Linn Owners

Improve the performance of your Linn streamer??

Donuk

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I have a Linn ADS/3 - with the Katalyst board. My friend has an ADSM. We came across a curious piece of information recently and have tried it out to great benefit. The resulting improvement to sound is clearly noticeable: tighter bass, more open sound – all the usual adjectives.

Essentially what you effectively have to do is to reformat your streamer. Perhaps not quite.

But all you need to do is to reinstall your firmware, while in Device Recovery mode. Do not do this until you have read to the end of this.

What I did was:

1) Download from the Linn site the latest firmware, which in my case was Fw988.
2) Using Konfig, go to the Advanced page.
3) Tick the little box called Device Recovery
4) Browse until you locate the firmware file (leave it in ZIP format).
5) Wait while firmware updates and restarts your streamer.

Now comes the painful bit for which I take no responsibility if it changes your life for ever.

When your streamer wakes up from the above procedure it remembers nothing. It will deny ever having known you. You have a brand new machine. It will of course play once your system has found it. But it will have lost all Space settings. Fortunately I prefer Space 1, so all my settings were on my PC and easily transferable. Speakers also had to be ‘installed’. I found it took a couple of hours’ wait to be able to sign into my Linn account: probably just cloud problems. When in again my Space settings were all available.

But only do this if you are happy setting up a streamer from scratch!

I have no certain knowledge of how this improves the sound of my system, but undoubtedly it does. My streamer has been in place for a few years and has been “played around with” over the months. I was told that Device Recovery wipes everything stored in the non-volatile memory. Does removing junk make reading easier or prevent it needlessly being loaded into volatile memory?

Do tell me if you know. But my friend and I have found it makes a surprising difference.

Donuk beautiful downtown York

 

OldLinn

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I can't tonight but will give this a try tomorrow, I am happy to try anything out so can't wait. Thanks for the tip.

 

Ben Webster

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Do tell me if you know. But my friend and I have found it makes a surprising difference.
My Linn dealer told me the same years ago (not sure if this happens with current DS versions). Looks like a reset clears a buffer, which can have impact on sound quality. Especially if you often change your setup a reset time by time could (!) helpful.

Can’t confirm because I don’t own a Linn DS.

 
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zee9

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I have a Linn ADS/3 - with the Katalyst board. My friend has an ADSM. We came across a curious piece of information recently and have tried it out to great benefit. The resulting improvement to sound is clearly noticeable: tighter bass, more open sound – all the usual adjectives. Essentially what you effectively have to do is to reformat your streamer. Perhaps not quite. But all you need to do is to reinstall your firmware, while in Device Recovery mode. Do not do this until you have read to the end of this. What I did was: 1) Download from the Linn site the latest firmware, which in my case was Fw988. 2) Using Konfig, go to the Advanced page. 3) Tick the little box called Device Recovery 4) Browse until you locate the firmware file (leave it in ZIP format). 5) Wait while firmware updates and restarts your streamer. Now comes the painful bit for which I take no responsibility if it changes your life for ever. When your streamer wakes up from the above procedure it remembers nothing. It will deny ever having known you. You have a brand new machine. It will of course play once your system has found it. But it will have lost all Space settings. Fortunately I prefer Space 1, so all my settings were on my PC and easily transferable. Speakers also had to be ‘installed’. I found it took a couple of hours’ wait to be able to sign into my Linn account: probably just cloud problems. When in again my Space settings were all available. But only do this if you are happy setting up a streamer from scratch! I have no certain knowledge of how this improves the sound of my system, but undoubtedly it does. My streamer has been in place for a few years and has been “played around with” over the months. I was told that Device Recovery wipes everything stored in the non-volatile memory. Does removing junk make reading easier or prevent it needlessly being loaded into volatile memory? Do tell me if you know. But my friend and I have found it makes a surprising difference. Donuk beautiful downtown York
Interesting and ready to try out but usually the updates just show up in Konfig. What page do you mean when I can download the zip files and also how do I know which one is for me. (Adsm/1 upgraded to katalyst is what I have) I just updated few days back


Adsm/3 >> Akurate 4200/1 >> Akurate 242 (mark 1) Silvers/K200
 

zee9

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The version I just updated few days back as per Konfig is FW989. There was no option to download. Just update


Adsm/3 >> Akurate 4200/1 >> Akurate 242 (mark 1) Silvers/K200

 

OldLinn

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Well well thats a definate improvement in all areas infact. I have a Mk2 Akurate DS and it worked for me so will let my b in l know about it. I use an Innuos server and their recent app update was truly amazing so it was no surprise that this improves things. Things that are very noticable is general clarity but smoother and timing giving things more life for want of a better way to describe things.  Thanks Donuk well worth the few minutes to do.

