D I G I T A L

Reprint Issue April 2007

hifi& recordshochwertige Musikwiedergabe

Das Magazin für

»The S-Class«:Lindemann 820S

D I G I T A L

Before I began this review, I was aware that Lindemann

audiotechnik made SACD players and that the company

had developed the 680 model, the very first SACD player

on the German market. But I had never heard one, or even held one

in my hands. I had to wait until the 680 made way for the 820, and

finally the 820 S.

Let’s just say that fate played a part in bringing Norbert Linde-

mann to my door with one of the first samples of the brand new

820 S for review. The maestro was in rather a hurry at the time,

and promised that he would discuss the technical details later on

the phone. And yes, my dCS combo would of course be in a differ-

ent league sound-wise. And I should be careful not to let my ima-

gination run away with me when comparing the two players. After

all, there is the matter of a not insubstantial price difference be-

tween the two. Obviously. Although I had no intention of letting

my imagination get the better of me, this conversation deflated my

expectations rather quickly. Still, nobody would call Norbert Linde-

mann a hot-air merchant. He’s very likeable. You get the impres-

sion of a down-to-earth engineer building serious, honest equip-

ment. So far so good.

Our discussion on the phone about the technology used in the

820 S confirmed my initial impression of the component’s

designer. Not only likeable but professional and communicative to

boot. However, his humility proved to be unfounded. Here, I’m

referring to his remark that the 820 S would not reach the heights

of the dCS Verdi/Purcell/Delius. No, I’m sorry, Norbert Linde-

mann, but you shouldn’t hide your light under a bushel: the 820 S

is easily the equal of the dCS – I have no hesitation in placing it in

the same quality class. I just had to get that off my chest for starters,

even if it detracts from the suspense of this review. A clear, un-

equivocal statement is usually the best way to counter excessive

modesty.

The Lindemann player’s clarity of reproduction with

both SACD and CD was immediately apparent right

out of the box. Nothing gets in the way of the perfor-

mance. Its transparency gives it the ability to illumi-

nate way back into every corner of the soundstage. I

would compare my initial impression, which stayed

with me throughout my listening sessions, to the infi-

nite ease of breathing you experience in the high

mountains in glittering sunlight. A quite extraordinary

experience. By comparison, the dCS combo reminded

me of a hazy day.

Lindemann claims that the player’s fascinating clari-

ty is a result of their technique of electrically isolating

the converter from the analogue section in the player’s

circuitry. The signal is transferred between these sec-

tions via inductive couplers. Another reason for the pro-

nounced »fresh air« effect can be traced to the jitter perf-

ormance of the 820 S (with the oscillator of the

discretely constructed masterclock located in the ana-

logue section) and, of course, to the layout of the boards

with strictly balanced ground circuits in the analogue

post-filtering. The analogue section contains static

screening surfaces that prevent the build up of eddy cur-

rents. Keeping the ground circuits clean means mini-

mizing the loop area of the ground conductors, as these

will otherwise function as antennae and pick up pollu-

tion from the digital section and the master clock.

Nowadays, optimizing the circuitry and the PCB lay-

out accounts for most of the development costs of man-

ufactured electronic components. The designer’s spe-

cialist expertise in this area is largely responsible for the

performance of CD players, but also of other electronic

components in the chain.

The analogue section. Norbert Lindemann does not

hold with the popular view that op amps have a detri-

mental effect on sound quality. Correctly employed as

double differential amplifiers, op amps can not only del-

iver in performance terms; they can also match the

most sophisticated discrete designs in terms of sound

quality. Note to self: ICs in analogue circuits are not nec-

essarily a bad thing. You live and learn.

The new Lindemann 820 S is state-of-the-art

with both CD and SACD. A dream player

»made in Germany«.

Review: SACD-Player Lindemann 820S

The S-Class

anced outputs. The oversampling con-

verter on the input side, which accepts

signals up to 192 kHz, is from Burr

Brown. The digital input signal is up-

sampled internally to two or four times

the sampling rate of the CD, or up to

176.4 kHz. Incidentally, the 820 S can

also be used without a preamp; its vol-

ume control using discrete resistors is an

extremely successful design.

Getting the mains polarity right

makes a big difference with this player.

The power cord used also has an effect

on the sound. Norbert Lindemann rec-

ommends Audience cables, and I can

understand why. I had never heard of

nique typically employed by computer

drives. The player sits on three conical

feet with ceramic balls in the apex of the

feet to divert vibrational energy from the

interior of the unit. A hard wooden base

definitely provides a superior support to

softer types made out of materials such

as acrylic.

