ND5 vs Linn Majik DS

Posted by: Bails on 04 December 2014

 

I have the older Olive system and want to add a streamer. Have listened to the ND5 and to my surprise was not totally sold on the sound.(don't know if it was just different sound to the Olive systems)  I also heard the Linn Majik DS which seemed to be a bit sharper. To finish I heard the naim NDX which was better than both. But possibly out of my price range. Has anyone added a Majik to their system? 

 

Would be be intereested to hear people's thoughts on Nd5 vs Majik DS

Posted on: 04 December 2014 by hungryhalibut

Have you thought of a used NDX for £1,900 or less?

Posted on: 04 December 2014 by ysg2000

I have heard streamers from both companies and both are good but for me linn has the edge and accordingly I have owned both the original akarate ds and now a Kilmax renew. Both of these have been used with a variety of naim amps from a nait 2cb to a nac52 supercap 500 and have always sounded great. If you can stretch to it I would go with the akurate as for me this offers a clear value for money performance hike over the Majik.

 

regards

Posted on: 04 December 2014 by dayjay
Originally Posted by Wat:
Originally Posted by Hungryhalibut:

Have you thought of a used NDX for £1,900 or less?

Or better still a Hugo - no streamer I've heard can match it for sheer musicality 

Or both

Posted on: 04 December 2014 by dayjay
Originally Posted by Wat:
Originally Posted by dayjay:
Originally Posted by Wat:
Originally Posted by Hungryhalibut:

Have you thought of a used NDX for £1,900 or less?

Or better still a Hugo - no streamer I've heard can match it for sheer musicality 

Or both

I prefer a Mac as I can apply Room Correction using an Audio Unit or the Parametric Equaliser in Audirvana. But yes you can use a streamer and Hugo. For CD only quality it works superbly with W4S Sonos Connect - though any streamer with low jitter output such as the Naim ones should work a treat. I've avoided UPnP myself (unless Sonos use it under the cover) as I didn't like the control software. Using my Mac I can pop the lyrics up on the TV as each song plays and sing along. 

I run a qute 2 through mine, works incredibly well

Posted on: 05 December 2014 by Bails

Thanks all for your comments so far.  I had not thought of the Hugo at all so will have to do some reading up. 

Re the other products mentioned.  Guess then the question is how the Linn Akurate is VS the Naim NDX which is available for £1900 or below? 

 

What I am after is the streamer that will give as good quality as my current Naim CD 3.5 with Hi-Cap.  Do you think the Majik or ND5 do (I am not sure about the ND5) or will I have to step up to the NDX or Akurate?  If yes may have to saver for a few months longer.

Posted on: 05 December 2014 by Hmack

I originally auditioned the ND5XS against the Majik and the Akurate DS/1. To my ears, the Akurate DS/1 was significantly better than either, but at the time I did not want to spend £4.5k for the Akurate.

 

The choice between the ND5XS and the Majic was difficult, but on reflection I marginally preferred the ND5 XS and so went with that. I later added a TP XPS, which to my surprise opened up the sound and brought some of the qualities of the Akurate DS/1 to the table.

 

Subsequently, I had a chance of an extended home audition of the Akurate DS/0, but did not find it to be much of an improvement. Luckily for me, a friend of mine was upgrading from a Linn Klimax Renew DS to a Linn Klimax DS/1, and so I had an opportunity to borrow the Renew for a while. This was a significant improvement and so I purchased it and have never looked back.

 

When the Hugo reviews began to appear, I purchased one for use with my ND5, and I'm pretty confident that this combination sounds much better than the Akurate DS/1.

 

My recommendation to you would be to try and pick up a used NDX (which I haven't heard) or a used Akurate DS/1 (not the DS/0) or better still a used Linn Klimax Renew DS. These are selling for reasonable prices now that Linn has produced the Renew DS/1. If you can extend to around £4.5k, then you can pick up a Renew DS/1, which would sound amazing.

 

Alternatively, if you don't need a streamer and are happy with something like a MAC Mini and a DAC, then consider the Hugo. It too sounds fantastic, and in my opinion better than an ND5, Majik or Akurate (DS/0 or DS/1).

 

Good luck.  

Posted on: 05 December 2014 by james n

I've had both the Akurate DS/0 and NDX. 

 

Both great streamers. The Linn had far better control points, from both Linn and 3rd parties and also seem more tolerant of UPnP servers. 

 

In the end i sacrificed the better user interface for more boggie from the NDX. I had a CD3.5 many years ago. A good player, easily outclassed by todays streamers. 

Posted on: 05 December 2014 by Paul Stephenson

boogie counts

Posted on: 05 December 2014 by ragman

Have copared both.

Found the Linn slightly better with voices.

But the musicality is far behind ND5

Posted on: 06 December 2014 by Mr Frog
Originally Posted by Paul Stephenson:

boogie counts

Personally I preferred the ND5xs to the Linn Akurate when on home dem - just made listening more fun. The Linn cost £4.5k but to my taste wasn't as good as the £2k Naim. So I bought the Naim 

Posted on: 18 December 2014 by analogmusic
Hi there
 
How does the Hugo compare to the mighty DS Klimax renew? 
 
