Hello from Japan! I often visit your channel not only to get quality hi-fi knowledge but also to study beautiful English. How I wish I could speak English like you and I sometimes mimic your words and phrases for my practice! You're not only a superb speaker builder but at the same time, you yourself are a splendid speaker! Thank you!
What I love about this piece of equipment is not particularly the amp itself (although it does indeed look fantastic), but that finally, FINALLY a higher end amp manufacturer is embracing tone changes or some sort of signal processing. Whilst I do love audiophile recordings, my main genre is alternative music (goth, rock and metal) - and a lot of this sounded awful through my Creek amp. This led me to get an amp with tone controls (not easy when you’re only looking at mid-range equipment). It seems that when you reach mid-range and beyond, hardly anyone offers any signal processing on their amps. So this is a welcome breath of fresh air, and I hope other mid to high end amp manufacturers follow suit. After all, you only need to dial in the processing when it’s truly needed. Fantastic to see this piece of equipment available!
@@PearlAcoustics harley ...I'm a purist and want to buy a sugden for it texture and sound. But.. I have room modes ..can uou tell me if the lyndorf will work with warm sounding phono stages and not make it sterile and digital...please reply if you can .. Many thanks
@@mikemcguinness1304 hi Mike. The interesting thing about the 1120, is that the phono input converts the signal into the digital domain. Which on paper seems crazy. In practice it works well though and gave me a very neutral experience with the Ortofon Black. It seemed to keep all its characteristics without changing a thing.
Thank you for a fantastic review. It's great to, for once, hear not just from a hi-fi enthusiast but from a music lover! It provides a different perspective and a whole new approach. Clearly the best review I've seen to date. I talked to the manager of the local "hi-fi klubben," which is the Lyngdorf dealer here in Denmark, and he actually recommended the exact same amplifier to me. Right there, I decided that I had to get one. We've known each other for many years, so he's familiar with my preferences, but it's really cool to also hear this review and your perspective on the amplifier. Once again, thank you for a fantastic review!
What a lovely refreshing way to review a piece of hifi gear. To most people this would be a perfect way to explain why they would want the TDAI 1120. For what it offers and it's flexibility, 2k is a bargain in my eyes. Just think of the money you'll also save in room treatment.
@@cm96yyc fair point but the TDAI 1120 serves both purposes assuming you're upgrading in the first place. The upheaval in undergoing room treatment is simply not possible for those who don't have a dedicated listening room.
This unit will be perfect on my living room. I have one reflection I simply can't get rid of (floor to ceiling windows opposite to my TV, sound bar and sub). I can only feasibly treat one wall, the floor and ceiling AND it has to look good from an interior decoration point of view (I can thank the design gods at DALI and Samsung for allowing me to convince my wife that HI-FI is a worthy investment 😂)
You can run single or twin subs off the 1120 with the advantage of high pass on mains and low pass on subs so using the LFE on the subs and a bit more power for the mids and highs on the mains if needed. Interesting review, I have been running one for over a year now and love it. Thanks.
Thank you for this enlightening video. I’ve always liked equalizers. It’s nice to see audiophiles finally embracing them. I do much of what’s described here on my Mac c53. It’s fascinating to increase or decrease warmth, detail, or move vocals forward or backwards or eliminate that mid bass peak in my room simply by tweaking the controls. It’s all manual of course, but wonderful. Equalizers, oops, “modern” room correction or signal processing is a wonderful thing.
Very interesting. I appreciate walking with you to your new openness to combining the capabilities of digital signal processing with fine analog hardware. Though something deep inside me longs to set everything in my own system to “flat response,” I do, as you have described, adjust volume, bass, and treble, in most situations, to provide the listening experience that I desire in that moment. Thanks, again!
My pleasure! The TDAI, is the first piece of kit that has allowed me to get things exactly 'right'. Like you, 90% of the time, everything is 'flat' - even though I feel the need to fiddle. But now, I just click on a filter and it's perfect. I have made a custom one exclusively for my setting and so I don't even use the Room Perfect anymore.
I'm sorry, but i have to correct you a little bit 😉 The TDAI 1120, just as its bigger brothers, have absolutely EVERYTHING you could ever want for setting up a system with one or two subs. Hipass filter, lowpass - even delay for the sub. EVERYTHING is possible. You even have 9 set of filters (eq) - plus the filters you like so much 😉 Room ready as well. It is simply such a genius, and well sounding little amp 🙏 Greetings from Denmark 🇩🇰🇩🇰🇩🇰
Merry Christmas 🎄 Harley 💓! I was given audio gifts this Christmas 2021. This is my fourth tube audio amplifier, the first being a Zenith Hifi console, Heathkit, a Fisher KX-200 and after almost 20 years an AMD 36-110. The first is memorable because it's my first introduction to tubes, our family owns it and the last one is a gift and the nice thing about it is they are both single ended EL84 tubes activated from AC to DC by a 6AC4 tubes. The AMD amp I upgraded the rectifier tubes to EZ81 and the power tubes to 7189. I also accepted to swap my Tanioka (hybrid 12SN7) integrated to a pair of Capehart full range drivers and a Philips 2 way sealed speakers. I immediately have a box made similar to yours and my favourite Sibelius speakers but just a little bigger because the drivers are 8 inches. The box will be finished before Monday or the second day of 2022. For the AMD amp and the Philips 2 way acoustic suspension speakers, it is nirvana per my standard. Thank you for listening.
Excellent explanation about the TDAI. I've seen this little unit recommended in many audio forums but never understood it---thank you. I agree with you in that I also tend not to listen to 'bad recordings' because of the flatness, etc. This may be something I need to check out. Happy holidays!
As a long time audiophile and someone who worked in pro audio I use whatever I can to make sound better, that said getting your rig and room right is crucial before corrective processing. Cheers from Montreal 🥂
Just tested it yesterday at my local HiFi klubben shop. Did an A to B test with the NAD M10 V3. The Lyngdorf won. The sound was amazing big stage and lots of detail. Such a shame you left out a touch screen. Subwoofer out is also missing . Also no remote control . The App and Connections go to the NAD. I almost bought the Lyngdorf what a shame it was just missing the things I needed. Hope you do an upgrade on it . Highly recommend it for the Sound.
Hi. Thanks for your comment. I was rather surprised reading it. The 1120 has two fully programmable subwoofer outs and a remote control (you order it separately, if you want it. Most people just use their smart phones. The interface is excellent). I am not a fan of touch screens in the equipment, I prefer using an eye pad or the really intuitive rotary knob on the from. I hope that answers your concerns? Enjoy the music.
I got the 1120 on a pair of B&W CDM7 SE. I've heard theese speakers on many amps before, but one problem then was that the deep bass got very loud, and they could be a little screemy at the top end. Now that i got the 1120, they sound amazing, and it actualy got enough power to drive them very wel. The bass is more in control, and the mid range and the top end is more detailed. It's like they became more alive instead of being clumsy and punchy. My conclusion now is to keep the speakers😊
I bought the TDAI-3400 a few weeks ago and I am blown away about the sound. My speakers are the Dynaudio Heritage Special and one Dynaudio Sub 6. I don’t know how many ours I have listening after I bought this system. It’s so difficult to leave the couch when I have starting listening to something. I listen to CD but also streaming from Apple Music and I use a cable from my iPad to the Lyngdorf for lossless up to 24/192. It’s wonderful! I also use the Lyngdorf as amplifier in my cinema setup. I have a Marantz receiver with Dolby Atmos and it works great. As a professional musician in the classical world, conductor, organist and pianist, and also semiprofessional sound engineer, this system gives me magical moments.
How would you describe the sound and the quality of your combo? I'm using a pair of Crafft and am interested in the TDAI 1120 and currently running it therough a nice Aiyima Class D amp with a tune pre from ELekit and works great. But what this unit odes really intrigues me!
@@ericlo6370 It is hard to describe a sound. I have had great systems through the years but this is in another league. The speakers totally disappears, the sound stage is huge and every instrument have it own space. It’s hard to describe. For me it’s magical and when I start listening it’s hard to leave the sofa. It can listen for ours because the sound is so natural. My Lyngdorf of course has a big part of it. Room perfect does a great job to integrate the Herritage with the sub. I’m streaming music from Apple Music and it’s lossless with high quality, up to 24/192. I use my iPad as streaming unit and a USB cable direct to the Lyngdorf. With CD I use my Oppo only as a transport connected to the Lyngdorf.
This type of Swiss Army Knife approach to signal processing is new territory for me. The newest generation of streamer based equipment is able to process the signal non-destructively and create better compromises with fewer downsides as you said. Lyngdorf’s replay filters and room correction algorithms are a country mile beyond people with graphic equalisers and mad subwoofers. It’s the way forward. I would love to see more such thinking applied to digital RIAA preamplifiers. DAC-as-amplifier is a great way to maintain signal from input to output. The low box count is a plus! Very interesting thinking.
