Dsm-v Band

[Elenor Waas]

Soyou want to run a big turbo on your DSM? Then we have exactly what you need! This is our DSM V-Band bottom mounted turbo, tubular exhaust manifold. Made from thick walled 304 stainless steel tubing. Featuring multi-pass TIG welded joints and CNC machined 1/2" thick 304 stainless steel flanges. The ports are gasket matched and smoothed to perfection for the best of flow, each flange is surfaced for a leak free seal.

With this manifold you will still be able to keep your power steering and a full size radiator however slim fans are required and 2G cars will need to install a 1G radiator or similar radiator that places the coolant outlet on the passengers side versus in the middle. The manifold can accept up to an S-Cover compressor housing. O2 housing and dump tube(s) can be made upon request, please contact us for more info. V-band clamp sold seperately.

The Linn Klimax DSM is the best product Linn has ever made. I know that's a big statement given the company's storied 50+ year history of producing products as lauded as the LP12, but the contest isn't even close. The Klimax DSM is in another league, in every conceivable category. I'll also take this a step further by saying unequivocally that the Klimax DSM belongs in the same very small class as the best digital products available on the market today. The biggest of the big names and the best of the best in digital playback, absolutely includes Linn and its Klimax DSM. Period.

The 2022 Winter Olympics are currently underway. The best athletes in the world are gathered to find out who is the best of the best. Years of hard work and sacrifice can all come down to a single match, jump, or shot. How is this even remotely related to the Linn Klimax DSM network music player? Here's how I see it. Decades of product research, design, and manufacturing have lead Linn to its new flagship product that competes on the global HiFi stage with the best of the best. Linn created something very architecturally different from its previous products, took a calculated risk, and has confidently launched the Klimax DSM for the world to critique, listen to, and compare to peers.

I don't even consider the Next-generation Klimax DSM to be an upgrade. It's is a new product with a familiar name. All previous generations of the Klimax remain every bit as good as they were when released, but this one has major architectural differences that put it far above its Klimax predecessors.

As a digital audiophile since I was born, I'm extremely interested in the heart of the Next-generation Klimax DSM, the Organik DAC. It's the first digital to analog converter designed and manufactured entirely in-house by Linn. The Organik DAC uses FPGA processing and a discrete conversion stage, not a DAC chip like those from ESS, Analog Devices, or the out of production (never to come back, due to a terrible fire) flagship AKM components.

As we all know, an audio component is much more than its digital to analog conversion architecture. The Klimax DSM features a number of inputs that deserve some commentary. At first I was confused by the SPDIF BNC inputs labeled 1-I/O and 2-IN. Count me as a member of the "never read the manual until I have to" club. These SPDI inputs are really nice because they are BNC, and the first one can be either input or output, depending on the user selectable setting. I had no plans to output digital audio form the Klimax DSM, but the fact that I could've if I wanted to, is a plus. Just like Las Vegas, where adults can drink, smoke, and gamble everywhere. I don't partake in any of those activities, but I like the fact that I could if I wanted.

The Klimax DSM features a Class 2 USB audio input. I was happy to see this because it's an option, and I like options. The USB input supports PCM audio only, up through 384 kHz. Fans of DSD, or those of us who are fans of music that have collected it in multiple formats over the years, will need to use the network input.

Linn is a pioneer in the HiFi industry, when it comes to products with network inputs. Long before most audiophiles even thought about audio over a network, Linn was selling products that took advantage of this technology. The Klimax DSM is unique for Linn in that it has WiFi 5, copper Ethernet, and an optical SFP slot for a fiber network connection. Both wired connections support 1 Gbps, which is more than enough for two channel 24/384 PCM and DSD256.

My entire network is wired with fiber optic connections between switches and some audio components. The Sonore optical Rendu and Rendu SE optical have been in my system for years. I connected the Klimax DSM to my network using a fiber cable and a pair of Ubiquiti single-mode BiDi SFP modules (UF-SM-1G-S). An optical connection shouldn't be confused with Toslink or any other means fo transporting audio, this is a network connection sending and receiving data. Given that it's optical, there can, by definition, be no electrical connection between the DAC and anything upstream.

