Yesterday, I received my new Klimax Hub. It is a 2018 variant, manufactured in 2021 but only in service for 2 months.
‘This unit replaces my 2014 AEDSM/ Akurate Hub which has served me very well, since I upgraded my Akubariks to Exakt about 7 years ago.
‘I recently had the NGKDSM in my system, on loan, and was wondering how it compares to the 2018 variant Klimax Hub. An opportunity came up to purchase a virtually new 2018 variant. With some hesitation, on whether to hold out for a new NGKSH, I decided to buy one listed on Canuck Audio Mart from a fellow with an excellent sales reputation.
The new Klimax Hub was eagerly installed in my system, with a few glitches for connectivity with the Linn hierarchy for Konfig, Kazoo and my Linn account.
‘Frankly, I was not expecting a significant improvement in sound quality but thinking it might be a moderate improvement over my trusty AEDSM. I was wrong.
‘At first, the music sounded thin and anemic, but after a few hours of playing music in stereo and surround, BluRay movies and TV, sound quality improvement was dramatic. I was using a brand new Linn power cord, so perhaps it needed a bit of burn in time.
‘I played a number of 5.1 music albums streamed through my OPPO 105 into the Klimax Hub (Steely Dan: Gaucho, Donald Fagen: Nightfly, Ten Years After: A Space In Time, Roxy Music: Avalon, The Police: Every Breathe You Take. This was the best setup I have ever heard in my system, bar the NGKDSM
As expected, TV picture quality improved as the Klimax Hub has an HDMI 2.0 board, which my Akurate did not. The TV picture was richer, with more detail and a 3 dimensional aspect to the people in the screen. TV sound quality was also a big improvement compared with the Akurate. The Akubariks seemed to disappear, with the sound appearing to emanate from the TV screen, but much bigger sound stage. I experienced this with the NGKSH in my system as well.
Playing a 4K BluRay movies, Bohemian Rapsody (the story of Freddy Mercury) and Samsara, an 8K extravaganza highlighting cultures and scenery around the world, picture and sound quality was more on par with what I experienced with the NGKDSM, compared to the AEDSM.
‘Overall, the difference between the NGKDSM and my new KSH was not as great as I thought it would be. The KSH was far closer to the sound quality of the NGKDSM than I thought possible.
‘This was money well spent and I think an admirable leap forward in the sound quality of my Linn.
‘With the new NGKSH and NGKDSM now available, a lot of pre-loved Klimax Hubs and Klimax DSM’s will be available on the market, at a more reasonable price.
If you have aspirations of wanting to improve your Linn system over Akurate, Selekt or Majik. IMHO, it would be well worth auditioning in your system.
‘I have enjoyed my AEDSM immensely over the years, but it will be moving on, and welcome to the new Klimax Hub.
‘This unit replaces my 2014 AEDSM/ Akurate Hub which has served me very well, since I upgraded my Akubariks to Exakt about 7 years ago.
‘I recently had the NGKDSM in my system, on loan, and was wondering how it compares to the 2018 variant Klimax Hub. An opportunity came up to purchase a virtually new 2018 variant. With some hesitation, on whether to hold out for a new NGKSH, I decided to buy one listed on Canuck Audio Mart from a fellow with an excellent sales reputation.
The new Klimax Hub was eagerly installed in my system, with a few glitches for connectivity with the Linn hierarchy for Konfig, Kazoo and my Linn account.
‘Frankly, I was not expecting a significant improvement in sound quality but thinking it might be a moderate improvement over my trusty AEDSM. I was wrong.
‘At first, the music sounded thin and anemic, but after a few hours of playing music in stereo and surround, BluRay movies and TV, sound quality improvement was dramatic. I was using a brand new Linn power cord, so perhaps it needed a bit of burn in time.
‘I played a number of 5.1 music albums streamed through my OPPO 105 into the Klimax Hub (Steely Dan: Gaucho, Donald Fagen: Nightfly, Ten Years After: A Space In Time, Roxy Music: Avalon, The Police: Every Breathe You Take. This was the best setup I have ever heard in my system, bar the NGKDSM
As expected, TV picture quality improved as the Klimax Hub has an HDMI 2.0 board, which my Akurate did not. The TV picture was richer, with more detail and a 3 dimensional aspect to the people in the screen. TV sound quality was also a big improvement compared with the Akurate. The Akubariks seemed to disappear, with the sound appearing to emanate from the TV screen, but much bigger sound stage. I experienced this with the NGKSH in my system as well.
Playing a 4K BluRay movies, Bohemian Rapsody (the story of Freddy Mercury) and Samsara, an 8K extravaganza highlighting cultures and scenery around the world, picture and sound quality was more on par with what I experienced with the NGKDSM, compared to the AEDSM.
‘Overall, the difference between the NGKDSM and my new KSH was not as great as I thought it would be. The KSH was far closer to the sound quality of the NGKDSM than I thought possible.
‘This was money well spent and I think an admirable leap forward in the sound quality of my Linn.
‘With the new NGKSH and NGKDSM now available, a lot of pre-loved Klimax Hubs and Klimax DSM’s will be available on the market, at a more reasonable price.
If you have aspirations of wanting to improve your Linn system over Akurate, Selekt or Majik. IMHO, it would be well worth auditioning in your system.
‘I have enjoyed my AEDSM immensely over the years, but it will be moving on, and welcome to the new Klimax Hub.