Review: Lindemann D680 CD Player


Category: Digital

I recently purchased through Audiogon a Lindemann D680 CD/HDCD/SACD player that upsamples CD/HDCD and also plays SACDs. This German-made player is truly reference. I compared vinly to regular CDs and am amazed at how closely the Lindemann out of the box gets to vinyl ("Muddy Waters folk singer" -CD and 180 gram vinyl, Oscar Peterson - "We Get Requests"-- CD and vinyl). Red Rose "Live at Sandy's
"SACD, you could hear individual ice cubes clinking in the background at times. On opera and classical, massed voices and strings are clearly articulated with lots of air and space and "hair raising palpability." Extended highs, full, controlled bass. Male and female voices life size and without any hint of distortion, contraction, or emphasis -- just natural with the correct articulation and projection of a live performance. Red Rose "The Art of the Fugue" SACD as reproduced on the Lindemann D680 brought the listener into the entire venue. I listen to pipe organ very Sunday, and the Lindemann is the closest yet to that experience. I have only been listening for a few days! I just wanted to let other music lovers know of this great player.

Associated gear
Pass Labs X-1 preamp
Music Reference RM9MKII-newly retubed
Sota Comos V5, Graham 2.2, Benz Ruby2
HMS Gran Finale Top Match, Nordost Quattro Fil, SPM speaker cables, Accoustic Zen interconnects

Similar products
Sony DVP9000ES, Wadia 830
jdsaudio
I've not heard of this brand before, so thanks for the heads-up. Now, why is it that so many A'gon reviewers and thread-heads seem to forget to list their speakers when posting about their systems? It's like speakers are the only component people forget to list if they forget anything. I can remember almost doing this myself once. There must be some kind of underlying psychological reason for this, but I'm not sure what it could be...
I may be new to Audiogon, but I have been listening and tweaking for a long, long time. My statements were not made lightly nor without some experience and reference points. I only wanted to share with others, who must make their own choices and decisions. I had the privilege last Friday to hear Vivaca Genaux in live recital and later listed to her newest CD "Arias for Farinelli." The Lindemann did not disappoint, and was amazingly accurate in reproducting her voice, timbre and phrasing. My speakers are Snell Type A, which I purchased new in 1977 from one of Peter Snell's first dealers. They have been "maintained" by the factory, and earlier this year the woofers were again reconed and revoiced. I also use Furman Power Conditioning, their AR1215 voltage regulator and IT1210 Balance Power conditioning units.
A Lindemann D680 was shipped to me today with expected arrival date of Thursday the 24th.. It has only about 100 hours on it so I expect to suffer through some days of break in before making any comments.

I plan on a review of this unit as soon as I feel I am capable of making a fair evaluation.