Don’t be so hard on equalizers, those L-C networks are everywhere, from the tuned circuit in your tuner and oscillators, to the crossover network in most speakers, even arguably in the filter circuit of a great power supply, and the coupling capacitors in your amplifier…different name, essentially same thing. They are designed to allow or truncate certain frequencies. With regard to “non-destructively” one could argue that converting an analog signal to digital is quite destructive. You do sample the signal and throw away quite a bit. Digital equalization can excel over analog equalizers in their ease of use, however , depending on your equipment and your set up, the signal may be digitized twice, which can be twice destructive. Then, in Roon, this procedure is performed on a computer, yikes! I do prefer my preamp with a built in analog eq, however, digital eqs may be the future.
Hi first of all I want to thank you for drawing my attention to this Lyngdorf TDAI1120. It has now replaced my Audio Note Oto Phono signature amp and AN 2.1x signature DAC and I now have the best sound ever. For the first time ever I have heard what my Audio Note AN/E speakers, should sound like ,all because of the room perfect. Actually I have now ordered the TDAI 3400 because of the AES/EBU input for my AN CDT TWO transport and the slightly better sound quality not because of the power. I have a 55m2 living room and the TDAI1120 could easily fill this with full sound and deep deep controlled bass but of course only if you have quite sensitive speakers from 89db and up.The built in streamer also sounds very good and you can also use the usb input on the TDAI 1120 playing music from a memory stick and a external harddrive with it`s own power supply.And you don`t need the TDAI3400 to use with speakers and subwoofers the TDAI1120 can also handle this perfectly.
@@PearlAcoustics the only thing I am trying to manouvre is listening to vinyl and keeping that as my primary so it might mean one main system analog then this with TV for more casual listening and streaming 😬
Half way through the video you got me convinced that this is exactly what I was looking for - I left the video and found good offer. Just wanted to do a quick check before I would buy it - can I have a sub AND a power amp.... Well, I should have watched to the end which would have saved me some time 🙂 It's such a pity it only has one analog out. The 3400 is of course fantastic but for what price? Thank you again for your exceptional presentation - it's entertaining and educational at the same time. And a wonderful contrast to the usual RUclips screamers. I am having a great time catching up in all the videos that I have missed 🙌 Cheers from Berlin, Stefan
Great subject to take to the Audiophile nuts as we are. Are we know back to 70/80's EQ Hell? No, i'm kitten. EQ could back then be a lot of fun. When u talk about the Lyngdorf, with it's"filter" settings, i cannot skip mentions my little Lehmann Black Cube SE II ref. Phono Stage, which have 16 settings for different filters, all over the freq spence, and i use it almost all the time, with my beloved Rega P8/Apheta II combo. With every recording, it's so useable and easy to hear the small differences. I know for a fact that, my vinyl set-up, easy could cope with a more exspensive and more high end phono stage, but the filtering i would miss big time. ✌️❤️🇩🇰
Thank you for sharing your ideas and experience in that video. If I could understand you on 7:00 about "relaxing mode" I have same technology on my built-in monitor speakers - it calls "night mode". I put it on when I go to sleep and want some quiet sound.
Hey, I just bought my first HiFi System. The Dali Opticon 2 Mk 2 and the Rega Planar 3. Yesterday I ordered my Lyngdorf TDAI-1120 😃 Do you think its not necessarily needed to get a Phono preamp? I thought with all the functions maybe they saved some costs here. I am not so experienced yet since its my first quality Hifi device ( I am 26 years old)
@@Superdanceband don't buy a preamp just yet. Use the built-in one to begin with. If it is possible to trial one here or there later on, then that would be a good option for you. I would hazard a guess that anything over 500 pounds, euros or dollars will begin to show improvements.
Just to much for me. I’m old and have been listening to a 75 Marantz 2325 and Klipsch K-Horns and Belle’s on B running together. I have a few crossover choices plus and Bass,Mid and Treble . That’s as simple as it gets and have been using this setup 25 years or so. It still brings goose bumps up. Quality is hard to find, especially that sounds good. Enjoy your teaching us about the new and old stuff.
If I had the room for either of those speakers. My audio journey would be done too. Heard both, and absolutely love them. But for those of us in condos, like myself. That's not happening unfortunately. And that's why things like his are necessary in today's world. Small room audio is not easy my friend. But something like this makes it so. Besides, as these go. This is by far and away the easiest to use. It's basically all done for you. Not nearly as complicated as you would think. The room correction setup and bass management (yes it actually does control your subs, which are a requirement for small room audio IMHO) are the easiest to use of any solution I've seen yet. In fact it seems to have been purposely designed for old and new audiophiles alike. As it also has deeper fine tuning a power user would want. But it's there in the background only if you want it. It's not necessary to use at all. Point is. It may seem intimidating at first glance. But it's designed to be the opposite in reality. And while I don't expect you to go out and buy one. You may downsize, and need it. Or someone who's thinking the same way may read this. And think twice. I don't own one myself. But am seriously thinking about one. I'm in the middle of trying to get my MiniDSP SHD Studio working. And that is complicated!!! This, this is EASY compared to one, and even easy compared to other integrated amps with the same/similar feature set. And those are way, WAY easier than my Mini DSP is to set up. ✌️
Excellent show of what the Lyngdorf can do Harley. I've noticed 3 issues setting up my Rel sub - a problem bass node 35hz-45hz that made integration difficult, and for a given sub setting, too much bass on some newer pop or FM songs, but not enough for the soundtracks/orchestral music I like. I was leaning to this Lyngdorf as my next amp, now I'm convinced it will be. So glad I caught your video.
Thanks Rob. Glad you found it useful. Room nodes can be so annoying . It seems to me that Lyngdorfs’ Room Perfect will fix it. If not you can easily build your own voicing with it, finely adjusting as you like. Enjoy.
I finally bought the Lyngdorf. The Room Perfect is really useful - even my wife notices the improvement! But, the Voicings is what really allows me to fine tune the sound to my liking. I wish I could afford the Sibelius, maybe someday, but for now, my used Harbeth p3esr with REL sub sounds plenty great to me, in no small part due to the Voicings. I was aware of the Voicings from other reviews but since they just sort of glossed over, I didn't see the potential until your review. Thanks for going into such great detail in your review.
FDA's (full digital amplifiers) are everywhere. You probably have one in your car already :-). I had the Quloos QA690 some years ago. It doesn't have the full software that Lyngdorf has developed and really loved it. Classe Audio made one too (the Sigma 2200i). This technology is really nice .. but difficult to sell to audio purists with medium to big wallets.
I own the TDAI-1120 and i absolutely love it. It just works day to day but has incredible customization options. The imaging and separation is incredible. Only nitpick is that I consider slotting in warmer monoblocks to create a more forgiving warm sound. Also it is borderline cheap for what you get.
Such a pleasure to hear you talk about music and equipment Hartley. Always so thoughtful. I've been intrigued by Lyngdorf's amps for quite a while. Their approach sounds very clever indeed. Your video is confirming this. Not sure how potent the amp section of this particular piece is versus its bigger 3400 brother... Thanks for your video. Cheers from France.
Dear Raphael, thank you for your kind comment. With regards the amplification, many commenters have spoken about an apparent lack of power with the 1120. One important factor that maybe they overlooked was that, unusually, you can set the output to + 12db over 0. Something that makes a big difference. You really would need to compare. Another option is to run it as a preamp and pair it with an amp of your choice. I like to have more than one amplifier!
@@PearlAcoustics thanks for your quick response Hartley. Indeed, gain setting can be a very useful tool. Especially for low sensitivity speakers. And like you, I do like to have several amp "flavours" at my disposal so using their clever electronics as preamp makes a lot of sense. Thanks again! 🙂🙏
I have this amp powering my Tannoy XT6f floorstanders in a medium sized room 3.5mx7m roughly, and I have a full sound, with more bottom end than I need and at higher volumes there is no degradation of sound quality. Granted, these speakers are rated at 90.5db. My KEF LS50s are not so happy with it, however.
Hi, I have tried it and it works fine! I suppose we avoid it because it seems to be so illogical, ie you might buy a turntable for an analog experience but with the 1120 it converts it into digital, only to be pumped back into analog! But as I say, it works fine and you can build in some nice eq filters for certain kinds of records. A very useful feature.
Great Video and we’ll presented, I have the TDAI-3400 and coming from Hegel and Naim equipment I will never go back, this amp is astonishing, the DAC beats £2000+ DACs connected through the optional analog board. I’ve just got a Cyrus CD Transport plugged into the COAX and it sounds sublime. May add an external power amp one day and see if I can improve it but unsure I will.
@@kirlu50 that’s an impossible question. 😉 you’ll need to experiment with whatever you can lay your hands on. But it’s going to have to be very high quality to even begin to improve on what Lyngdorf supply built in. It’s a question of personal taste and synergy with your system. Good luck!
Seems the trend is moving more toward these style units, which makes total sense of course. The days of boxes cluttered around the Hi-Fi/entertainment center are long gone. Im actually about to take a stab at building a nice little component shelf much similar to the one your sitting by there. Im going for a triple decker though.
Hi, I simply use it as a Dac and preamplifier by connecting its RCA outputs to the inputs of my tube power amplifiers. Just make sure you use the variable output setting on the Lyngdorf.
You can do the same thing with a miniDSP for about $299. It does all digital signal processing and you can set the “mood” you want with a 10 point PEQ.
