Linde-
mann a hot-air merchant. He’s very likeable. You get the impres-
sion of a down-to-earth engineer building serious, honest equip-
ment. So far so good.
Our discussion on the phone about the technology used in the
820 S confirmed my initial impression of the component’s
designer. Not only likeable but professional and communicative to
boot. However, his humility proved to be unfounded. Here, I’m
referring to his remark that the 820 S would not reach the heights
of the dCS Verdi/Purcell/Delius. No, I’m sorry, Norbert Linde-
mann, but you shouldn’t hide your light under a bushel: the 820 S
is easily the equal of the dCS – I have no hesitation in placing it in
the same quality class. I just had to get that off my chest for starters,
even if it detracts from the suspense of this review. A clear, un-
equivocal statement is usually the best way to counter excessive
modesty.
The Lindemann player’s clarity of reproduction with
both SACD and CD was immediately apparent right
out of the box. Nothing gets in the way of the perfor-
mance. Its transparency gives it the ability to illumi-
nate way back into every corner of the soundstage. I
would compare my initial impression, which stayed
with me throughout my listening sessions, to the infi-
nite ease of breathing you experience in the high
mountains in glittering sunlight. A quite extraordinary
experience. By comparison, the dCS combo reminded
me of a hazy day.
Lindemann claims that the player’s fascinating clari-
ty is a result of their technique of electrically isolating
the converter from the analogue section in the player’s
circuitry. The signal is transferred between these sec-
tions via inductive couplers. Another reason for the pro-
nounced »fresh air« effect can be traced to the jitter perf-
ormance of the 820 S (with the oscillator of the
discretely constructed masterclock located in the ana-
logue section) and, of course, to the layout of the boards
with strictly balanced ground circuits in the analogue
post-filtering. The analogue section contains static
screening surfaces that prevent the build up of eddy cur-
rents. Keeping the ground circuits clean means mini-
mizing the loop area of the ground conductors, as these
will otherwise function as antennae and pick up pollu-
tion from the digital section and the master clock.
Nowadays, optimizing the circuitry and the PCB lay-
out accounts for most of the development costs of man-
ufactured electronic components. The designer’s spe-
cialist expertise in this area is largely responsible for the
performance of CD players, but also of other electronic
components in the chain.
The analogue section. Norbert Lindemann does not
hold with the popular view that op amps have a detri-
mental effect on sound quality. Correctly employed as
double differential amplifiers, op amps can not only del-
iver in performance terms; they can also match the
most sophisticated discrete designs in terms of sound
quality. Note to self: ICs in analogue circuits are not nec-
essarily a bad thing. You live and learn.
The new Lindemann 820 S is state-of-the-art
with both CD and SACD. A dream player
»made in Germany«.
Review: SACD-Player Lindemann 820S
The S-Class
anced outputs. The oversampling con-
verter on the input side, which accepts
signals up to 192 kHz, is from Burr
Brown. The digital input signal is up-
sampled internally to two or four times
the sampling rate of the CD, or up to
176.4 kHz. Incidentally, the 820 S can
also be used without a preamp; its vol-
ume control using discrete resistors is an
extremely successful design.
Getting the mains polarity right
makes a big difference with this player.
The power cord used also has an effect
on the sound. Norbert Lindemann rec-
ommends Audience cables, and I can
understand why. I had never heard of
nique typically employed by computer
drives. The player sits on three conical
feet with ceramic balls in the apex of the
feet to divert vibrational energy from the
interior of the unit. A hard wooden base
definitely provides a superior support to
softer types made out of materials such
as acrylic.
The mains supply. Here, the Linde-
mann player is uncompromisingly two-
box, with an outboard power supply for
the analogue section and sophisticated
pre- and post-filtering. In the converter
section, Lindemann employs a separate
Burr Brown D/A converter module for
each channel, and these provide the bal-
anced output signals. The balanced
arrangement continues into the ana-
logue section and on through to the out-
puts. You also have the option of unbal-
D I G I T A L
Norbert Lindemann insists on a Sony
transport (above), Burr-Brown conver-
ters and balanced output stages.