In addition to the new and the improved features of the Klimax DSM, the component's luxurious design is not lost on me. The 36 pound chassis with beautiful grooves cut out of the thick top aluminum plate, is something to behold. Pictures don't even come close to doing this component justice. The circular dial on top certainly looks nice, and in the right installation would be really valuable for navigation or volume adjustments. My audio system sits on the floor, about six feet from my listening chair. Thus, any physical buttons, of which the Klimax DSM has six, or dials, aren't useful to me. Both of these features would be fantastic if I placed the Klimax DSM near my dining room table, like I did the Sonus Faber / Mytek system.

The front panel 1600 x 480 TFT display is both beautiful and configured perfectly. It has a near mirror finish when nothing is displayed other than the tastefully illuminated words Linn Klimax DSM. When adjusting the volume or a new track is selected, indications of either selection are displayed on the front for a short time, then elegantly disappear.

I used the words "configured perfectly" because the way the illuminated track information disappears, just screams luxury. Not only does the TFT display change to black, it also disappears. What I mean by this is, when get disappears, one can see the outline of the physical TFT screen for a split second when it's completely black. Then, it completely turns off, leaving only the mirror-like front panel. It's a terrific touch and shows that attention was paid to the little things.

Like all Linn music players, the Klimax DSM works well with the Linn and Kazoo apps As this review isn't about the apps, I want to only mention that I really enjoyed the Linn app. Its simple interface enables listeners to stream from Tidal or Qobuz natively, and from a UPnP server such as MinimServer, without paying for an app subscription from Roon or Audirvana. Both Audirvana and Roon work with the Klimax DSM, for those interested in either combination.

Within the Linn app, I absolutely loved the way the volume control worked. Again, it's the attention to fine details that makes the entire experience very elegant. The volume can be adjusted by plus and minus buttons, or a digital wheel, analogous to the physical wheel on top of the Klimax DSM. The large numerical display was easy to see in the center of the wheel, and duplicated on the front panel of the Klimax DSM.

Both internally and externally, the Klimax DSM is unique, robust, and oozes luxury. These attributes, combined with what I heard when playing music, are what a high end audio flagship product should be all about.

In my system the Linn Klimax DSM was connected directly to the XLR input of Constellation Audio Inspiration mono amplifiers. The amps were connected to my Wilson Audio Alexia Series 2 speakers with Transparent Reference speaker cables.

Question: Have you ever heard a system sound so good, that you recorded a quick video of it and messaged that to a friend, as if the sound would translate through phone speaker on the other end? Or, have you ever heard a system sound so good, that you messaged a friend suggesting s/he must do whatever s/he can to listen to component ABC? Count me in for both the sending and receiving part of both types of messages. The Linn Klimax DSM is so good, that it provokes text messages and seemingly non-sensical video recordings to be sent via SMS, immediately upon hearing it in one's system.

I usually need time to warm up to a component, or at least warm up my ears. Not so with the Linn Klimax DSM. From the moment I tapped play on my iPad Pro, I was all-in, hooked, and messaging friends. This was something special and I needed to let people know, as if there was a limited supply that'd be sold out by the weekend. What's more, a couple hours ago I sent the following text, "Just finished my last listening session with the Linn Klimax DSM. Now writing the review. You have to hear this thing." The Klimax DSM is so good that my text messages from day one until today, have remained the same. No wavering or hedging, just an enormous amount of enthusiasm for a product that made my listening experiences incredible.

Let's start with an album by Larry Karush and Glen Moore, uniquely titled May 24, 1976. Strangely enough, with a descriptive title like that, one would think the first track on the album would have a name other than "Untitled," but that isn't the case. Listening to "Untitled" gave me goos bumps and caused me to giggle in amazement. A few expletives also came out of my mouth.

I've had some stellar DACs in this exact same system over the years, but none of them reproduced what I heard on this track. Not a single one! I urge readers to stop reading, in order to listen to this track first. I don't want to suggest what one should hear and plant the seed in one's mind.

The specific part of this track that stunned me, was 1:45 seconds in, when Larry Karush masterfully works the piano keys from right to left / high to low. I heard the notes go from right to left, yet at an angle as if I was sitting at the piano! High notes started just to the right of the right speaker. As Karush played the lower keys, the sound gradually moved from the right speaker toward the middle and finally stopped left of center, and back about 3 feet from where the sound started. This was true three dimensional stuff. It was as if I could hear the piano was angled away from me at 45 degrees. Truly astonishing sound.

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