I am on a journey to build my hi-fi system. Your talks are brilliant and so rich in content. Now at the same time they are bringing me into some internal debates and hesitations ! I was about to buy the 1120 because I love the concept of room perfect and you have well described its benefits . I also discovered thanks to you the Sungden A21. I have listened to it in a shop with a simple Node streamer and loved the sound quality and richness of that combo. But it doesn’t have RP (nor DIRAC). I am confused. As far as sound quality is concerned, would the 1120 be somehow at par with the Sungden ? Would you consider RP such a plus that would compensate somehow for the less detailed and rich sound the 1120 compared to the Sungden ? So many questions !
Thanks for your kind appreciation. Room perfect is only needed when you have significant problems in your room. Feel free to reach out to me via our website and maybe we can help more.
I am very grateful that you took the time to inform us. 20 years ago, I had my first entry level hifi AV-system, which is still in use, but now we moved to a house, and I want a more sophisticated stereo, since we use stereo more than the surround. I like the idea of building a system, and since I need to save up and do it gradually over maybe two years, take the TDAI-1120 as the first piece. Would that be a good idea as the main "amp", but mostly for the controller parts ? And then go on to couple it with a power amp later ?
Trinnov has had, for years, pre-programmed DSPs and room correction, though I don't see audiophiles writing or speaking much about them. Most receivers these days include some sort of DSP and perhaps room correction. I think all of this will be pretty much expected of "hi fi" systems from now on.
Hi Dan. Thanks for your comments. Much appreciated. Of course, in the perfect world with wonderfully corrected rooms, none of it is needed. And I must admit sometimes the result of these DSP corrections are not ‘better’ but (especially) when the end customer can fine fringe them themselves, like in the TDAI 1120, and others, the results can be spectacular
Hi yes it can. And yes the room correction will work. It cannot stream everything, except via AirPlay but their website has the fine details. Best wishes
Harley, there's 2 pieces of your equipment you show in this video that I own also: the TDAI-1120 but we also happen to have the same kitchen radio :) ! Joke aside, the TDAI-1120 is indeed a Swiss army knife as you made quite clear. I even use some functionalities you didn't talk about : it communicates with my TV via CEC and it also drives in my configuration two subwoofers from Lyngdorf (and two satellites). If you take this all lyndorf configuration you can cross over your subwoofer to your satellite at 800Hz... So your satellites can be really small (which was a condition from my wife to let them into our living room :)). Also one of the strong points of this amplifier is that it can integrate your subwoofer with your existing main speakers perfectly without any hassle. No moving around the subwoofer, no fiddling with knobs on the back of your sub : just set it up, run roomperfect and off you go. So if there are any Sibelius owners out there who are thinking of adding a sub, then this amp will be very useful. Is this for me the end of my audio journey ? Certainly not. I would like to use the lyngdorf the way you set it up : as a preamp. By the way did you also try to run the TDAI-1120 directly into your Sibelius speakers ? I guess you did but probably preferred the sound of your tube power amps. For me the amplifier section itself (or call it 'power DAC' if you want) is something that could be bettered (but I haven't tried out yet so I cannot say this for sure). But as your correctly state : this amp brings so much added value to your existing hifi chain that once obtained, you will probably stick to it and use it in one of it's many 'disguises'.
Hi Chris, I loved your reply. Sorry it's taken so long to get back to you. You raised some very interesting comments. I am totally onboard with them. So many options. I think I did mention that the amp is fine, in itself, it's just I prefer the 'imperfect' sound of my 330b / 805 tube monoblock amps (especially in the winter when they help warm the room and look cosy). I am sure in the summer I will swithc back to the Lyngdorf on board amplifier. It's a 2 minute switch over, possibly even less. Thanks again. enjoy the journey!
Harley-- I am redoing my hifi system as I am downsizing--turning 70. I am effectively starting from zero. Your approach was very helpful and unique. Thank for taking the time. This will be my preamp in the future as my system grows. Initially, it will be an integrated amp with a nice set of dynaudio stand mounts. Eventually to add a sweet solid state like a smaller Nelson Pass design like his xa25 or xa30.8.... class A ss single ended. Your contribution opened my way of thinking. For 20 years. I had a huge room with powerful mono blocks--Pass again Aleph 1.2's and large towers The lyngdorf will be my first try at streaming and first dac update in many years. I cannot effectively audition the lyngdorf. I am comfortable trusting your judgment to take a chance.
Hi, sure you go into the Lyngdorf settings and choose for RCA out preamp stereo L R. Output. And you connect the right rca out to right monoblock and the left to the left.
@@PearlAcoustics Many thanks for the reply and you have a great channel and your delivery is very relaxing to watch ..I don’t have mono blocks at the moment but will when funds permit ..however I do have a icon audio valve stereo 40i which I have had for a no of years so fancy trying the TDAI1120 connected to my valve amp so acting as the preamp to take advantage of the streaming and RP that it has to offer ..will be interesting to see how it works with the stereo 40 ?
@@PearlAcoustics interesting I have been in contact with Lyngdorf and there reply was that it is possible but there maybe a problem of noise due to the high sensitivity of some valve amps , I assume your mono blocks are not particularly low sensitivity and if so have you experienced any increase in noise as of course volume is controlled in the digital domain? I assume you are using it as a pre amp with your sources connected to the 1120 ?.. apologies for the questions but I am keen to try but trying to get as much info as possible before I purchase a 1120.. interestingly david shaw of icon audio thought it shouldn’t be a problem just turn the volume fully up on the stereo 40 as it will now act as a power amp !
@@jls1495 hi, please don’t worry. It will be fine. David Shaw is 100% correct. You will need to go into ‘advanced settings’ in the Lyngdorf and chose for ‘variable’ output - stereo, otherwise you will blast your loudspeakers to kingdom come! I suggest you keep your amplifier at a quarter volume, until you have everything set up correctly. It’s easier than it sounds.
Interesting! For some time I have been interested in a Lyngdorf unit because of Room Perfect, but it has never occured to me that it could be a supplement to, as opposed to a replacement of, my amplifier.
Absolutely you could. Both would be fine. Re our amplifier, perhaps reach out to us via our website? We can give you some background on where we are right now…. Best wishes, H
Great review as always; you give a clear and fair picture of the item with pros and cons; it really helpful. I’ve just moved; I’m looking to change my 10 y.o. all in one marantz melody M-CR 610 with a new streaming amplifier updated with the best in class digital source. The room is little difficult to manage(a 18 sq meters (3x6) in a L 30 sq meters sittingroom with 2 windows and a bookshelf at the opposite of the speakers (2 Elipson Planet L and a sub Focal Air). My pick would be in the range of Lyngdorf TDAI 1120 or Cambridge Audio Evo 150 or Nad C 700 or POWERMODE (2021). What do you suggest most? Thank you in advance. Keep on doing top notch reviews.
Thank you for your kind words. You really will have to listen for yourself, these things are so personal. I like the Lyngdorf because it is so flexible that I can use it just as a streamer / Dac / pre-amplifier or amplifier as well. Good luck in your choice!
Hello Harley, enjoyed this and other videos you upload on music (the Elgar became a favorite in my list). Although time passed since you made this video I was thinking of changing my bluesound node with the the 1120 to feed my Sugden 21 SE, do you think this will work and will be beneficial? Thanks for your effort
Hi, thank you very much for your kind words. I think the 1120 is a very good piece of kit with a lot of options. However, if you do not need ‘Room Perfect’ (which I do not use). Then products like Eversolo might be a better option. The price of the Eversolo is so reasonable, and the Dac quality very high. It’s hard to beat. Hope this helps?
@@PearlAcoustics Thanks for your swift reply. As I need a phono input (and the number of boxes is limited for peace of our mind...) the eversolo is no option. So the 1120 or any other option?
@@ayabittmann5133 hi, I cannot get into specifics here, I am afraid (too many comments to manage each day 😉) but if you already have a turntable and an SE, I am assuming you have a phono pre-amplifier, some of the Eversolo’s have audio in facilities… but as you say yourself, the Lyngdorf will work perfectly in your situation, if you don’t need a moving coil input or headphone output. Best wishes.
Harley Lovegrove you are guilty. I ordered the Lyngdorf at the end of September after this video. Wonderful little machine, I upgraded the signal and power cables a bit, which the Lyngdorf gratefully accepts. It makes wonderful music. I still listen with the little Buchardt mkII, but your Sibelius are at the top of the list for me to listen to. Thanks for the tip.
Everyone needs to hear one of these in their own room to fully appreciate what modern room correction software can do; for me it was an epiphany. For the vast majority of Hi-Fi nuts who have a family and live in a "normal" household, this IS the ideal solution as it will allow THE best sound available for a normal living space. However, i'd still suggest that the less the software has to do the better so id still make very effort to place speakers etc. so that this is the case. The real best way to get this amp singing is to go the whole dual subwoofer set up as my understanding is that the room correction is primarily set up around that arrangement. Not withstanding the room correction, the amp itself has a unique sound that sits somewhere between a solid state and valve amp....I love mine but i could also see some people not falling for its charms. Try and get a demo of the full Steinway Lyngdorf system where they threw the whole budget at it..they are quite something
Hi Henk, I don’t see any reason why the 1120 would not be a good match and you could ‘trim’ the sound with your own settings, to get it just how you want it. It’s not the purest approach (tube rectified, single ended tube amp) but it’s practical and fine for my ears and you can always use it it purely as a preamplifier.
