Linn’s network music players, side by side. Here is the Klimax DSM alongside the two models below it, showing what your money buys at each step.

The Klimax DSM is Linn’s flagship network music player. It combines a streamer, a DAC and a preamplifier in one machined enclosure. Linn’s streamers descend from the original Klimax DS of 2007, and this generation is the first to use a DAC designed entirely in-house: Organik, which handles the whole conversion process with Linn’s own FPGA processing and discrete circuitry rather than an off-the-shelf DAC chip. It is a preamplifier, not an integrated. It has no power amplifier inside, and it is designed to drive a power amplifier through its balanced or single-ended outputs, or Linn’s own active Exakt speakers over Exakt Link. It also treats every source in the digital domain. Analogue inputs are converted by a dedicated ADC, and vinyl reaches it digitally through Urika II. That is the central idea of the product, and the honest reason some listeners will prefer an analogue preamplifier instead.

Brief product overview

A streaming preamplifier with the Organik DAC. It plays files up to 24-bit/384kHz and DSD256, and streams from Tidal and Qobuz, with Roon and AirPlay support. Digital inputs comprise Toslink, two BNC S/PDIF inputs (one configurable as a digital output) and a USB Type B input for a computer. Analogue inputs comprise one balanced XLR pair and two RCA pairs, converted by a high-performance ADC with its own circuit board and dedicated power supply. Exakt Link sockets connect Linn’s Urika II phono stage and Exakt loudspeakers. Outputs are one balanced XLR pair and one RCA pair, both variable level, and each can be switched on or off independently. Networking is by wired Ethernet, including an optical Ethernet connection that isolates the player from noisy network equipment, or Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth 4.2 is included. Space Optimisation, Linn’s room-correction software, models your room’s dimensions, the speakers’ positions and the speaker model, and it is standard. The enclosure is machined from solid aluminium, with a panoramic 1600 × 480 display behind the glass fascia. It measures 350 × 126 × 350mm and weighs 16.4kg, in black or silver. There are two variants: Audio, and AV, which adds HDMI 2.0 inputs and an eARC output. It is made in Glasgow.

How it sounds

The Klimax DSM is transparent and even-handed. It delivers a great deal of detail without sounding forensic, with very precise imaging and strong timing, so dense music stays organised and rhythmically alive. Organik’s strength is naturalness: instrumental texture and decay are rendered with an ease that makes long listening sessions easy. The balanced output is the better-sounding of the two and the one to use. Space Optimisation is genuinely useful with large floorstanders, because it reduces room-induced bass peaks without the side effects of measurement-based correction. The honest limits are these. It is a digital-domain design, so anyone who wants an all-analogue path from cartridge to power amplifier will be better served elsewhere. It also has to be paired with power amplification, which adds to its already high price.

What we’d partner it with

For power amplification, a pair of Linn Klimax Solo 800 monoblocks is the matching Linn choice. These are class AB mono amplifiers with Adaptive Bias Control, in which an FPGA continuously adjusts the output-stage bias. Each delivers 400 watts into 8 ohms, 800 watts into 4 ohms and 1.2kW into 2 ohms. That reserve is what a large, low-impedance speaker needs. A pair of Klimax Solo 500s (250 watts into 8 ohms, 500 into 4) is the more compact Linn alternative. A pair of McIntosh MC3500 Mk II valve monoblocks, each 350 watts into 2, 4 or 8 ohms through McIntosh’s output transformers, gives the same system a valve character. Both alternatives are subject to a stock check.

For speakers, the Sonus Faber Stradivari G2 is a 3.5-way floorstander. It has a 28mm DAD Arrow Point tweeter, a 150mm midrange in a sealed chamber and two 260mm woofers loaded by a down-firing hourglass reflex port. It has 92dB sensitivity, a 4-ohm load and a recommended amplifier range of 100 to 600 watts, which suits the Solo 800s well. The Marten Parker Trio Diamond Edition is the more compact alternative. The Focal Sopra N°3 is another option with a beryllium tweeter. Both are subject to a stock check.

For vinyl, the Linn Klimax LP12 completes the system. Its internal Urika II phono stage applies the RIAA curve in the digital domain and sends the result to the Klimax DSM over Exakt Link, so no separate phono stage or analogue interconnect is needed. If you would prefer a different turntable, a high-quality external MC phono stage such as the Pass Labs XP-17 or the Pro-Ject Phono Box RS2 can feed the DSM’s balanced input. On cabling, use balanced XLR interconnects from the Klimax DSM to the power amplifiers and speaker cable of appropriate gauge for the run; AudioQuest and Chord are the cable brands we stock.

Who shouldn’t buy it

If you want analogue sources to stay analogue all the way to the power amplifier, a valve preamplifier such as the McIntosh C22 Mk V is the better choice, paired with a separate streamer. If your system is built around Linn’s active Exakt speakers, the Klimax DSM System Hub is the variant designed for them. If you need HDMI for a television or a home cinema, choose the AV variant rather than Audio. And if your budget stops short of flagship level, the Selekt DSM Edition Hub with Organik DAC gives you Linn’s in-house conversion in a modular chassis. With a power cartridge fitted, it also drives speakers directly.

Place the Klimax DSM on a rigid, well-ventilated shelf. Connect it to your network with a wired connection; use the optical Ethernet connection if your installer can run one. Set it up through the Linn app. Connect the balanced XLR outputs to the XLR inputs of the two Klimax Solo 800s, and use the balanced output rather than RCA, as it is the better-sounding of the two. Then configure Space Optimisation in your Linn account by entering the room’s dimensions, the speakers’ positions, the listening seat and the speaker model. It is worth revisiting after the speakers have been moved during setup. Connect a Klimax LP12 with Urika II to an Exakt Link socket, and earth the deck to the phono ground terminal. The Urika II then appears as a source in the app. Leave the Stradivari G2’s bi-wire jumpers fitted unless you plan to bi-wire. Only connect or disconnect speakers when the power amplifiers are switched off.