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testing the new generation Klimax DSM/3

maddog_007

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Well it’s definitely not about the size of the case with ADSM. You could almost fit two ADSM boards in one case. So probably they just want to phase out the old design and that makes perfect sense. And they probably want to delay Organik DAC for lower priced units to sell as many as possible with the affordable 40k (€) price tag before starting to sell the same technology for far less money. What I’ve read and heard is that the difference between Klimax Katalyst and Akurate Katalyst is very small. It will probably be the same with Selekt Organik and Klimax Organik.
I have been down this route when deciding to purchase a KDS/Katalyst recently.
I found a stark contrast between my ADS3/Katalyst,Klimax performance with Katalyst was exceptional.
Having scaled the heights in acquiring my own Organik upgrade to the KDS I am in awe at its performance!.
 

maddog_007

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I was told by a dealer February, as in last month. There's no way it will bring the old Klimax up to the level of the new Klimax. Not even close would be my assessment.
When asked by me my dealer of nearly 35 years said his estimate of Organik's performance in my KDS would be 80% + of the NGDSM ....That put my mind at rest and Organik was ordered straight away!.
 
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Imseti

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When asked by me my dealer of nearly 35 years said his estimate of Organik's performance in my KDS would be 80% + of the NGDSM ....That put my mind at rest and Organik was ordered straight away!.
I heard on a posted YouTube link on here it's about 90%. They say the Organik upgrade update for a KDS is ridiculously cheap esp. if you already have a KDS unit - if not buy an old one off eBay for about £4000 and then plus £5500 approx for the Organik board, you have a ridiculously 'cheap' very near NGDSM for around £10,000 instead of £30,000 less a pre-amp which I guess you have being a KDS owner.

 
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maddog_007

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I heard on a posted YouTube link on here it's about 90%. They say the Organik upgrade update for a KDS is ridiculously cheap esp. if you already have a KDS unit - if not buy an old one off eBay for about £4000 and then plus £5500 approx for the Organik board, you have a ridiculously 'cheap' very near NGDSM for around £10,000 instead of £30,000 less a pre-amp which I guess you have being a KDS owner.


This is the route I took to Organik
KDS/Katalyst= £6,500 mint in black
Traded in my ADS/3 plus cash balance and the result is shockingly good!.
Katalyst was a great performance leap,but Organik really is very special.
 
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Imseti

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This is the route I took to Organik
KDS/Katalyst= £6,500 mint in black
Traded in my ADS/3 plus cash balance and the result is shockingly good!.
Katalyst was a great performance leap,but Organik really is very special.
Tell me more if you can and know about the various upgrades.

I originally had a late KDS/0 in black of course :) in 2009 which was slightly better than my old ADS/D.

I then upgraded the board to KDS/1 a year or two later and it was a MASSIVE improvement over the /0

A few years later I read on the old Linn forum various reviews of the /2 upgrade. These were VERY mixed and my excellent dealer had retired so had no home dem. One member couldn't make his mind up which was better and had friends in to compare the two who couldn't decide either! The consensus of some members was that it was a waste of money upgrade unless you needed the Exakt links which I didn't. I didn't bother upgrading.

Some years later the /3 Katalyst was released. Everyone raved about it as to how good it was although I never heard one. I was tempted to upgrade but didn't. I have seen one poster in the Organik upgrade thread on here say the Katalyst wasn't much of an upgrade (only one person) compared with the Organik upgrade.

So now we have the Organik. Have you compared a Katalyst/Organic A/B comparison yourself?

Did you ever hear a KDS/1 which is where I'm at, and how much improvement in all seriousness is the Organik upgrade going to be over a KDS/1?

I'm only going to go for it if the improvement is very considerable. £5,500 is good value for a LARGE improvement. I can't get out for a demo and my next nearest dealer is not a Klimax dealer, but can send mine off to Linn to put a new backplate on for the Exakt links and to upgrade the board. I checked it all out with Linn.
 
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maddog_007

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I bought an ADS/1 in 2012 which uses the same case as an Akurate Radikal power supply.It replaced a Logitech Transporter streamer ,which was my first "proper" streaming device.
In 2018 I purchased the Katalyst upgrade dac which sounded like the original KDS!.Exakt connections were also included in this £1800 upgrade.