You convinced my to buy the Lyngdorf TDAI 1120. I have this Marantz PM 8006 and I would like to know how to connect my Lyngdorf TDAI-1120. Should I hook my Lyngdorf in Pre-Amp on the Marantz or in the Power Amplifier? And do I hook-up my turn table on the Marantz or the Lyngdorf? The reason is that I want to use the Lyngdorf because of the Room Perfect settings. ( I have the Klipsch Heresy iv speakers. Thank you!
Hi, I think you will need to experiment using the 1120 on its own and then as a pre feeding into the Marantz. Only by doing that will you know for sure. Try it for a week or so on its own and see how you get on. And then for a week connected to the Marsntz using the pre. Out on the Lyngdorf. Enjoy!
Hi Harley and community, I've purchased a tdai 1120 recently and it is interesting that the amp is producing a slight hiss (with my head really close to the tweeters) on basically any input. The hiss is more audible on analog inputs, less on tidal/roon/etc w/o signal sent to the amp. Is anyone else experiencing the same?
Hi, I personally have not heard any hiss from a TDAI, except, as you say, if one puts one’s right next to the drive cone. Even then it should be absolutely minimal. If it is bothering you, my best suggestion is to contact Lyngdorf support, and / or go back to your retailer. You will need to eliminate cables and other possible component issues. Remove all input cables and see what you hear… Lyngdorf’s a good company, I am sure they will look after you.
@@PearlAcoustics Thanks :) Got my 1120 since then. I'm super happy with it, it is a magic how it integrates stereo with subwoofer. It is great how it finds its place as an external amplifier for my fronts in my avr setup.
Very Interesting, But can I Just use the streaming n tuning features n don't use the preamp m dac function? Tis becos I hv very expensive dac n preamp n amp already?...
Hi , Thk u so so very much for yr swift response, I m impressed. My dac, my pre amp, my dac are all 5 figure sums. So I shd continue to use them incl. A REL Sub woofer, right? But I want to see if I can upgrade my listening experience further. So is using the tdai 1120 analog out to my preamp is the only solution, yet can benefit fully from the rm perfect features of the 1120 ? Rgds.
@@boonchyelim8598 Hi, in my experience, I find little correlation between price and performance. Just because your dac had a 5 figure USD price tag does not mean it will outperform the TDAI. It might have been very expensive because it was hand made in very low quantities. I certainly do not think you should run the output of the TDAI into your preamplifier because you are adding more components than necessary into the system. My advice is try the TDAI, discover the benefits of its filters and possibly its room correction. And if they outweigh what you have now, stay with it. Of course you can always experiment by connecting it with your other devices, for example, I use mine with my monoblock power amplifiers in the winter. This is the joy of our hobby. There is no one perfect solution.
Happened to me with Kate Bush's Hounds of Love-it's not that my equipment is as refined as yours (just a DALI Katch One and Sub) but I played it and it felt *flat* compared with Madonna's Confessions on A Dance Floor. I love-hate this realization 😂
hello from germany. i am not very sure, if the tdai 1120 is going to work well with my nubert nuvero 140. there is no additional pre amp in my system, just the lyngdorf. do you think the power is enough…!? regards
@@PearlAcoustics hi, i mean there will be just the lyngdorf tdai 1120 for my nubert nuvero 140. no additional preamp on top. do you think the power is enough? regards kamil
Great review! Ik have one question.. what will the longevity be? Will it be able to communicate with the smartphones in the near future? Or will the Lyngdorf be obsolete and unuseable after 5 years? Love to hear your thoughts about this. Again thx for the detailed review! I AM really considering buying this amp. Grtz and happy holidays!
Thanks for your kind words, they are much appreciated. I really think your question on longevity is a a crucial one! I am extremely into sustainability and having equipment that can last decades and be handed down to the next generation. I can imagine that, over time - smartphone technology will move on and there could be issues. However, Lyngdorf is a strong company that has invested millions into its software interface and each unit, I believe, has an upgrade possibility. So I do not see this as an issue for the foreseeable future. However, maybe one day it might be, but then what are you left with? A perfectly suitable standalone device with traditional inputs, that I am sure will connect to whatever system for streaming we are using then. The filters and RoomPerfect do not need smart phones. I also purchased the separate remote control that works via infrared and even though I do not use it, if smartphone connectivity stops, I can always go back to it or other remote control devices. And failing that, I can always get out of my chair and control everything from the front panel on the device, like the 'good old days'! ;-) Enjoy your music
I don’t believe companies like Apple or Spotify can afford to introduce a version of Apple Airplay or Spotify connect that isn’t downwards compatible. The problem of equipment getting obsolete like happened with models from Sonos isn’t going to happen with the streaming standards from the likes of Apple and Spotify in my humble opinion. It is not in their interest if new connectivity cuts out a significant part of their customer base. But as Pearl Acoustics replied there is always the physical connections if you want to add up to date streaming in the future.
I fall into yr category of audiophile w very very expensive equipment (experience hifi enthusiasts). If my dac is a dcs Rossini ( but I don't hv excellent perfect rm due to physical rm constraints), does using 1120 means my Rossini is rendered TOTALLY useless? If my pre amp n amp IS dan agostino, I ought to continue using them , correct? Wud apprec yr advice pse.
Hi Boon. You really need to ask yourself WHY you need the Lyngdorf? Is it because you need a streaming device? Or because you like the idea of the room perfect equalisation? If you just need a streamer, it would make far more sense to get a separate unit and plug into your Rossini DAC using an optical cable. If you are interested in the room perfect equalizer philosophy, it would make more sense to invest the extra cash on room treatment. Regarding the question about integrating your Rossini DAC with the Lyngdorf, the answer is yes! Just connect the Lyngdorf to the Rossini DAC with an optical cable, then run the Rossini into your pre amp and connect the speakers. The signal will then run through the Rossini and use that DAC. I might be wrong, but if you simply plug the Rossini into the Lyngdorf, and use the Lyngdorf as your amp directly to the speakers, then I think the "chain" will still use your Lyngdorf DAC. The Rossini needs to be in-between the Lyngdorf and the speakers, so obviously you'll also need your pre amp to connect the speakers. It seems like overkill to me. I would suggest just getting a simple, well engineered, decent powered separate streaming box with high res capability - the DAC is not so important as it will go into the Rossini, and then just spend some time/money on room treatment. Good luck!
An other solution to make less than stellar recordings sound more enjoyable is to indeed get a pair of forgiving Harbeth speakers. Then again, The Nightfly still sounds good to me, even though there is less 'body' than on my huge IMF at the time. Yes, instruments now sound more 'miniature'. And despite their reputation of being honest Danes, Dynaudio speakers also very forgiving.
Hi Alex. Loved your comment ;-) My point is that there is no loudspeaker in the world that can make every recording sound optimal. However, Harbeth do have a reputation for being very forgiving. It's a matter of choice.
Very interesting, because I have always believed that the sounds in a recording studio do no not reflect what you would be hearing in your listening room. Also I have the problem now that I am in my 60's that I have significant high frequency hearing loss (20db down at 4kHz). Could I possibly use this device to tailor my hearing to what it was in my youth? I do not want to listen to my speakers with a hearing aid. Any one who believes a flat response (as set on their amplifier) is kidding them selves that that is what the recording sounded like to the recording engineer (assuming he has perfect hearing). You get used to not hearing high frequencies as you get older and do not miss them until you start to find hearing sibilants in speech difficult and then you realise that you must be missing a hell of a lot in you music as well.
Dear Gary, in addition to my previous answer. My 20db at 4Khz is quite a big drop. Have you had your hearing professionally tested because many self tests are just too unreliable. I have heard from some professional musicians that there are some excellent DSP hearing aids designed for them and even hifi lovers - so it might be worth giving them a try. I personally don't think the TDAI can help that much. In theory it could boost 4khz by 12-20db, but the curve would need to match your hearing loss and it would sound weird for you at first and would also be absolutely ghastly for anyone else in the house! + you could easily damage your loudspeakers. Personally, I don't think any compensation over 9db, is a good idea. Maybe you can borrow one and try it out. I would love to know how you get on. Hoping this helps a little?
Hi, thanks for your question. At the moment I am just using it for CD snd streaming. But we are building a new listening room and there we will use it with a turntable. We will compare it with a high quality turntable preamplifier - to hear the difference when it is all analog (because the 1120 converts analog to digital and back again, which seems a bit crazy, on paper).
Hi Thomas. Sure you can integrate sub woofers, I was just commenting that with our Sibelius loudspeakers, I didn’t find it necessary. + if you are using it as a pre-amplifier for monoblocks etc. Then you need the only outputs it has for that function.
@@PearlAcoustics thank you. I’m happy yo responded as I’m actually wanting this strictly for the purpose of a pre amp / streamer, and have heard the Lyngdorf is magical at integrating subs. This one at this price is a lot more palatable than stepping up to the next. I want sh you’d review the new Buchardt i150, very close to this lyngdorf in functionality, but a lot was put into it as a pre amp , seperate power supply, has room correction, made like a tank
There is no DAC in this product. The PCM is converted straight to PWM for the output stage. Is is uncommon, I know. I thought this was possible only with DSD.
