The beating heart of every Linn system

Music systems don’t get more extraordinary than this. Forty years in the making, our digital music player combines our engineering prowess and passion for music with all the advantages of modern computing. Linn DS plays all your music files, streaming content from any hard drive in your home or any online source. Browse your entire music collection and create playlists using the latest tablet or phone.

What’s great about Linn DS?

Plays all digital music

From CDs to downloads. You can play any digital music on your Linn DS. From popular formats like MP3 to the highest resolution Studio Masters. All played at their highest possible quality. You can also stream internet radio, podcasts, and 'listen again' shows — any on-demand content you fancy.

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Everything sounds better

It’s not just about music. Put Linn DS at the heart of your home entertainment and get better sound from your movies, games, TV shows, internet radio and podcasts. Stunning soundtracks, special effects and crisp dialogue— it’s not just music that sounds better with Linn.

Learn more »    Why streaming sounds better »

Puts you in control

Unlimited options. Control your music using your computer, iPad, phone, remote control … any combination you like. Just download an app. Flick through album covers and create playlists from the comfort of your couch. Enjoy quality music without compromise, wherever you are in your home.

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Designed and built to last

Obsolescence not included. We don’t know what your phone will look like in five years time but we know you’ll still want to listen to great music. That's why Linn music systems are designed to deliver a great listening experience, now and in the many years to come.

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Share with Songcast

Any audio anywhere. Songcast any audio across your home to any number of devices. Stream music, soundtracks and live concerts from one room to another. Anything you connect to a Linn can be streamed across the network, and anything you normally listen to on a computer can be shared.

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Plays all digital music

With so much great content out there you need a music player that gets the most from it all. Put Linn DS at the heart of your home entertainment system and everything you listen to at home will sound better. Whether you’ve been building a digital music collection for years or just beginning to rip CDs, now is the time to invest in the best music player available.

 

Majik DSM

Get the best from all your digital music files

Linn DS plays any digital audio you can throw at it. All popular formats, from MP3 to the highest resolution available, Studio Masters. All played at their highest possible quality too. Cutting out physical discs means there’s no limit to the quality and length of your music files. Simply rip, download or drag-and-drop your music and let Linn take over.

Instant access to your iTunes library

One click and your entire iTunes library is available — hear the difference Linn DS makes to your music collection. Free your music from the computer and let it fill your home. You can play your iTunes playlists through your Linn and enjoy music the way it should be enjoyed — without compromise. It'll sound so good you'll never look at iTunes the same way again.

Compatible with all online music services

If you can play it on your computer, you can play it back through your Linn. Enjoy the same instant access to new music, through a system that doesn’t sacrifice quality for convenience. Internet radio, podcasts and listen again shows, on-demand music services such as Spotify, YouTube, napster and last.fm — we’ve got them all covered.

How Digital Streaming works

1. Add a Linn DS player

If you have broadband at home, you already have a network. Just add a Linn DS player and you’re ready to go. It doesn’t matter how you connect to your network — a standard ethernet cable between your broadband router and Linn DS player is the simplest way to get started. You can also use other options such as wireless or homeplugs (Ethernet-over-power) to get the best network setup for your home.

2. Add a controller or two

Any computer, tablet or phone in your home network can choose music, change volume, browse album artwork and create playlists. Just download an app or open a web browser and you can control your Linn DS. Turn something you already own into a controller or go for the latest iPad, iPhone or Android device. You can use any combination of controllers you like, all round the home.

3. Add a music library

Simply adding Linn DS gives you instant access to internet radio, podcasts and other online content. If you have any music on any hard drive or computer in your network, you can play this through your Linn and hear the difference. Create a music library with all your music in one place or just point it at iTunes. If you can play it on a computer, you can also play it on a Linn and share great music in any room.

WHY STREAMING SOUNDS BETTER

There’s a very good reason why we stopped making CD players. We discovered that streaming the music from the network sounds better than using a disc. CD players suffer from read errors and the moving parts interfere with the sound quality. If you rip, or import your music from a compact disc onto a hard drive, and play it through a Linn DS player, you get more of the music and none of the imperfections. With no moving parts and no reliance on discs, which scratch, or degrade over time, your music sounds brilliant forever.