I believe the KDS/M versions had these upgrade options,Katalyst was a major improvement in my opinion!.

When I found out all I needed to know about Organik I decided to buy a KDS/Katalyst with the intention of upgrading (£5,400).At my local hifi dealership in Glasgow (Loud n Clear),I was able to hear all 3 different versions of KDS in their dem room.

My Katalyst KDS ,KDS with Organik upgrade fitted and the £30k NGKDSM....

This exercise showed what an improvement Organik really is and I put in an order for it without any misgivings.

In situ the performance of my upgraded KDS is quite amazing,
In my opinion as a long time Linn customer this new in house Dac is worth every penny.

You can check out my setup on here,my LP12 still has pride of place,but they are now very similar in music reproduction terms.

I now have a streaming device that is giving me 80 to 90% of the £30k device...

I hope i have conveyed enough info for you to make an informed choice,you have to sit down and listen to it yourself if you are contemplating going the route I took!.
 

quinn_t

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I just bought a new generation Klimax DSM/3 ("NGKDSM"). Does anyone know of any testing that was done to show specs etc ?
Having gone thru 6 pages of this discussion (thread), I do not see anyone who is interested in testing, perform measurement for this streamer? Just general chit & chat :)
 

Imseti

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I bought an ADS/1 in 2012 which uses the same case as an Akurate Radikal power supply.It replaced a Logitech Transporter streamer ,which was my first "proper" streaming device.
In 2018 I purchased the Katalyst upgrade dac which sounded like the original KDS!.Exakt connections were also included in this £1800 upgrade.

I believe the KDS/M versions had these upgrade options,Katalyst was a major improvement in my opinion!.

When I found out all I needed to know about Organik I decided to buy a KDS/Katalyst with the intention of upgrading (£5,400).At my local hifi dealership in Glasgow (Loud n Clear),I was able to hear all 3 different versions of KDS in their dem room.

My Katalyst KDS ,KDS with Organik upgrade fitted and the £30k NGKDSM....

This exercise showed what an improvement Organik really is and I put in an order for it without any misgivings.

In situ the performance of my upgraded KDS is quite amazing,
In my opinion as a long time Linn customer this new in house Dac is worth every penny.

You can check out my setup on here,my LP12 still has pride of place,but they are now very similar in music reproduction terms.

I now have a streaming device that is giving me 80 to 90% of the £30k device...

I hope i have conveyed enough info for you to make an informed choice,you have to sit down and listen to it yourself if you are contemplating going the route I took!.
You said:
"In 2018 I purchased the Katalyst upgrade dac which sounded like the original KDS!.Exakt connections were also included in this £1800 upgrade."

Are you seriously saying that the KDS/3 Katalyst sounds like a KDS/0 (The original)? And that the Katalyst upgrade only cost £1800?

I'm confused.
 

Ben Webster

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If you want to stay in the Linn Universum the Organik Upgrade is a no brainer … if you have the money.

Katalyst was the first upgrade where I could listen to music for more than 30 minutes. Organik is the next logical step.

Is Organik the best digital source? Definitely not. But to get a better source it‘s not enough to just buy an expensive (still below 10 k€) USB-DAC. It‘s the whole environment that counts.

So if you want a simple architecture with „Linn“ on the box, Organik is the way to go.
 
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maddog_007

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You said:
"In 2018 I purchased the Katalyst upgrade dac which sounded like the original KDS!.Exakt connections were also included in this £1800 upgrade."

Are you seriously saying that the KDS/3 Katalyst sounds like a KDS/0 (The original)? And that the Katalyst upgrade only cost £1800?

I'm confused.
When I upgraded my Akurate DS to Katalyst it sounded like the original KDS,sorry for the confusion...I'm a wee bit under the weather with a chest/throat infection just now 😞
 

maddog_007

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Having gone thru 6 pages of this discussion (thread), I do not see anyone who is interested in testing, perform measurement for this streamer? Just general chit & chat :)
I think its best just enjoyed without all that faff,I believe Martin Colloms has done all the measuring.
It is another 'quantum' leap in performance,Linn engineers of all sorts have done wonders again!.
 