I tried to choose my words very carefully, after talking directly with Peter Lyngdorf and some of his technical team. It's tricky explaining in plain terms without short changing the details.
The Lyngdorf's rca line out jacks connect to the monoblocs, yes? And no need to connect speaker wires to the Lyngdorf's binding posts, yes? So you're essentially using the Lyngdorf as a digtal preamp, yes? I have that arrangement in mind but would like that confirmed please. Thank you for a most interesting video.
I love this channel!! Sharing your lifetime of experience and insight is greatly appreciated. Where may one find "hessian" sacks like the ones you have? Everything here in the U.S. seems to be very ugly potato sack like burlap. thanks again.
Hi Thanks for your kind comments. Very motivational. For my acoustic sacks, I purchased Hessian (sacking on a roll) and sewed them myself. + I used Rockwall Insulation and made the sacks the same circumfrance as the Rockwall rolls. I am thinking these type of products must be available in the US? Good luck!
Hi, I don’t think the Lyngdorf is very loudspeaker dependent, so it should be fine. You can always try it as a preamplifier, feeding into your existing amplifier first… to get the best comparison
I've been looking at the Linn Klimax DSM but its an eye watering £13k. Would be very interested to see how this sounds in comparison. V similar philosophies.
May I add? First off, I enjoy these presentations, they are relaxed and informative. I would like to comment on something a slight bit 'off topic'. I was watching your intro clip with the orchestral musicians in what looks like wonderful church and concert hall spaces. I must confess that an eyebrow was raised when I saw a close mike on the instruments! In your video, you made the comment using the word 'purest', which prompted me to comment in return. When I capture a live orchestral, organ and choral performance, I believe in the principles of true stereophonic recording. I was noting that your multi mike scheme and later mixdown procedure reminded me of what maestro Von Karajan was doing with his engineer and friend Gunter Hermmans (on a smaller scale of course). I am curious though, do you have any true stereo recordings you've done in your own library? I would be most curious to hear them if they were made available. Thank you.
Dear Gary, thank you for your kind appreciation, it’s much appreciated. With regards to microphone placement, this is a very complex matter and what you see in the videos is often the video taken after a recording session ‘to give an impression’ and the video team will habitually move microphones to give an impression. However, having said that, 80% of most of my input comes from a stereo ‘omni’ pair with fill in from closer placed mics. I am not radical with my placements, rather the old fashioned ‘Decca Tree’ and Blaumline, type of engineer. I will make a video on my approach one day. To answer your question, I do have a number of recordings, where the stereo pair dominate. What music type do you like best?
@@PearlAcoustics Thank YOU for such kind words. Ok, I understand that you still run at least 3, 4 or 5 channels. I am most interested in a two track recording with NO mixer involved in the process. Love to hear if you have anything with that scheme used in an orchestral piece. I know that omini's alone are NOT ideal for orchestral use if you want to enjoy the placement of the instruments with only 2 channels. Unless of course you have them in your Decca Tree config. I will use them (2) spaced a bit for organ and choral performances because who wants to hear individual voices in the sections, OR the divisions in a pipe organ. So, lots of room acoustics are key and some distance from the sources really helps. On the other hand, I have recorded orchestral sessions with the ORTF ONLY, no out riggers as many engineers will employ. As mentioned, I stick with the true stereo ideals. These days, I use a single point MS microphone. So far, used it for a college 70 piece symphony orchestra and historic Skinner organ (which we take care of). The final piece was the Firebird Suite. The mike was 15' high to get the layers of the sections, and 25' back from the maestro's podium. I was able to get plenty of room acoustics in the 850 seat English Gothic style church. With cushions and persons absorbing the reverb tail, it was not like an empty and wonderful English Cathedral by any means (O: Recorded LIVE, it is really a fun listen even if there were small issues here and there with the audience or orchestra players (O: You really get the 'you are here', image. Sorry to go on so long, but if you have anything like this, I would love to give it a listen over my Martin Logan Classic 9's. Thanks so much again.
@@garysmith8455 dear Gary I have something but not on cd. I get your point but I also work with an excellent post production engineer who uses the main stereo pair but brings in some of the closer mic placements to lick the instruments into position. I used to be a two channel freak but got fed up with solo instruments appearing to wander from left to right. My colleague from the Belgian classical music radio channel is a strict stereo pair man. He produces good results but I find the recordings a little ‘flat’ sometimes it’s nice to have the dynamics of sitting in the ‘golden seat’ (if you know that I mean?). I’ll see what I have
@@PearlAcoustics Ok, I get 'the Golden Seat' (O: Actually, more often then not, the Decca Tree is many times set up over the top of the music director, so you are getting more of what it sounded like to the maestro. Guess I am an 'audience perspective' guy (O: Thank you for taking the time to chat and I'll keep watching and DO let me know how I could find and listen to some of your work.
Whoa!!! I just got to go out and buy this thing. I have no idea what this thing does or why I'm Buying it or what it cost, but this guy says it will do wonders for my system and maybe my marriage, hey you can't blame me. Right. Someone needs seriously to get control on this reviewer guy.
The big advantage with this amp, is that you can shape it to suit both speakers and room, and then if you want something special, you just use it as a pre-amp / DAC / Streamer... enjoy!
This was my original speaker. Soundstage was impressive and very precise, I did however find them fatiguing which was one reason I changed them for the JBL L82s which obviously are a completely different animal but for the music I play ( Old soul & Reggae ) sound amazing and never tiring, I have a REL sub too and have backed off the level to -18 via the amp to keep the neighbours happy. I'm looking at adding the SDA2400 power amp at some point as the 3400 is a bit too rich with the added hdmi and analogue sections I would need. Best suggestion is to listen to them in your room if you can loan a pair before you make your decision. Make sure you run Room perfect first though, this will tame the brightness of the metas. 👍
Hello Harley, What a coincidence! I’m looking into buying a HiFi system and the TDAI-1120 was already on my list. Yesterday I discovered your Sibelius speakers and today I stumble upon your video. I would like to know if the TDAI-1120 by itself would be capable to drive the Sibelius and if it would do them justice? Many thanks in advance. Kind regards, Alain
Hi Alain, absolutely the 1120 can do justice. And the great thing is that, IF, you later want to add a tube or other amplifier you can do it without replacing the 1120
I really hear many reviewers praise this amp, but the headline of this review is not correct in my humble opinion. It would only deserve a place in a hifi system if your speakers are not to demanding and you don’t want to use it as a pre amplifier with a lot of options. As an all in one amp it would fit my budget, but as a pre amp needing a power amp it will exceed my budget. With lower efficiency speakers this amp would probably not be powerful enough. I am planning to buy a pair of KEF LS50’s or maybe KEF R3 stand mounts. I’ve been eying this amp, but I am afraid it can not deliver enough current to make this speakers shine.
Thanks for your comment Leo. I think if you set the gain on the amp correctly, you’ll have plenty of power, no problem. But amplifier matching is a very personal process and if you feel that it might not work then, probably best to look else where - but I would certainly give one a try, if you can.
@@PearlAcoustics We still have brick stores here in Hong Kong, maybe I can arrange a demo at a shop selling both the Lyngdorf and the KEF speakers. Thanks for the effort of replying. I will be using a subwoofer too and that could help on the burden of the Lyngdorf if there is a high pass setting for the crossover. Do you know if there is that possibility with the TDAI 1120? I was already thinking the 4 ohm rating of 120 watts sounds promising when the LS50 drops to 3.9 ohm.
@@leokuiper2593 the Lyngdorf is fully configurable (and all in the digital domain, so zero distortion) - that’s what makes it so special. If it seems not to have enough power, remember you can increase the gain by 12db and that will turn it into a very powerful amp.
@@PearlAcoustics I will definitely check it out. You have taken away a lot of my worries. Thanks again for giving me some of your time. I think it’s brilliant and exceptional for a reviewer to do this. A big thumbs up!
But eventually the built in dacs become outdated and quickly and any ddc of room perfect will effect your future analog dac/transport. I personally heard this with an old McIntosh unit with Room Perfect, i loved it but as dacs got better, the ddc of the unit hindered the dacs from performing and the conversion left its digital sound imprint on any analog dac i tried.
That’s absolutely true, that’s why I am not a big lover of expensive integrated amps with built in DACS. I consider the TDAI very good value for money and the DAC is so good I think it can justify its existence for a very long time.
Hi Rob, sorry for the late reply, I missed your question. Yes indeed our loudspeakers use Mark Audio drivers, made exclusively for us for the Sibelius enclosure.
Thomas said this device is very complicated to get working with streaming, which you did not mention. The EQ reminds me that Apple Music can be tweaked in the iPads music settings with about 20 different EQ profiles. Unfortunately there’s no customisation though.
Hi, not sure why Thomas found it difficult to set up. As far as streaming is concerned, I found it to be more or less straight out of the box. I hooked mine up to the internet via a cable and it was very much plain sailing from there.
@@PearlAcoustics He said once you’ve worked it out it’s very easy but took a while to work out how to stream to it. Maybe it’s a case of not reading the manual, as many of us are guilty of 😂
Who else was most concerned with the fact that he had an open glass of water overtop his pricey electronics...just waiting to be knocked over!? I would have that tipped over straight into the grill work on top in no time.