The mains supply. Here, the Linde-

mann player is uncompromisingly two-

box, with an outboard power supply for

the analogue section and sophisticated

pre- and post-filtering. In the converter

section, Lindemann employs a separate

Burr Brown D/A converter module for

each channel, and these provide the bal-

anced output signals. The balanced

arrangement continues into the ana-

logue section and on through to the out-

puts. You also have the option of unbal-

D I G I T A L

Norbert Lindemann insists on a Sony

transport (above), Burr-Brown conver-

ters and balanced output stages.

The 820 S uses the same Sony trans-

port as the dCS Verdi. I had always

thought that this transport was respon-

sible for the dCS combo in CD mode

failing to match the precision and attack

that I rate so highly in the ML 390 S. I

clearly had it wrong, because the Linde-

mann with exactly the same transport

(which uses glass and not plastic lenses)

delivers the same precision and attack as

the 390 S. Norbert Lindemann goes one

better, by shock mounting the transport

on a steel block to prevent vibrations

from reaching the laser, which can be a

problem in machines with sandwich

construction bottom panels. The Sony

transport is one of the last remaining

double laser models that reads CDs con-

tinuously rather than reading a section

and buffering it for use later – the tech-

D I G I T A L

To sum up, I would

say that, for me,

the Lindemann

player currently rates alongside the dCS

Verdi/Delius as the best SACD player de-

signed for two-channel reproduction. CD

playback is also on a par with the dCS

combination. As far as price is concerned,

however, the 820 S looks like a real bar-

gain compared with the dCS. Norbert

Lindemann has certainly put a shine on

the reputation of German-made hi-fi

components. Reinhold Martin

Result

Audience before embarking upon this

review, but their approach to sound qual-

ity seems to me to be very similar to Lin-

demann’s, judging from the sound of the

820 S – a supreme sense of clarity, of

effortless transients, and a crisp, power-

ful bass. The cables are superb! More

about them another time when I have ob-

tained samples from the Audience dis-

tributor here in Germany.

I have already mentioned that the

Lindemann player attained masterpiece

status with both SACD and CD in direct

comparison with dCS and Mark Levin-

son – and that it delivered the cleanest

soundstage I have ever heard from a play-

er. What I didn’t mention earlier was how

easy it is to become addicted to its musi-

cality; I just kept coming back for more.

From Glenn Gould on the early SACD-

only disc from Sony, to the glorious Liv-

ing Stereo series on SACD, to the won-

derful old and new jazz recordings on

SACD like »Bags Meets Wes« or the

amazing Chie Ayado with »Love«. Or to

the host of CDs that I have collected in

Lindemann820S

WxHxD 44 x 13,4 x 34 cm

Warranty 3 years

Distribution Lindemann

audiotechnik

Carl-Benz-Straße 12

82205 Gilching, Germany

Phone +49(0) 8105-778530

Lab-Report

Frequency response: Lindemann dbr /Hz

Distortion: Lindemann 820 S %/Hz

Noise: Lindemann 820 S dbr /Hz

Lindemann 820S (unbalanced CD)

Total harmonic distortion (THD+N) 0,00175%IM distortion (SMPTE) 0,0075%IM distortion (CCIF) 0,0022%Signal-to-noise (500k filter) -74,4dB Signal-to-noise (A-weighted) -100,7dBConverter linearity:-50 / -60 / -70 dB 0,01 /0,01 /0,02dB-80 / -90 dB 0,21 /0,91dBChannel balance 0,05dBOutput voltage 2,2VOutput impedance (1kHz) 101ΩDC output offset 0,38mVDigital output signal shape good - very good

The lab tests show the 820 to be in the

»S Class«. Measured distortion is ex-

cellent, noise figures (500 kHz filter) are

substantially better than the D 680, and

with a 30 kHz reference filter, the signal-

to-noise ratio is perfect. Well done. Note:

the Sony transport is very sensitive to sur-

face flaws.

the past two years, particularly the glori-

ously remastered classical and jazz XR-

CDs. The Lindemann draws you right in-

to the performance, sweeps you away,

evokes emotions and awakens your de-

sire only to listen to music, be it from CD

or SACD. I cannot remember a time

when I was less inclined to reach for my

favourite analogue discs than during the

time I was occupied with the 820 S. It is

truly a player to lift the spirits.

And there’s more. Owners of the earli-

er 820 model can have their machines

updated to S specification for 1,800 eu-

ros. I cannot say how big the difference

is between the 820 and the 820 S be-

cause I don’t have any experience with

the »old« model. If those in the know are

to be believed, the difference is im-

mense. Norbert Lindemann unassum-

ingly states that there is an audible imp-

rovement. When I recall his assessment

of the the 820 S in comparison with the

dCS, I am convinced that the 820 S is the

»S Class« equivalent of all the SACD

players the company has produced so far.

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