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Linn Klimax DS renew vs WiiM pro + Rega dac R - sound quality comparison

M

Musician

pfm Member
Recently I had the opportunity to have a Linn klimax DS renew in my listening room for some days, doing extended listening comparisons with a Rega dac R and a WiiM pro as a digital drive. This gave very interesting results using TIDAL .
After testing the WiiM pro as a digital transport for several weeks using Tunemethod to find the most musical 5 volt power supply for the Wiim, it is powered with an ipad supply from 2012. This made small improvements in the flow of the music compared to the stock power supply.

The connection from the WiiM pro to the Rega was an electrical spdif cable, a 75 ohm, very short and stiff 20 cm cable made for video broadcast . After testing 3 different spdif cables, ( Mogami, belden ) this cheap but good cable became the choice sounding slightly better than the other two. Ethernet cat6 cable was used for the Linn Klimax DS and the WiiM. Correct phase for the power cable was checked for the Klimax DS before the listening began .

RCA cables used in this comparison was the Linn black interconnect and the bargain ( in my opinion ) Focal elite 1m.
Power amp was a Hypex ncore 250 amplifier, very articulated in the sound with a very detailed soundstage combined with a tuneful bass.
Music used was ” All of me” by Michael Bublè and different songs by Tracy Chapman , ” Thinking of you” , ”fast car” , ”I did it all” and the song ”Change” . Some songs by The Police was also used to check the ability for pace, rythm and timing.

Loudspeaker used was a single driver speaker , a Sibelius inspired construction.

…. So, coffee was made and I began listening to a whole track each time before changing the players.
 
The Wiim is excellent VFM and so is the Rega DAC… I had the Rega DAC for a long time deployed in various systems… I currently have a Klimax DS/1 Renew… let’s make this short, the DS wins by some margin, it’s an astonishing sounding product, there’s no area sonically where it isn’t better. I’ve been awake for 20 hours (massive working day), and I’m now sat glued to my seat listening.
 
linnfomaniac83 said:
The Wiim is excellent VFM and so is the Rega DAC… I had the Rega DAC for a long time deployed in various systems… I currently have a Klimax DS/1 Renew… let’s make this short, the DS wins by some margin, it’s an astonishing sounding product, there’s no area sonically where it isn’t better. I’ve been awake for 20 hours (massive working day), and I’m now sat glued to my seat listening.
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The Linn streamer compared is a Klimax renew DS/0. The WiiM pro has a better powersupply than the stock, and the dac is a better sounding , later Rega dac R , made 2016.
 
Mr_Sukebe said:
and....
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Here it comes.

I don't believe in blind tests, but when comparing I always listen to a whole song before I change players. If I am to be really careful, long-term listening with each device is probably the best before comparing. This test was done partly because I had the opportunity to do it during this weekend, partly because rumors abound on some forums that the WiiM pro would not be particularly good as a digital drive, as an example alpha audio etc. can be mentioned.

Ok, now to the actual listening where I listen for how easy it is to follow along with the music, what notes the musicians are playing, not just that they are playing.

With the song "All of me" with Michael Bublè there is a clear bass line before the windband comes in and both players manage this with clear pitch at about the same level - it sounds very natural and the bass has a natural depth and the musicians play with tuned instruments, it's fun to listen to and it sounds clean. This is a sound quality thats clearly better than using a computer as a digital drive.
Both players have Wolfson's dacs 8741 and 8742 and maybe that is one reason why they sound so similar?

These similarities in the sound partially disappear with the included power supply for WiiM pro, where the sound becomes less accurate compared to using Apple's ipad charger. A small difference but important.

Regas Dac R also sounds best with digital filter nr. 2 selected on the device. With filter no. 1, there will be a greater sound difference to the detriment of WiiM+Rega dac R. To much bass and slightly worse stereoimage compared to Linn Klimax DS reneew.

With WiiM pro with a good power supply + Rega with filter no. 2, it is very difficult to say that the Linn is better for all music. There are now nuanced differences in the sound where the WiiM/Rega sounds more swinging and meatier while the Linn climax ds/0 player sounds a bit cleaner when the windband enters Michael Bublè's song "All of me".

The difference with other music, Tracy chapman and The police is extremely small and it is roughly on the same level as a cable change. When I replace the Linn analog interconnect with the slightly better sounding Focal elite cable, I can easily make any of the combinations sound a little better thanks to the cable.

I didnt use an analog preamp during this listening test , I used the digital volume control on the WiiM and with the Linn player.
For me, its clear that the WiiM Pro with a better power supply is a very good digital drive, much better than the retail price suggest. I cant hear any worsening of the sound with the volume regulation enabled. Alpha audio is wrong with their statement that WiiM pro is only average sounding.