Hello from Japan!
I often visit your channel not only to get quality hi-fi knowledge but also to study beautiful English.
How I wish I could speak English like you and I sometimes mimic your words and phrases for my practice!
You're not only a superb speaker builder but at the same time, you yourself are a splendid speaker!
Thank you!
You're very kind indeed. Welcome to the channel. Keep up the English practice. And do not be put off where you are but enjoy the journey!
Me too - and I'm English 🤣
@@trevekneebone369 😂
Cheers. I love learning from someone passionate about a subject. Life is good!
Thanks!
Man I was nervous about the glass of water and the left arm pointing here and there.
😀
🫤
What I love about this piece of equipment is not particularly the amp itself (although it does indeed look fantastic), but that finally, FINALLY a higher end amp manufacturer is embracing tone changes or some sort of signal processing.
Whilst I do love audiophile recordings, my main genre is alternative music (goth, rock and metal) - and a lot of this sounded awful through my Creek amp. This led me to get an amp with tone controls (not easy when you’re only looking at mid-range equipment). It seems that when you reach mid-range and beyond, hardly anyone offers any signal processing on their amps.
So this is a welcome breath of fresh air, and I hope other mid to high end amp manufacturers follow suit. After all, you only need to dial in the processing when it’s truly needed.
Fantastic to see this piece of equipment available!
absolutely!
@@PearlAcoustics harley ...I'm a purist and want to buy a sugden for it texture and sound.
But..
I have room modes
..can uou tell me if the lyndorf will work with warm sounding phono stages and not make it sterile and digital...please reply if you can ..
Many thanks
@@mikemcguinness1304 hi Mike. The interesting thing about the 1120, is that the phono input converts the signal into the digital domain. Which on paper seems crazy. In practice it works well though and gave me a very neutral experience with the Ortofon Black. It seemed to keep all its characteristics without changing a thing.
Got mine for over a year now. Very happy with it.
I like the slight cracks in the wooden beam on the wall and crack against the wall, gives the otherwise perfect room a sense of humanity and warmth.
😀
@@PearlAcoustics Really enjoy your videos btw, I am learning a lot :)
@@crtgamer2355 that’s great to hear. There will be more coming soon
Thank you for a fantastic review. It's great to, for once, hear not just from a hi-fi enthusiast but from a music lover! It provides a different perspective and a whole new approach. Clearly the best review I've seen to date. I talked to the manager of the local "hi-fi klubben," which is the Lyngdorf dealer here in Denmark, and he actually recommended the exact same amplifier to me. Right there, I decided that I had to get one. We've known each other for many years, so he's familiar with my preferences, but it's really cool to also hear this review and your perspective on the amplifier. Once again, thank you for a fantastic review!
You’re very welcome. Glad it helped.
Great video just got my first Lyngdorf product a pair speakers FR 1😊 love it now I hope to buy TDAI-1120 soon. Respect from denmark.
Congratulations. Step by step. Enjoy! Thanks for your kind words
Thank you for this discussion! It answers a question that I have been asking myself for years. I will start saving for a Lyngdorf ...
Thank you sir, great explanation of the many features. I'm seriously considering purchasing one.
You’re very welcome Darren. It is very impressive.
Sir your videos are such a pleasure brilliant content.
Thank you!
What a lovely refreshing way to review a piece of hifi gear. To most people this would be a perfect way to explain why they would want the TDAI 1120. For what it offers and it's flexibility, 2k is a bargain in my eyes. Just think of the money you'll also save in room treatment.
"Just think of the money you'll also save in room treatment" if you spent 2k on room treatment, just think of all the money you'd save on upgrades ;)
@@cm96yyc fair point but the TDAI 1120 serves both purposes assuming you're upgrading in the first place. The upheaval in undergoing room treatment is simply not possible for those who don't have a dedicated listening room.
Thank you James for your kind comment. Much appreciated.
This unit will be perfect on my living room. I have one reflection I simply can't get rid of (floor to ceiling windows opposite to my TV, sound bar and sub).
I can only feasibly treat one wall, the floor and ceiling AND it has to look good from an interior decoration point of view (I can thank the design gods at DALI and Samsung for allowing me to convince my wife that HI-FI is a worthy investment 😂)
Running here with Dual Subs and Lyngdorf MH1 MK2 as front, perfect sound
Can you post a review of the system playing? There are only one or two on youtube
You can run single or twin subs off the 1120 with the advantage of high pass on mains and low pass on subs so using the LFE on the subs and a bit more power for the mids and highs on the mains if needed. Interesting review, I have been running one for over a year now and love it. Thanks.
Dear Richard thanks for your kind words and additional comment. Enjoy!
What an amazing review, thank you for the video.
I think I'm going to buy one 😅
Thank you. Very kind.
Thank you for this enlightening video. I’ve always liked equalizers. It’s nice to see audiophiles finally embracing them. I do much of what’s described here on my Mac c53. It’s fascinating to increase or decrease warmth, detail, or move vocals forward or backwards or eliminate that mid bass peak in my room simply by tweaking the controls. It’s all manual of course, but wonderful. Equalizers, oops, “modern” room correction or signal processing is a wonderful thing.
Thanks. Glad you enjoyed the video.
Very interesting. I appreciate walking with you to your new openness to combining the capabilities of digital signal processing with fine analog hardware. Though something deep inside me longs to set everything in my own system to “flat response,” I do, as you have described, adjust volume, bass, and treble, in most situations, to provide the listening experience that I desire in that moment. Thanks, again!
My pleasure! The TDAI, is the first piece of kit that has allowed me to get things exactly 'right'. Like you, 90% of the time, everything is 'flat' - even though I feel the need to fiddle. But now, I just click on a filter and it's perfect. I have made a custom one exclusively for my setting and so I don't even use the Room Perfect anymore.
I'm sorry, but i have to correct you a little bit 😉 The TDAI 1120, just as its bigger brothers, have absolutely EVERYTHING you could ever want for setting up a system with one or two subs. Hipass filter, lowpass - even delay for the sub. EVERYTHING is possible. You even have 9 set of filters (eq) - plus the filters you like so much 😉 Room ready as well. It is simply such a genius, and well sounding little amp 🙏
Greetings from Denmark 🇩🇰🇩🇰🇩🇰
Thanks for the info! much appreciated
Merry Christmas 🎄 Harley 💓!
I was given audio gifts this Christmas 2021. This is my fourth tube audio amplifier, the first being a Zenith Hifi console, Heathkit, a Fisher KX-200 and after almost 20 years an AMD 36-110. The first is memorable because it's my first introduction to tubes, our family owns it and the last one is a gift and the nice thing about it is they are both single ended EL84 tubes activated from AC to DC by a 6AC4 tubes. The AMD amp I upgraded the rectifier tubes to EZ81 and the power tubes to 7189. I also accepted to swap my Tanioka (hybrid 12SN7) integrated to a pair of Capehart full range drivers and a Philips 2 way sealed speakers. I immediately have a box made similar to yours and my favourite Sibelius speakers but just a little bigger because the drivers are 8 inches. The box will be finished before Monday or the second day of 2022.
For the AMD amp and the Philips 2 way acoustic suspension speakers, it is nirvana per my standard. Thank you for listening.
Wow - what a nice gift!
Excellent explanation about the TDAI. I've seen this little unit recommended in many audio forums but never understood it---thank you. I agree with you in that I also tend not to listen to 'bad recordings' because of the flatness, etc. This may be something I need to check out. Happy holidays!
Thanks! 🙏
As a long time audiophile and someone who worked in pro audio I use whatever I can to make sound better, that said getting your rig and room right is crucial before corrective processing. Cheers from Montreal 🥂
Hi from Belgium! Thanks for your spot on comment. A perfect room = no need for room perfect! 😉
So good thoroughly informative and enjoyable
Thank you!
This is the best program!!!
Thanks!
Great review !
Thank you. Very kind
Just tested it yesterday at my local HiFi klubben shop. Did an A to B test with the NAD M10 V3. The Lyngdorf won. The sound was amazing big stage and lots of detail. Such a shame you left out a touch screen. Subwoofer out is also missing . Also no remote control . The App and Connections go to the NAD. I almost bought the Lyngdorf what a shame it was just missing the things I needed. Hope you do an upgrade on it . Highly recommend it for the Sound.
Hi. Thanks for your comment. I was rather surprised reading it. The 1120 has two fully programmable subwoofer outs and a remote control (you order it separately, if you want it. Most people just use their smart phones. The interface is excellent). I am not a fan of touch screens in the equipment, I prefer using an eye pad or the really intuitive rotary knob on the from. I hope that answers your concerns? Enjoy the music.
I got the 1120 on a pair of B&W CDM7 SE. I've heard theese speakers on many amps before, but one problem then was that the deep bass got very loud, and they could be a little screemy at the top end.
Now that i got the 1120, they sound amazing, and it actualy got enough power to drive them very wel.
The bass is more in control, and the mid range and the top end is more detailed.
It's like they became more alive instead of being clumsy and punchy.
My conclusion now is to keep the speakers😊
That’s excellent news. Glad it worked for you.