Majik DSM

Why CD players are limited

CD players work by reading data from a disc and converting it into audio, almost simultaneously. Reading from a disc is a physical operation and things can go wrong; read errors do occur and they increase as the drive ages and the discs degrade. But there’s very little time to re-read or correct these errors. So a CD player has to guess and fill in the gaps. Some of the detail or richness goes missing. For the listener, it’s like the difference between a passable pianist and a virtuoso.

No read errors with rips

CD drives in computers operate at high speed without losing accuracy. Error correction techniques ensure that any read errors are spotted and corrected before moving on. If a little extra time is needed to check and re-read data then the time is taken to ensure that all the data is read correctly. Each section can be checked and re-read until it is exact. Each rip can be automatically compared online using a database of rips to confirm accuracy – if the rip is accurate then data integrity is guaranteed forever.

No moving parts in DS

The moving parts within a CD player also have a negative effect on its performance. The parts that are required to spin a disc and control the laser produce electro-magnetic disturbances which can interfere with the integrity of the audio signal and degrade the sound. A spinning hard disc has the same negative effect. By removing the drive from the music player, this source of interference is removed forever. Another reason to rip a CD as soon as you buy it and then stream the music to a Linn DS player.

Playstation

Everything sounds better

Our first passion is music but great audio is about much more than this — movies, games, TV … anything you connect to a Linn system will sound better. When you have a Linn you won’t want to settle for anything less than extraordinary sound reproduction, whatever you connect or play through it.

Magic Movie Moments

Connect your DVD or Blu-ray player to hear the difference a Linn makes to movies. Or simply stream your soundtrack over the network. You don’t have to go to the cinema to experience the emotional impact of great movie moments, stunning special effects and soundtracks that bring the pictures to life. Connect your satellite or digital TV and get great sound from your favourite shows too.

Play the game

Computer games have advanced far beyond two-tone beeps and boings. The latest blockbuster games now feature high-quality original music and surround sound effects, bringing an absorbing soundtrack to your gaming. If it’s realism you’re after — the rattle and boom of combat, the whoosh of speed or the roar of the crowd — play your games through a Linn and hear what you’ve been missing.

All things digital

Anything you connect to a Linn or listen to on a computer can be played back through a Linn system. Simply connect a cable between them or stream directly from your computer using our Songcast app. Take advantage of an audio system designed to get the very best out of any source. And with Songcast you can share whatever you’re listening to with any other room, all streamed at the highest possible quality.

Puts you in control

Imagine having your entire music collection at your fingertips. You can flick through album covers on an iPad, pick your favourite recordings and create the ultimate playlist.

Or maybe you prefer to spend the evening with one special artist, working your way through their back catalogue or jumping from song to song as your fancy takes you.

There's lots of new ways to browse through your collection, from choosing a particular genre or violin soloist to picking your highest-rated tracks. You can quickly create a playlist or just sit back and shuffle for a random selection.

And it’s not just your music collection in front of you. With unlimited access to new artists and new albums via online services, you have everyone else’s collection available to you too.

Whether you’re tempted by old favourites or new artists, with a Linn system you’ll end up spending a lot more time really listening to music.

iPad with Kinsky controller

Choose your own controller

We like to concentrate our efforts where we know we can make a difference. Sound quality is the one thing we’re fanatical about. Everything else is down to you. Not just your choice of music, but how you like to navigate your way around your collection. You can use a traditional remote control, or the latest handheld gadget. Stick to our Kinsky software or download an app. You can use any combination of controllers or apps you like, we don’t mind.

Vaio, remote control and smartphone

Openness breeds innovation

We’re committed to open standards and we’re open about our development. We publish our code so developers can create new apps and services to work with our systems — we want anything to be able to talk to a Linn. We don’t try to stifle innovation; we encourage it. It keeps us on our toes.

Our customers can get involved too — we encourage feedback from anyone with a Linn. The more we learn from people who are using Linn systems every day and are as passionate about music as we are, the better. And better products and software makes everyone happy.

Being open isn’t just about software or design. Check out our forums and blogs and you’ll find Linn people talking about everything to do with music, from their favourite album to the latest speaker design. Ask a question and there’s a good chance you’ll get the answer from a product designer or engineer.

