Glad to see you can stream to the 3400 over Ethernet. That was one of my issues with the 2170. I don’t want to go back to usb audio.
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@klh007 Do you know if they allow demos? I'd like the chance to try out the product if paying full retail (and unheard)... |
Also, any chance they'll release an Ethernet board for the 2170 for "legacy users" who'd like to stream? |
@klh007 great, thanks for the recommendation.
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I ended up buying the 3400 that was advertised in this thread. Can't fully speak to the sound quality because my coincident pre's are in storage for another month after I complete a year away from my house/job. I'm currently running it with a pair of Klipsch promedia desktop speakers I bought in 1999. Probably the cheapest speakers any lyngdorf product has ever amplified.
Will eventually compare to a pair of 300b coincident franks.
I can answer questions about the media server though.
And @dancastanga, I guess you know more about your thiels than I do (I used to own 2.4s), but an amp that offers 200w per channel at 8 ohms and doubles down at 4 ohms is at least in the recommended range. |
@uberwaltz Yes, I've got it hardwired (although it can also connect via wifi) and have been exclusively using the upnp input. I stream tidal using bubbleupnp via my phone and an Android tablet. So far, everything has worked perfectly. It automatically shows up as a renderer for the bubbleupnp player, and the player can be used to control the volume, advance track, etc. The lyngdorf (and it's online control interface) report the bit rate accurately. So far, it's been considerably better than ps audios implementation in the bridge 2. With it, I would regularly have problems and have to reboot to see the bridge or fix song cueing (and had to leave my tablet's screen on whenever listening to minimize those problems). All that seems to have gone away with lyngdorf's implementation.
I also learned that they're now implementing a Bluetooth input. It's not working yet (per customer service), but supposedly after the next SW update you'll be able to stream music to the unit from any Bluetooth device. |
I'll actually be curious whether wifi ends up having better signal quality. I know some manufacturers are recommending putting a network switch with a linear power supply and a special grounding wire in front of the last Ethernet that goes into any network player. Seems like Wifi will keep all those electrical issues out of the chain.
As I alluded to in the first post of this entire thread, my experience with the ps audio bridge led me to be a firm believer in network based audio. The bridge network input is just so much better than the usb connection. |
@essrand I'm very curious too. Although to be fair, I already know that the Franks don't provide enough gas for the coincident pres. I will most definitely, however, try a bi-amp configuration with the Franks driving the head units and the Lyngdorf on the subs. Don't think anyone here is bi-amping though (and almarg didn't think it was a great idea with the pres), so we'll see... I guess funds wise, it'd be best if the 3400 just wins outright. I did need a preamp and had been shopping for a new dac, so I might keep the 3400 even if I end up preferring the Franks. |
I put my 3400 up for sale (along with my Coincident SEIIIs) if anyone is interested... |
@charles1dad Hi Charles, I still have my Coincident PREs... I just came to the conclusion that they prefer tubes (at least up top for the tweeter & midrange). Perhaps not surprising given that Isreal doesn't make any SS amps. I tried bi-amping with the 3400 on the bass units, but couldn't quite get the two amps to sound coherent together. Going to check out Atma-Sphere M-60s next I think... |
@essrand Sorry for the delayed feedback regarding the Lyngdorf. Although I didn't think the unit sounded bad, I eventually came to the conclusion that all of the reasons I liked the unit were really just about convenience. I loved streaming Tidal to the unit and controlling it from any computer/smartphone/tablet. Super convenient. Unfortunately I just couldn't get it to sound right for me. It sounded smooth and easy with great bass, but gave up body, texture, and realness to the Frankensteins.
With my speakers and in my room, I also had two other issues that seem pretty inconsistent with everyone else's opinions.
First, it did not image as cleanly as the Frankensteins. I was having trouble dialing in my speakers, just kind of fumbling around to get them setup to center the image/soundstage (note that I just pulled my PREs out of storage in August). When I switched to the Frankensteins, I was able to instantly set everything up appropriately. Every 1 cm movement was so clearly reflected by a change in the sound that I could much more easily figure out where the speakers needed to be.
Second, for whatever reason, my speakers just didn't like the digital processing. Every time I turned off a processing feature, I could hear myself get close to the music. This included the digital limiter, ICC (added headroom to prevent clipping), and - surprisingly - room perfect. I don't know if I set it up incorrectly (or if it was because I was limping along with a less than ideal cabling situation - I forced to use some cheap old MITs that I'd repaired myself), but room perfect was just twisting the music for me. It nicely centered the image and increased the fullness of the sound, but was doing something to the phasing (across the frequency band) that just wasn't right. I could feel my body relax when I turned it off. Once I got the speakers more appropriately setup with the frankensteins, I did discover that my natural image was kind of left of center, so maybe that and my slightly broken wires together just prevented room perfect from working correctly.
Anyway, as I stated earlier, I eventually just came to the conclusion that the Coincident speakers were designed to work a simple tube circuit and that they don't respond well to digital and solid state amplification. Or alternatively, that they just respond really well to amplifiers made by Coincident. As you can see in another thread of mine, they also beat out the Atma-sphere M-60s (again in the domain of body, texture, and realism)...
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@essrand Unfortunately I can't comment on break-in. I didn't have my stereo over the past year and had been using the Lyngdorf on some $100 klipsh desktop speakers for about 4 months before finally getting it into the real system this August. So it was fully broken in by that time... |
@shkong788 I did try the unit simply as a DAC (in lieu of my PS Audio PWD). Again, it excelled in smoothness, bass, and reliability (streaming just always worked right). I felt, however, that the PWD had a fuller sound with better body. To steal words from Charles, it was just more natural. I absolutely agree with Charles that that's the key attribute on which to judge components. The more natural it sounds, the more easily it pulls out emotions, at least in my experience.
I'll also say that a couple years ago I tried to upgrade my DAC to PS Audio's Directstream and actually ended up going back to the PWD. The Direcstream had more detail, but again, the music just didn't sound as real.
Also, just FYI, on the Lyngdorf, all my critical listening was over the ethernet input. |
Totally agree... a great thread with lots and lots of information. I can't remember if it was this one or the Tekton DI thread, but the Dueland speaker wire recommendations (from @grannyring ) totally transformed my experience with my Coincident combo. I might be trying to sell the entire system if I hadn't put that in. And I think it's still getting better every day (just two weeks in)...
Thanks for sharing your experiences folks.
- Chris |
@essrand Your impressions aligned with mine... (w the 3400 and coincident PREs) |