I do notice that on some music material, the Linn klimax DS/0 renew sounds a tiny bit cleaner, that makes me wonder how good the sound will be with a DS/1 or DS/2 ?

This was the review of those two player combinations, next will be a rca cable comparisons using tunemethod.
 
Musician said:
Yes it is , - I also look for a rythmical correct and pitch accurate bass when Im comparing different sound gear ( Im not Lejonklou ).

I like finding good gear that dont cost a fortune. Unfortunately its a djungle out there - no help can be found by the commercial press so one has to listen and compare.
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That’s all I’ve done on my short journey thus far. I do query the value of A/B tests to anyone but the listener in their own space.
 
With all the comparisons above I didnt use the digital eq or peq in the WiiM Pro .
Im very happy to say that the peq function, If you want to use it , is very good sounding - theres no lost transparency If you turn the peq function on . The early software versions of Linn space optimisation did loose some of its sound magic If it was used, at least in my opinion. The space optimisation nowadays is transparent sounding , it is said.
 
The Wiim fanboys in FB seem to think the Wiim’s are bit perfect. Surely any digital source that’s not asynchronous won’t be?
 
JezmondTutu said:
The Wiim fanboys in FB seem to think the Wiim’s are bit perfect. Surely any digital source that’s not asynchronous won’t be?
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Im not a fanboy, Im used to listen to highend gear and are most sceptical when new ”fantastic” products comes to the market. But the WiiM pro is a truly special product. I can write this because Im not a retailer for highend audio;)
 
Musician said:
Music used was ” All of me” by Michael Bublè and different songs by Tracy Chapman , ” Thinking of you” , ”fast car” , ”I did it all” and the song ”Change” . Some songs by The Police was also used to check the ability for pace, rythm and timing.

Loudspeaker used was a single driver speaker , a Sibelius inspired construction.
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What about trying a more demanding track capable of showing differences such as Spiral Stair by Mammal Hands? It is one of my go to tracks when evaluating digital equipment because it so easily exposes differences.

Also, are the Sibelius inspired single driver speakers to best for the job? I briefly owned some single driver speakers and they had enough flaws of their own to completely overwhelm any other differences between components in the chain.

On the other hand, there must be a chance that you are right and I am wrong and the WiiM pro is all that any of us need.
 
Musician said:
Yes it is , - I also look for a rythmical correct and pitch accurate bass when Im comparing different sound gear ( Im not Lejonklou ).
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How could any hi-fi system get the pitch of bass wrong? It would mean the bass would progressively slow down or speed up relative to the other instruments as the music played. What does pitch inaccurate bass sound like? Hifi does not capture many things, and screws up most others, but pitch is pretty hard to mangle (without a turntable).

And what does rythmically incorrect bass sound like as well? You mean the bass plays in 3/4 instead of 4/4?
 
AndyU said:
How could any hi-fi system get the pitch of bass wrong? It would mean the bass would progressively slow down or speed up relative to the other instruments as the music played. What does pitch inaccurate bass sound like? Hifi does not capture many things, and screws up most others, but pitch is pretty hard to mangle (without a turntable).

And what does rythmically incorrect bass sound like as well? You mean the bass plays in 3/4 instead of 4/4?
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No, its about the perceived ability for the listener to follow a tune in a soundmix .
Of course the pitch is the same on the disc material but the perceived clarity of the pitch may be different at the listening position.
The easiest way to understand what I mean is to concentrate on the reproduction of, for example, an electric bass. With a bad installation of your speakers, the sound at certain frequencies will be perceived as undefined and boomy.

Some streamers and CD players, or amplifiers and speakers reproduce the bass more or less defined. With a bad player, amplifier or loudspeaker there will be a blur and indistinctness in the bass area.

A system that does not play clearly in the bass register cannot reproduce the rhythm found on the record very well either
 
Fourlegs said:
What about trying a more demanding track capable of showing differences such as Spiral Stair by Mammal Hands? It is one of my go to tracks when evaluating digital equipment because it so easily exposes differences.

Also, are the Sibelius inspired single driver speakers to best for the job? I briefly owned some single driver speakers and they had enough flaws of their own to completely overwhelm any other differences between components in the chain.

On the other hand, there must be a chance that you are right and I am wrong and the WiiM pro is all that any of us need.
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Music taste is very subjective and I used music with very good musicians playing together . In a less good ( less musical ) system and setup, the music from those musicians are nothing special. I a good system, you dont want to turn off the stereo.:)
I could have used Spiral Stair or some Diana Krall songs as well, but I didnt this time.

The loudspeaker I use is a very good one, much better than my former Genelec SAM loudspeakers. But of course there are better speakers to use out there.
 
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