Better still, if you’ve got a spare afternoon and you’d like to hear your favourite music played on a system that will blow you away…come and visit us in Scotland and meet the Linn people behind the products.

Designed and built to last

You won’t find a hard drive, disc drawer or wireless adaptor in a Linn DS player. And there’s two very good reasons for that. They don’t make the music sound better and they don’t make your system last any longer. Turning data into music is what we do best. That’s what you get when you buy a Linn system. Brilliant sound that will last you a lifetime.

klimax

They sound better

The most important thing about a music player is that it sounds good. Electro-magnetic noise from spinning drives and unnecessary circuitry degrades the sound. There are no moving parts in a Linn DS player, no electronics that aren’t absolutely essential. And you won’t miss a disc drawer because CDs sound better played back from a rip. These might not sound like big things but you’ll definitely hear the difference.

They last longer

Technology moves on quickly but you don’t want to have to change music player every few years. Drives fail and standards change but with a Linn DS you’re safeguarded. There are no moving parts to break or age and you can choose your own storage and control from the latest technologies. We don’t build obsolescence into our systems, we build longevity. Which makes Linn DS the last music player you’ll ever need.

Freedom to choose

Our music systems work with what you already have. Start simple by storing music on your computer and downloading a control app for what you already own. Or opt for the most advanced storage and network solutions and pick the very latest tablet or phone. From simple to sophisticated, you’ll be able to choose from the entire market. Freedom to choose; freedom to grow. Now that sounds brilliant. It sounds like Linn.

Songcast shares it all

The beauty of the network is that once you’re connected, everything can be shared. Anything you listen to on your Linn can be shared with another room — anything you play on a computer can be shared with your Linn. With Songcast you can share it across your entire home network and listen anywhere without sacrificing quality.

Kinsky iPad

Any audio anywhere

You can use Songcast to listen to any audio in any room. Any Linn DS player can tune in to another Linn DS and play the same music. You can also use Songcast to stream audio from anything you connect to your Linn: Blu-ray, DVD, digital or satellite TV, games consoles. Create your own multiroom system — step by step and room by room — and listen to your favourite music or content anywhere in your home.

Share any online content

Install our Songcast app on any computer and you can send anything you’re listening to straight to your Linn. Anything you can listen to on a computer can be shared: Spotify, YouTube, Netflix, last.fm — any online music service, any web pages, audiobooks or movie trailers. The possibilities are endless because your Linn isn’t tied to selected services — whatever the next big music thing is, your Linn can make it sound better.

It works with Apple

If you’re already using iTunes and AirPlay to store and stream your music, don’t worry — our systems are all open and work with Apple. So you can mix and match any device in your home network and still be able to share and listen to music. Apple music formats are supported too, so you can immediately get better sound from your existing collection by playing it through a Linn.

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The Linn DS range

The Majik DSM

Enjoy your entire music collection — wherever it is stored — through a player which offers all the advantages of Linn DS in one compact unit. Listen to your music downloads, ripped CDs and internet radio streams to experience the difference an extraordinary music system can make to your life.

Browse your music library, create playlists and adjust volume using your preferred desktop or mobile device, with control apps available for Windows, Mac, iPad, iPod, iPhone and Android. Connect your Blu-ray / DVD player or games console and get better soundtracks and special effects. Stream any audio from your computer and your favourite online music services will come to life.

The Akurate DSM

Rediscover your music collection with Akurate DSM, a digital music player which will re-ignite your passion for music. Akurate DSM excels with any digital music, reproducing your favourite albums with exceptional dynamic range and musical detail. Choose your preferred phone or tablet to control your music and select from high quality internet radio stations and the latest online music services.

Housed in a stunning precision-engineered enclosure, Akurate DSM brings a level of elegance to your living area that matches the audio performance. With enough analogue and digital inputs to connect any audio source, bring your movies and games to life, as never before.

The Klimax DSM

The best way to listen to music at home, Klimax DSM is a digital music player which plays everything and sounds amazing. Browse your music library using an iPad or tablet for the best experience, choosing albums by cover and creating playlists with your favourite songs or tracks.

Get instant access to new music via internet radio and listen to any online music services on a music player which puts quality first. With analogue and digital inputs, you can also connect any movie, games or audio source and make it sound incredible.

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