 
Originally Posted by Hmack:

I originally auditioned the ND5XS against the Majik and the Akurate DS/1. To my ears, the Akurate DS/1 was significantly better than either, but at the time I did not want to spend £4.5k for the Akurate.

 

The choice between the ND5XS and the Majic was difficult, but on reflection I marginally preferred the ND5 XS and so went with that. I later added a TP XPS, which to my surprise opened up the sound and brought some of the qualities of the Akurate DS/1 to the table.

 

Subsequently, I had a chance of an extended home audition of the Akurate DS/0, but did not find it to be much of an improvement. Luckily for me, a friend of mine was upgrading from a Linn Klimax Renew DS to a Linn Klimax DS/1, and so I had an opportunity to borrow the Renew for a while. This was a significant improvement and so I purchased it and have never looked back.

 

When the Hugo reviews began to appear, I purchased one for use with my ND5, and I'm pretty confident that this combination sounds much better than the Akurate DS/1.

 

My recommendation to you would be to try and pick up a used NDX (which I haven't heard) or a used Akurate DS/1 (not the DS/0) or better still a used Linn Klimax Renew DS. These are selling for reasonable prices now that Linn has produced the Renew DS/1. If you can extend to around £4.5k, then you can pick up a Renew DS/1, which would sound amazing.

 

Alternatively, if you don't need a streamer and are happy with something like a MAC Mini and a DAC, then consider the Hugo. It too sounds fantastic, and in my opinion better than an ND5, Majik or Akurate (DS/0 or DS/1).

 

Good luck.  

 

Posted on: 18 December 2014 by analogmusic
I run a DAC V1 into 202/HCDR/200 and was testing  the Vinyl of Ed Sheeran albums (+ and X) compared to the FLAC versions.
 
Of course my Vinyl front end is nothing special, but I was pleasantly surprised to hear that the DAC V1 was not at trounced by the Vinyl at all. The V1 had equal amounts of drive and PRAT, much better bass control, and was (most importantly) equally enjoyable to listen to. 
 
Yes, Boogie counts 
 
 
Originally Posted by Paul Stephenson:

boogie counts

 

Posted on: 18 December 2014 by Bails

Once again I find myself looking at more and more expensive kit .  I think I need to listen to my wallet and decide between the ND5 XS the Linn Majik DS or a good second hand NDX. 

Posted on: 18 December 2014 by Jackinvestor

You really need a separate powersupply (XPS) for both the nd5 and NDX streamers.....otherwise the Dac is not very good in any of them.....therefore buy a used ND5 and get a powersupply to the ND5 or just get another great separate DAC to go with the ND5....

Posted on: 19 December 2014 by Bails

problem is adding a power supply increaes the overal cost by at least another £1000 making the Linn Majik DS even more attractive. But will keep any eye out on ebay over Christams ! 

Posted on: 19 December 2014 by Hmack

Bails originally posted:

 

"problem is adding a power supply increaes the overal cost by at least another £1000 making the Linn Majik DS even more attractive. But will keep any eye out on ebay over Christams ! "

 

 

If you want a streamer rather than a DAC, and don't mind buying on the used market then I would recommend going for a Klimax Renew DS/0 (which you should be able to pick up on Ebay for around £2,500 to £3,000) or a Klimax Renew DS/1 (which will cost around £4,500 on Ebay).

 

They are both excellent units, and the Linn apps (Kinsky or Kazoo) are very good (in my view) and available for installation on iPad/iphone, Android or Windows PC.They have limited features - no digital out (so you can't connect an external DAC) but then the internal DAC is very good indeed - no ability to use the internal DAC for other digital devices.

 

However, both are excellent value for money and won't disappoint from a SQ perspective. They are certainly significantly better than the Majik DS in my opinion. They also have the latest Linn Dynamik power supply which will ship with any new Linn streamer (DS/1), but will probably not be on any DS/0 unit (unless the owner has specifically paid for the upgrade). 

 

HH - I haven't yet directly compared my ND5XS/Hugo and my Klimax Renew DS/0. The Klimax Renew DS doesn't have a digital out, so I cant simply connect the Hugo to it for an easy comparison. I will get around to comparing them, but pretty busy at the moment so it probably won't be until after the new year.

 

What I can say, is that I am very happy with both of them used in their respective systems.

 

Posted on: 19 December 2014 by Jackinvestor
Originally Posted by Bails:

problem is adding a power supply increaes the overal cost by at least another £1000 making the Linn Majik DS even more attractive. But will keep any eye out on ebay over Christams ! 

Well....lets say you buy an NDX and it will take you many years before you can save for an external powersupply.....Than I would rather buy an ND5XS with a separate powersupply right now or within a shorter timeframe........An ND5xs with an XPS is better than the NDX without powersupply.....I have an ND5xs with an external dac that has a very good powersupply so that is also a possiblity.....The streamer (not the dac) in the ND5xs and NDX is probably of the same quality so no reason to by the NDX if you plan to ad a separate DAC later.....

 

I have no experience with Linn.....