DB1328

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Sorry I have heard, the different boxes from Klimax DSM with Katalyst vs old DSM with Organik upgrade vs new Klimax DSM/3 at the High End Show in Munich. The Organik upgrade was good, but the new DSM was much better. Same with Hub, without Dac in my own setup.
Sad thing, cause I prefer the older design. 🤷🏻‍♂️
 
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Ben Webster

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Last weekend I have heard the differences in a demo (which was not perfect, the overall quality was inferior).

We compared
1) KDSM/3 Organik
2) KDSM/2 upgraded Organik
3) KDS/3 Katalyst with Klimax Kontrol

In that special setup the difference 2) and 3) were smaller than between 1) and 2)

I was also surprised that the digital volume control of 2) was worse than 1).

I thought 1) and 2) has the same digital volume control but especially at low level 1) was really better than 2).
 
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Ron.P

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@akamatsu Thank you for the suggestion, but I think that train left the station. Here's why: Amir was very interested in testing it and he wanted me to send my KDSM/3 to his home AND I invited Amir to come to my home to test it but he refused because he didn't want to risk damaging HIS $40,000 testing equipment. He said he'd be "trading his risk for mine" so I am NOT going to send a $40,000 piece of MY equipment to him to keep for a month or 2 weeks or even a day. He admits that there is risk of damage. His house is in fact flooded. But he seems to think that because he has liability insurance I'm protected?... 🤦‍♂️ The unit is ONLY insured by my insurance so long as it resides INSIDE my home and I do not want to take any risks of damage. I was nice enough to Amir to ask Linn to send a unit of theirs to him because I know he is very interested in testing it. And his members are interested too. Linn responded and told me to tell him to ask them directly, which I did. I do not know if they are willing to do it and I certainly am not willing to let Amir take mine out of my home to his home for testing. At one point he could have come to my house and I would have let him test it here with my supervision. But because of all the grief I got from him and the angry ASR members who seem to think I should go out and buy separate insurance to cover the damage risk (which BTW cannot be done) I have reconsidered that proposition. Those very angry ASR members think I'm crazy for buying the Klimax DSM/3. They are entitled to their opinion. And, I think they'll just have to wait for Linn to risk their money if they want Amir to test one.
Look at Amir's "test and review" of the Luxman tube amp. It's preposterous.
 

anatius

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Look at Amir's "test and review" of the Luxman tube amp. It's preposterous.
I subscribe to HiFi News & Record Review(HFNRR); it provides a lab test to accompany its equipment reviews. However it has not reviewed or mentioned the Klimax DSM3, Organik upgrades, Radikal 2 ,
Ekstatic cartridge it may be that HFNRR saving the reviews for 2023 when Linn celebrates 50yrs of the LP12.
Has any body come across any comparative reviews involving the Klimax DMS 3?
 

Jail4CEOs2

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I subscribe to HiFi News & Record Review(HFNRR); it provides a lab test to accompany its equipment reviews. However it has not reviewed or mentioned the Klimax DSM3, Organik upgrades, Radikal 2 ,
Ekstatic cartridge it may be that HFNRR saving the reviews for 2023 when Linn celebrates 50yrs of the LP12.
Has any body come across any comparative reviews involving the Klimax DMS 3?
A good review takes a month or more to do properly. These units have been pretty scarce since launch, so Linn probably doesn't want too many tied up with reviewers instead of happy paying customers.
 
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maddog_007

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You said:
"In 2018 I purchased the Katalyst upgrade dac which sounded like the original KDS!.Exakt connections were also included in this £1800 upgrade."

Are you seriously saying that the KDS/3 Katalyst sounds like a KDS/0 (The original)? And that the Katalyst upgrade only cost £1800?

I'm confused.
When I upgraded my Akurate DS to Katalyst dac , the new Katalyst dac in my ADS sounded to me like the original KDS!.
It really was a game changing upgrade for the Akurate DS I'd owned since 2012.
For £1,800 it was well worth it ! 😀
 

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