Last week we had a very pleasant visit up to Glasgow to Linn HQ to experience their new product. However, until midday today, we and the other selekt (see what I did there), few journalists from the British Hifi Press, were sworn to secrecy about what we had seen and heard. Finally we can reveal the launch of the Linn Selekt DSM, an all-new Linn network music player that promises, say the Linn team, “to bring the feeling back to digital audio”.

Linn say that the Selekt DSM delivers “a tactile and beautiful musical experience”, and we agreed.  The design of the product evoked words like ‘Bauhaus’ and ‘Helvetica’.  We found the design beautiful in its simplicity and quality and loved the sound. We thought that the ‘fully loaded’ Selekt (more on that later) gave even their next to top-of-range Akurate DSM a run for its money.

Gilad Tiefenbrun, Linn Managing Director said, ‘We love the clarity of digital music, but we also love the tactility of physical records. It’s easy to feel we’ve lost touch with the immersive experience of playing a vinyl record – the LP selection, the lift-lower, the anticipation during those first pops and clicks – and that playing music requires only a swipe and a tap. Selekt DSM revolutionises our physical interaction with digital music; every aspect is precision engineered for a tactile and enriched listening experience.’

Selekt DSM’s jewel-like dial and smart buttons are ready to be providing instant access to your favourite music by making it possible to operate the product without the need for an app. The cut-glass dial begins to glow when approached and turns with watch-like precision in response to a touch.

The customisable smart buttons, which feel like piano keys when pressed, respond instantly with the detailed music information appearing on the onyx-black OLED display.

Machined vents flow across the sleeve, tracing a path along the heat sources for natural cooling. Chromed feet anchor it to the shelf, with a plaque celebrating its origin, every Selekt DSM is handbuilt in the Linn factory in Glasgow. To finish off its sleek appeal the Selekt is available only in black.

We liked the versatility of the product and that it could be customised with ‘cartridge’ modules providing on board class D amps and Katalyst DAC architecture… Selekt is available as a dedicated streaming source to drive a separates system, or you can include an integrated amplifier to streamline your system and just add speakers. Selekt DSM’s on-board pre-amplifier enables all sources to be connected, including a turntable, for better sound, instantly. The phono stage comes as standard which, from a company that made their name with the LP12 turntable, is a nice touch.

Selekt DSM includes the new version of Linn’s Space Optimisation technology. Space Optimisation uses Linn’s unique digital signal processing to ensure you get the best possible sound from any Linn DSM network music player, removing the distorting effects of your room.

Full tech specs and price details follow below. Factory visit and behind the scenes pictures here.

Products and pricing

Selekt DSM is modular and upgradeable, designed to allow a customer to configure exactly what is important to them based on how it will be used in their home. The below configurations are selected at the point of purchase or can be upgraded to at a later date, enhancing performance or function, or both. Upgrades are in the form of removable cartridges so that a Linn Specialist can carry out an upgrade in a customer’s home quickly and simply.

Selekt DSM                                                               £4000

Selekt DSM with integrated power amp                    £5250

Selekt DSM with Katalyst                                          £5500

Selekt DSM with integrated amp and Katalyst          £6750

Delivery will be in October 2018.

From 1st October 2018, every Linn network music player will come as standard with digital and analogue inputs. This means every new Linn network music player can have external sources connected, from TVs to turntables. The Linn network music player range now consists of:

Majik DSM                                                                 £2,500

Selekt DSM                                                               £4,000

Selekt DSM with integrated amps                             £5,250

Selekt DSM with Katalyst                                          £5,500

Selekt DSM with integrated amps and Katalyst        £6,750

Akurate DSM                                                             £7,500

Klimax DSM                                                              £15,800

Selekt DSM Features

Dial and buttons

Selekt DSM’s dial is more than a simple volume control. Contextual tilt and press controls enable the user to start and stop a stream, cycle through a play queue or list of radio stations, and even switch to any connected sources. Using Linn’s new Pins feature, each button can be assigned to activate a playlist, genre, or artist from a local collection or streaming service like Tidal and Qobuz. They can also be set to a radio station or even a physical source.

Connectivity and compatibility

Selekt DSM has analogue and digital connectivity including a built-in phono stage with dedicated inputs for either a MM or MC cartridge. It streams virtually any digital source over a standard network and integrates  with Tidal, Qobuz and Spotify Connect streaming services, plays internet radio via TuneIn and is compatible with Roon.

USB

A new USB port supports up to 192 kHz and offers a higher performance alternative to a standalone USB DAC solution for those users who stream directly from their computer.

HDMI ARC

HDMI ARC provides a simple way to get audio from all of the AV sources in the system via the TV. One HDMI cable connects the TV to Selekt DSM which will automatically play everything that’s connected through the TV without the need for source switching.

Selekt DSM Technical Specification

DAC

Type:  Switched-capacitor DAC  with low-noise reference voltage.

THD+N :  0.0002% (1kHz 0dBFS at volume 80)

Dynamic Range:  114dB (Measured at Line-out module XLR output with AES17 measurement filter)

Katalyst DAC upgrade

Type:  Katalyst DAC architecture

THD+N :  0.0002% (1kHz 0dBFS at volume 80)

Dynamic Range:  117dB (Measured at Line-out module XLR output with AES17 measurement filter)

Digital inputs

Type:  FPGA based SPDIF receiver with digital PLL.

SPDIF x2 | Toslink x2 | HDMI ARC x1

Supported sample rates (kHz): 32, 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96, 176.4, 192

USB input

Type:  USB Audio Class 2 endpoint.

Supported sample rates (kHz): 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96, 176.4, 192

Analogue inputs

Type:  Digitizing analogue input stage with independent analogue phono preamps for MM and MC cartridges.

ADC Sample rate/resolution: 192kHz/24 bits

Line-in (RCA):          Max input voltage :  4.25Vrms

MM Phono (RCA):   Max input voltage (1kHz):  67mVrms

MC Phono (RCA):    Max input voltage (1kHz):  5.5mVrms

Audio processing

Space Optimisation |Exakt crossover filtering (option) | Upsampling to 768kHz/32 bits |

Digital Volume Control

Line-out module

Type:  Direct-coupled output stage with balanced and unbalanced outputs.

Output Level:  2Vrms (RCA), 4Vrms (XLR) @volume 80

Output Impedance: 300 Ohms (RCA), 600 Ohms (XLR)

Power amplifier upgrade

Type:  Bridged Class-D amplifier with post-filter feedback. A bespoke design that provides maximum performance in minimum space and with minimum heat dissipation. Applies an additional feedback loop around the low-pass filter to significantly improve performance.

Max output power: 100W/channel into 4 Ohms,   50W/channel into 8 Ohms

THD+N (Measured with AES17 measurement filter):

<0.01% (1kHz, 100W into 4 Ohms)

<0.001% (1kHz, 12.5W into 4 Ohms)

<0.005% (1kHz, 50W into 8 Ohms)

<0.001% (1kHz, 6.25W into 8 Ohms)

Exakt Link

2 Exakt Link ports to allow connection to:

Exakt speakers | Exaktboxes | Urika II

Ethernet

10/100 Base-T RJ45 Socket