Having had some time now to listen even more the one thing that impresses me is that vocals are less aggressive which is an area I have had issues with and had to buy some Russ Andrews attenuators to reduce things. I was happy with how things are now but after this even happier!  

 
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OldLinn

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1) Download from the Linn site the latest firmware, which in my case was Fw988.
2) Using Konfig, go to the Advanced page.
3) Tick the little box called Device Recovery
4) Browse until you locate the firmware file (leave it in ZIP format).
5) Wait while firmware updates and restarts your streamer.
I would like to add to Donuk's instructions in that once you have ticked the little box dont browse but press the restore button, once done go back to your DS and reinstall your speakers and turn off the internal volume control and then press play and sit back and enjoy the upgrade. Mine upgraded to FW912 for those with a Mk2 Akurate DS. I don t use SO but if you do then you may have to re do that as well.

 
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JRS

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When your streamer wakes up from the above procedure it remembers nothing. It will deny ever having known you. You have a brand new machine. It will of course play once your system has found it. But it will have lost all Space settings. Fortunately I prefer Space 1, so all my settings were on my PC and easily transferable. Speakers also had to be ‘installed’. I found it took a couple of hours’ wait to be able to sign into my Linn account: probably just cloud problems. When in again my Space settings were all available.
Are Space Optimisation settings from version 3.0.1 lost permanently, or is it just a question of giving the streamer the same name (and selecting the same speakers) and then reloading the original optimisation?

 

OldLinn

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Are Space Optimisation settings from version 3.0.1 lost permanently, or is it just a question of giving the streamer the same name (and selecting the same speakers) and then reloading the original optimisation?
JRS. Not something I can answer as I do not use SO. I can only presume you just load up the version you were last using.

 

Dasher

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I've not tried it yet - but am not at all surprised. My 'playlist' was full and becoming a pain - so I emptied it completely and was amazed to find a jump in quality - which was totally unexpected.

 

Steele

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Oct 14, 2020
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I found the most recent firmware update to my Majik DSM4 and to the Linn Kazoo app to be a great improvement.  

 

Patu

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I would love to try this but only if SO options from the website are somehow recoverable. It’s too much pain in the ass to do the room all over again.

 
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Donuk

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SO options from the website are fully recoverable.  Well, as much as one can ever guarantee these things!

Donuk

 
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uk030

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You have to re-add the system to your Linn account (using "settings" in Kazoo, for example). Once it's in there, just log in to the Linn account website and the optimisations are there, ready to be applied (make sure that you have configured the Speakers in Konfig first)

 

zee9

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@zee9- released firmwares are all available here, although you may need to go through a few pages to get to yours:-
https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/linn-artifacts-public/index.html#VersionInfo/Downloads/Releases/
Mick
Sorry for the Noob question but I’ve never done this before so it’s best to ask before I experiment.

This is the latest software that was automatically downloaded last week.

0c5f330fd54dbd254f2ccbaeeb508176.jpg


This is the matching one I found to download. IS THIS CORRECT?

d08f2ee49fbf1a459ea3013d85d56b77.jpg



Adsm/3 >> Akurate 4200/1 >> Akurate 242 (mark 1) Silvers/K200
 
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MickC

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Sorry for the Noob question but I’ve never done this before so it’s best to ask before I experiment.

This is the latest software that was automatically downloaded last week.



This is the matching one I found to download. IS THIS CORRECT?




Adsm/3 >> Akurate 4200/1 >> Akurate 242 (mark 1) Silvers/K200
Yep, that’s fine. I seem to recall one of the Linn folk commenting on the old forum to the effect that a DS(M) can only accept its own firmware. It’s impossible to add, say, Akurate DS firmware to a Majik DS by accident. Konfig and the DS(M) will either ‘know’ it’s ok and load it, or it’ll refuse. Either way you won’t brick your streamer.

Mick

 
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Patu

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Ok so I did the procedure with my ADSM/3. I used that exact file zee9 mentions above and it worked fine. Whole procedure with reconfiguring the settings took about 15 minutes. I had to install Kazoo back to add my ADSM/3 to my account, otherwise the website couldn't recognize it and I wasn't able to access SO2 settings. I use Roon only so no need for Kazoo otherwise. 

Not sure if the difference in sound is as big as people describe here but I think I also notice little bit more sparkle and slight lift in clarity.

 
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