I bought the TDAI-3400 a few weeks ago and I am blown away about the sound. My speakers are the Dynaudio Heritage Special and one Dynaudio Sub 6. I don’t know how many ours I have listening after I bought this system. It’s so difficult to leave the couch when I have starting listening to something. I listen to CD but also streaming from Apple Music and I use a cable from my iPad to the Lyngdorf for lossless up to 24/192. It’s wonderful! I also use the Lyngdorf as amplifier in my cinema setup. I have a Marantz receiver with Dolby Atmos and it works great. As a professional musician in the classical world, conductor, organist and pianist, and also semiprofessional sound engineer, this system gives me magical moments.
And I really like your channel!
Thanks! Pleased to read you have a set up that gives you so much satisfaction
How would you describe the sound and the quality of your combo? I'm using a pair of Crafft and am interested in the TDAI 1120 and currently running it therough a nice Aiyima Class D amp with a tune pre from ELekit and works great. But what this unit odes really intrigues me!
@@ericlo6370 It is hard to describe a sound. I have had great systems through the years but this is in another league. The speakers totally disappears, the sound stage is huge and every instrument have it own space. It’s hard to describe. For me it’s magical and when I start listening it’s hard to leave the sofa. It can listen for ours because the sound is so natural. My Lyngdorf of course has a big part of it. Room perfect does a great job to integrate the Herritage with the sub. I’m streaming music from Apple Music and it’s lossless with high quality, up to 24/192. I use my iPad as streaming unit and a USB cable direct to the Lyngdorf. With CD I use my Oppo only as a transport connected to the Lyngdorf.
Good review.
Thank you
This type of Swiss Army Knife approach to signal processing is new territory for me. The newest generation of streamer based equipment is able to process the signal non-destructively and create better compromises with fewer downsides as you said. Lyngdorf’s replay filters and room correction algorithms are a country mile beyond people with graphic equalisers and mad subwoofers. It’s the way forward. I would love to see more such thinking applied to digital RIAA preamplifiers. DAC-as-amplifier is a great way to maintain signal from input to output. The low box count is a plus! Very interesting thinking.
Thanks for your contribution Christopher.
You always make great content! Thanks for sharing!
Don’t be so hard on equalizers, those L-C networks are everywhere, from the tuned circuit in your tuner and oscillators, to the crossover network in most speakers, even arguably in the filter circuit of a great power supply, and the coupling capacitors in your amplifier…different name, essentially same thing. They are designed to allow or truncate certain frequencies. With regard to “non-destructively” one could argue that converting an analog signal to digital is quite destructive. You do sample the signal and throw away quite a bit. Digital equalization can excel over analog equalizers in their ease of use, however , depending on your equipment and your set up, the signal may be digitized twice, which can be twice destructive. Then, in Roon, this procedure is performed on a computer, yikes! I do prefer my preamp with a built in analog eq, however, digital eqs may be the future.
Hi first of all I want to thank you for drawing my attention to this Lyngdorf TDAI1120. It has now replaced my Audio Note Oto Phono signature amp and AN 2.1x signature DAC and I now have the best sound ever. For the first time ever I have heard what my Audio Note AN/E speakers, should sound like ,all because of the room perfect. Actually I have now ordered the TDAI 3400 because of the AES/EBU input for my AN CDT TWO transport and the slightly better sound quality not because of the power. I have a 55m2 living room and the TDAI1120 could easily fill this with full sound and deep deep controlled bass but of course only if you have quite sensitive speakers from 89db and up.The built in streamer also sounds very good and you can also use the usb input on the TDAI 1120 playing music from a memory stick and a external harddrive with it`s own power supply.And you don`t need the TDAI3400 to use with speakers and subwoofers the TDAI1120 can also handle this perfectly.
Hi Allan. You’re very welcome!
Amazing !!! 👌👌
Thanks
Thanks very much for the insight. Might be something to invest in future
You’re very welcome
@@PearlAcoustics the only thing I am trying to manouvre is listening to vinyl and keeping that as my primary so it might mean one main system analog then this with TV for more casual listening and streaming 😬
Half way through the video you got me convinced that this is exactly what I was looking for - I left the video and found good offer. Just wanted to do a quick check before I would buy it - can I have a sub AND a power amp....
Well, I should have watched to the end which would have saved me some time 🙂 It's such a pity it only has one analog out. The 3400 is of course fantastic but for what price?
Thank you again for your exceptional presentation - it's entertaining and educational at the same time. And a wonderful contrast to the usual RUclips screamers.
I am having a great time catching up in all the videos that I have missed 🙌
Cheers from Berlin, Stefan
Hi Stefan, do glad you are enjoying my videos. Berlin, such a great city. Best wishes from Tienen, Belgium.
super helpful!
Thank you
Thank you
Great subject to take to the Audiophile nuts as we are. Are we know back to 70/80's EQ Hell? No, i'm kitten. EQ could back then be a lot of fun. When u talk about the Lyngdorf, with it's"filter" settings, i cannot skip mentions my little Lehmann Black Cube SE II ref. Phono Stage, which have 16 settings for different filters, all over the freq spence, and i use it almost all the time, with my beloved Rega P8/Apheta II combo. With every recording, it's so useable and easy to hear the small differences. I know for a fact that, my vinyl set-up, easy could cope with a more exspensive and more high end phono stage, but the filtering i would miss big time. ✌️❤️🇩🇰
Interesting! Thanks for sharing. So many ways if solving the same problem
Thank you for sharing your ideas and experience in that video.
If I could understand you on 7:00 about "relaxing mode" I have same technology on my built-in monitor speakers - it calls "night mode".
I put it on when I go to sleep and want some quiet sound.
Such a great way to fall asleep! Thanks for your comment
The MM phono stage is not bad either, the sound quality matches the rest of the system, so the synergy is there across the inputs.
Hey, I just bought my first HiFi System. The Dali Opticon 2 Mk 2 and the Rega Planar 3. Yesterday I ordered my Lyngdorf TDAI-1120 😃 Do you think its not necessarily needed to get a Phono preamp? I thought with all the functions maybe they saved some costs here. I am not so experienced yet since its my first quality Hifi device ( I am 26 years old)
@@Superdanceband don't buy a preamp just yet. Use the built-in one to begin with. If it is possible to trial one here or there later on, then that would be a good option for you. I would hazard a guess that anything over 500 pounds, euros or dollars will begin to show improvements.
@@mrpositronia thanks. Then I will use the built in phono pre amp for the beginning 😃
Peace to you sir
Thanks a lot for the video, I was considering this device for quite some time, you gave me the final push.
Thank you. I hope you like it.
Just to much for me. I’m old and have been listening to a 75 Marantz 2325 and Klipsch K-Horns and Belle’s on B running together. I have a few crossover choices plus and Bass,Mid and Treble . That’s as simple as it gets and have been using this setup 25 years or so. It still brings goose bumps up. Quality is hard to find, especially that sounds good. Enjoy your teaching us about the new and old stuff.
Very nice comment. Thank you.
If I had the room for either of those speakers. My audio journey would be done too. Heard both, and absolutely love them. But for those of us in condos, like myself. That's not happening unfortunately. And that's why things like his are necessary in today's world.
Small room audio is not easy my friend. But something like this makes it so. Besides, as these go. This is by far and away the easiest to use. It's basically all done for you. Not nearly as complicated as you would think.
The room correction setup and bass management (yes it actually does control your subs, which are a requirement for small room audio IMHO) are the easiest to use of any solution I've seen yet.
In fact it seems to have been purposely designed for old and new audiophiles alike. As it also has deeper fine tuning a power user would want. But it's there in the background only if you want it. It's not necessary to use at all.
Point is. It may seem intimidating at first glance. But it's designed to be the opposite in reality. And while I don't expect you to go out and buy one. You may downsize, and need it. Or someone who's thinking the same way may read this. And think twice.
I don't own one myself. But am seriously thinking about one. I'm in the middle of trying to get my MiniDSP SHD Studio working. And that is complicated!!!
This, this is EASY compared to one, and even easy compared to other integrated amps with the same/similar feature set. And those are way, WAY easier than my Mini DSP is to set up. ✌️
@@amb3cog cool , 😎
Excellent show of what the Lyngdorf can do Harley. I've noticed 3 issues setting up my Rel sub - a problem bass node 35hz-45hz that made integration difficult, and for a given sub setting, too much bass on some newer pop or FM songs, but not enough for the soundtracks/orchestral music I like. I was leaning to this Lyngdorf as my next amp, now I'm convinced it will be. So glad I caught your video.
Thanks Rob. Glad you found it useful. Room nodes can be so annoying . It seems to me that Lyngdorfs’ Room Perfect will fix it. If not you can easily build your own voicing with it, finely adjusting as you like. Enjoy.
I finally bought the Lyngdorf. The Room Perfect is really useful - even my wife notices the improvement! But, the Voicings is what really allows me to fine tune the sound to my liking. I wish I could afford the Sibelius, maybe someday, but for now, my used Harbeth p3esr with REL sub sounds plenty great to me, in no small part due to the Voicings. I was aware of the Voicings from other reviews but since they just sort of glossed over, I didn't see the potential until your review. Thanks for going into such great detail in your review.
