Lindemann is a boutique brand founded in 1992, and situated near Munich. While its stock in trade has been high-end components, the company is now producing a range of compact products dubbed Musicbook, targeting what is sees as a trend for smaller audio systems.
There are four Musicbook source components, all of which are preamplifiers with two single-ended (RCA) analogue inputs and four digital inputs (two RCA, two Toslink). The MB20 featured here and the £3890 MB25 have on-board network music players, the latter also including a slot-in CD player mechanism. The MB10 and MB15 feature asynchronous USB inputs instead of network players. Also in the range is an identicallysized Class D power amp, to make a complete Musicbook system.
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| Rotary wheel controls volume and selects inputs. OLED display shows track info, but fi le selection is only via app. |
While expensive, these bijou MB components are extremely handsome, housed in beautifully finished 6.5mm-thick aluminium cases and featuring classy OLED displays. They also have discrete Class A headphone amplifiers built in. Output is governed by a resistor network to control volume in 1dB steps. Channel balance, display brightness and fixed/variable output modes are set in the configuration menu, using the supplied IR handset. But you must own a tablet or smartphone to navigate music files, as this is the only way to select music on the network. Lindemann's Musicbook app (iOS and Android) is excellent: it even allows you to custom-name the MB's inputs.
FABULOUS DEPTH
Demonstrating a pleasingly 'warm' midband character and with a silky smoothness to its treble, the MB20 proved to be a charming and seductive music player. It was also highly transparent to variations in the quality of recordings – yet more forgiving of shortcomings than the more matter-of-fact Pioneer, perhaps because of its subjectively 'sweeter' high frequencies. It was judged more akin to the Musical Fidelity CLiC in this respect.
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| There are four S/PDIF and two RCA analogue inputs, Toslink and RCA digital outputs, and both single-ended (RCA) and balanced (XLR) analogue outputs. |
The adrenaline-fuelled electronic 'creation' by Daft Punk sounded full-bodied and infectiously uplifting – without any stridency – while the 96kHz/24-bit audiophile recording of guitar virtuoso Laurence Juber sounded noticeably 'hi-res': percussive leading edges were sharply-etched and the sound image was brimming with fine detail.
It couldn't match the Naim in terms of dynamic shading, especially with Melphi's 'Fall', where the jazz combo increase the tension and singer Lotte van Drunen lets rip, nevertheless the MB20 was highly commended by our panel. The Minnesota Orchestra's performance of Rachmaninov's Symphonic Dances had us transfixed thanks to its supremely 'deep' silences and fabulous sense of sound stage depth and instrument placement.
LAB REPORT
To all intents and purposes Lindemann's ‘Musicbook' 20 is the same core network media player and DAC as the MB25, minus the latter's slot-loading CD drive. The DSP and analogue section is based around an apodising digital filter solution from Anagram with Wolfson WM8742 24-bit/192kHz DACs, the responses obviously ‘shaped' with high sample rate files, rolling away to –3dB/26kHz and –10dB/30kHz with 96kHz media and –3dB/49kHz to –12dB/60kHz with 192kHz media.
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| High resolution jitter spectrum with 24-bit/48kHz data delivered over a wired network connection. |
Tested at volume ‘78' for a maximum undistorted output of 3.95V/97ohm (THD is as low as 0.0005-0.0009% through mid and high frequencies but increases to 0.004% at low bass frequencies), the MB20's 107.5dB A-wtd S/N ratio is a little lower than possible but still perfectly acceptable. Distortion is also very low indeed at ~0.0004% through the crucial –10dBFs to –30dBFs range, where much of the musical action resides. Importantly, Lindemann's digital path is very clean with jitter held to exceptionally low levels of just 10-20psec for all 24-bit digital input sample rates.
Sound Quality: 76%
SPECIFICATIONS
Maximum output level/Impedance : 3.95Vrms / 97ohm
A-wtd S/N ratio : 107.8dB
Distortion (1kHz, 0dBFs/–30dBFs) : 0.0009% / 0.0004%
Distortion (20kHz, 0dBFs/–30dBFs) : 0.00045% / 0.0005%
Freq. response (20Hz-20kHz/45kHz) : +0.0dB to –0.3dB / see lab report
Digital jitter (48kHz/96kHz/192kHz) : 12psec / 15psec / 18psec
Resolution @ –100dB : ±0.1dB
Power consumption : 10W (1W standby)
Dimensions (WHD) / Weight : 280x65x220mm / 3.5kg
Detail specs