The 820 S uses the same Sony trans-
port as the dCS Verdi. I had always
thought that this transport was respon-
sible for the dCS combo in CD mode
failing to match the precision and attack
that I rate so highly in the ML 390 S. I
clearly had it wrong, because the Linde-
mann with exactly the same transport
(which uses glass and not plastic lenses)
delivers the same precision and attack as
the 390 S. Norbert Lindemann goes one
better, by shock mounting the transport
on a steel block to prevent vibrations
from reaching the laser, which can be a
problem in machines with sandwich
construction bottom panels. The Sony
transport is one of the last remaining
double laser models that reads CDs con-
tinuously rather than reading a section
and buffering it for use later – the tech-
D I G I T A L
To sum up, I would
say that, for me,
the Lindemann
player currently rates alongside the dCS
Verdi/Delius as the best SACD player de-
signed for two-channel reproduction. CD
playback is also on a par with the dCS
combination. As far as price is concerned,
however, the 820 S looks like a real bar-
gain compared with the dCS. Norbert
Lindemann has certainly put a shine on
the reputation of German-made hi-fi
components. Reinhold Martin
Result
Audience before embarking upon this
review, but their approach to sound qual-
ity seems to me to be very similar to Lin-
demann’s, judging from the sound of the
820 S – a supreme sense of clarity, of
effortless transients, and a crisp, power-
ful bass. The cables are superb! More
about them another time when I have ob-
tained samples from the Audience dis-
tributor here in Germany.
I have already mentioned that the
Lindemann player attained masterpiece
status with both SACD and CD in direct
comparison with dCS and Mark Levin-
son – and that it delivered the cleanest
soundstage I have ever heard from a play-
er. What I didn’t mention earlier was how
easy it is to become addicted to its musi-
cality; I just kept coming back for more.
From Glenn Gould on the early SACD-
only disc from Sony, to the glorious Liv-
ing Stereo series on SACD, to the won-
derful old and new jazz recordings on
SACD like »Bags Meets Wes« or the
amazing Chie Ayado with »Love«. Or to
the host of CDs that I have collected in
Lindemann820S
WxHxD 44 x 13,4 x 34 cm
Warranty 3 years
Distribution Lindemann
audiotechnik
Carl-Benz-Straße 12
82205 Gilching, Germany
Phone +49(0) 8105-778530
Lab-Report
Frequency response: Lindemann dbr /Hz
Distortion: Lindemann 820 S %/Hz
Noise: Lindemann 820 S dbr /Hz
Lindemann 820S (unbalanced CD)
Total harmonic distortion (THD+N) 0,00175%IM distortion (SMPTE) 0,0075%IM distortion (CCIF) 0,0022%Signal-to-noise (500k filter) -74,4dB Signal-to-noise (A-weighted) -100,7dBConverter linearity:-50 / -60 / -70 dB 0,01 /0,01 /0,02dB-80 / -90 dB 0,21 /0,91dBChannel balance 0,05dBOutput voltage 2,2VOutput impedance (1kHz) 101ΩDC output offset 0,38mVDigital output signal shape good - very good
The lab tests show the 820 to be in the
»S Class«. Measured distortion is ex-
cellent, noise figures (500 kHz filter) are
substantially better than the D 680, and
with a 30 kHz reference filter, the signal-
to-noise ratio is perfect. Well done. Note:
the Sony transport is very sensitive to sur-
face flaws.
the past two years, particularly the glori-
ously remastered classical and jazz XR-
CDs. The Lindemann draws you right in-
to the performance, sweeps you away,
evokes emotions and awakens your de-
sire only to listen to music, be it from CD
or SACD. I cannot remember a time
when I was less inclined to reach for my
favourite analogue discs than during the
time I was occupied with the 820 S. It is
truly a player to lift the spirits.
And there’s more. Owners of the earli-
er 820 model can have their machines
updated to S specification for 1,800 eu-
ros. I cannot say how big the difference
is between the 820 and the 820 S be-
cause I don’t have any experience with
the »old« model. If those in the know are
to be believed, the difference is im-
mense. Norbert Lindemann unassum-
ingly states that there is an audible imp-
rovement. When I recall his assessment
of the the 820 S in comparison with the
dCS, I am convinced that the 820 S is the
»S Class« equivalent of all the SACD
players the company has produced so far.
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