FDA's (full digital amplifiers) are everywhere. You probably have one in your car already :-). I had the Quloos QA690 some years ago. It doesn't have the full software that Lyngdorf has developed and really loved it. Classe Audio made one too (the Sigma 2200i). This technology is really nice .. but difficult to sell to audio purists with medium to big wallets.
Indeed…. Thanks for your feedback
Thank you for the excellent review.
I do have a question.
Would the Lyngdorf be able to successfully drive a pair of Dali Oberon 7 (88.5db, 6 ohms)?
Hi, thanks for your kind appreciation. I see absolutely no reason why not. I hope that helps?
I own the TDAI-1120 and i absolutely love it. It just works day to day but has incredible customization options.
The imaging and separation is incredible. Only nitpick is that I consider slotting in warmer monoblocks to create a more forgiving warm sound.
Also it is borderline cheap for what you get.
Thanks for sharing your experience here.?
Such a pleasure to hear you talk about music and equipment Hartley. Always so thoughtful. I've been intrigued by Lyngdorf's amps for quite a while. Their approach sounds very clever indeed. Your video is confirming this. Not sure how potent the amp section of this particular piece is versus its bigger 3400 brother... Thanks for your video. Cheers from France.
Dear Raphael, thank you for your kind comment. With regards the amplification, many commenters have spoken about an apparent lack of power with the 1120. One important factor that maybe they overlooked was that, unusually, you can set the output to + 12db over 0. Something that makes a big difference. You really would need to compare. Another option is to run it as a preamp and pair it with an amp of your choice. I like to have more than one amplifier!
@@PearlAcoustics thanks for your quick response Hartley. Indeed, gain setting can be a very useful tool. Especially for low sensitivity speakers. And like you, I do like to have several amp "flavours" at my disposal so using their clever electronics as preamp makes a lot of sense. Thanks again! 🙂🙏
I have this amp powering my Tannoy XT6f floorstanders in a medium sized room 3.5mx7m roughly, and I have a full sound, with more bottom end than I need and at higher volumes there is no degradation of sound quality. Granted, these speakers are rated at 90.5db. My KEF LS50s are not so happy with it, however.
I am wondering how this device sounds with an Turntable. No one ever talks about the integradet Phono-Stage. I woul like to combine it with an Rega P6
Hi, I have tried it and it works fine! I suppose we avoid it because it seems to be so illogical, ie you might buy a turntable for an analog experience but with the 1120 it converts it into digital, only to be pumped back into analog! But as I say, it works fine and you can build in some nice eq filters for certain kinds of records. A very useful feature.
Great Video and we’ll presented, I have the TDAI-3400 and coming from Hegel and Naim equipment I will never go back, this amp is astonishing, the DAC beats £2000+ DACs connected through the optional analog board. I’ve just got a Cyrus CD Transport plugged into the COAX and it sounds sublime. May add an external power amp one day and see if I can improve it but unsure I will.
Thank you very much for your kind words and interesting comment! Enjoy the music!
They could be on to something with that rather unorthodox output stage. What type of amplifier would you add?
@@kirlu50 that’s an impossible question. 😉 you’ll need to experiment with whatever you can lay your hands on. But it’s going to have to be very high quality to even begin to improve on what Lyngdorf supply built in. It’s a question of personal taste and synergy with your system. Good luck!
Hi Ash. What Naim and Hegel amps did you have? How did you compare them tonally to the Lyngdorf?
Out of interest, what Naim gear did you have? I currently have a Lyngdorf TDAI-1120 but keep thinking about getting a Supernait 3. Any thoughts?
Seems the trend is moving more toward these style units, which makes total sense of course. The days of boxes cluttered around the Hi-Fi/entertainment center are long gone. Im actually about to take a stab at building a nice little component shelf much similar to the one your sitting by there. Im going for a triple decker though.
Good luck with your project!
Hello! Please tell me how you connected lyngdorf via DAC and tube amplifier ?
Hi, I simply use it as a Dac and preamplifier by connecting its RCA outputs to the inputs of my tube power amplifiers. Just make sure you use the variable output setting on the Lyngdorf.
You can do the same thing with a miniDSP for about $299. It does all digital signal processing and you can set the “mood” you want with a 10 point PEQ.
true, there are many ways of boiling an egg! But it will not have all that the Lyngdorf has. But it is a totally valid approach
I am on a journey to build my hi-fi system. Your talks are brilliant and so rich in content. Now at the same time they are bringing me into some internal debates and hesitations ! I was about to buy the 1120 because I love the concept of room perfect and you have well described its benefits . I also discovered thanks to you the Sungden A21. I have listened to it in a shop with a simple Node streamer and loved the sound quality and richness of that combo. But it doesn’t have RP (nor DIRAC). I am confused. As far as sound quality is concerned, would the 1120 be somehow at par with the Sungden ? Would you consider RP such a plus that would compensate somehow for the less detailed and rich sound the 1120 compared to the Sungden ?
So many questions !
Thanks for your kind appreciation. Room perfect is only needed when you have significant problems in your room. Feel free to reach out to me via our website and maybe we can help more.
@@PearlAcoustics Thanks for your kind and swift answer. I’ll contact you as you propose.
I am very grateful that you took the time to inform us. 20 years ago, I had my first entry level hifi AV-system, which is still in use, but now we moved to a house, and I want a more sophisticated stereo, since we use stereo more than the surround.
I like the idea of building a system, and since I need to save up and do it gradually over maybe two years, take the TDAI-1120 as the first piece. Would that be a good idea as the main "amp", but mostly for the controller parts ? And then go on to couple it with a power amp later ?
You’re welcome. You won’t be disappointed
Trinnov has had, for years, pre-programmed DSPs and room correction, though I don't see audiophiles writing or speaking much about them. Most receivers these days include some sort of DSP and perhaps room correction. I think all of this will be pretty much expected of "hi fi" systems from now on.
Hi Dan. Thanks for your comments. Much appreciated. Of course, in the perfect world with wonderfully corrected rooms, none of it is needed. And I must admit sometimes the result of these DSP corrections are not ‘better’ but (especially) when the end customer can fine fringe them themselves, like in the TDAI 1120, and others, the results can be spectacular
I like to test for understanding. Can the unit be used as a streamer/dac and connect it to another preamp? Will the room correction work?
Hi yes it can. And yes the room correction will work. It cannot stream everything, except via AirPlay but their website has the fine details. Best wishes
Harley, there's 2 pieces of your equipment you show in this video that I own also: the TDAI-1120 but we also happen to have the same kitchen radio :) ! Joke aside, the TDAI-1120 is indeed a Swiss army knife as you made quite clear. I even use some functionalities you didn't talk about : it communicates with my TV via CEC and it also drives in my configuration two subwoofers from Lyngdorf (and two satellites). If you take this all lyndorf configuration you can cross over your subwoofer to your satellite at 800Hz... So your satellites can be really small (which was a condition from my wife to let them into our living room :)). Also one of the strong points of this amplifier is that it can integrate your subwoofer with your existing main speakers perfectly without any hassle. No moving around the subwoofer, no fiddling with knobs on the back of your sub : just set it up, run roomperfect and off you go. So if there are any Sibelius owners out there who are thinking of adding a sub, then this amp will be very useful. Is this for me the end of my audio journey ? Certainly not. I would like to use the lyngdorf the way you set it up : as a preamp. By the way did you also try to run the TDAI-1120 directly into your Sibelius speakers ? I guess you did but probably preferred the sound of your tube power amps. For me the amplifier section itself (or call it 'power DAC' if you want) is something that could be bettered (but I haven't tried out yet so I cannot say this for sure). But as your correctly state : this amp brings so much added value to your existing hifi chain that once obtained, you will probably stick to it and use it in one of it's many 'disguises'.
Hi Chris, I loved your reply. Sorry it's taken so long to get back to you. You raised some very interesting comments. I am totally onboard with them. So many options. I think I did mention that the amp is fine, in itself, it's just I prefer the 'imperfect' sound of my 330b / 805 tube monoblock amps (especially in the winter when they help warm the room and look cosy). I am sure in the summer I will swithc back to the Lyngdorf on board amplifier. It's a 2 minute switch over, possibly even less. Thanks again. enjoy the journey!
Harley-- I am redoing my hifi system as I am downsizing--turning 70. I am effectively starting from zero.
Your approach was very helpful and unique. Thank for taking the time.
This will be my preamp in the future as my system grows. Initially, it will be an integrated amp with a nice set of dynaudio stand mounts. Eventually to add a sweet solid state like a smaller Nelson Pass design like his xa25 or xa30.8.... class A ss single ended.
Your contribution opened my way of thinking. For 20 years. I had a huge room with powerful mono blocks--Pass again Aleph 1.2's and large towers
The lyngdorf will be my first try at streaming and first dac update in many years.
I cannot effectively audition the lyngdorf. I am comfortable trusting your judgment to take a chance.
Hello can I ask how you managed to connect your mono blocks as I believe there is only 1 set of RCA out and 1 phono amp RCA ?
Hi, sure you go into the Lyngdorf settings and choose for RCA out preamp stereo L R. Output. And you connect the right rca out to right monoblock and the left to the left.
@@PearlAcoustics Many thanks for the reply and you have a great channel and your delivery is very relaxing to watch ..I don’t have mono blocks at the moment but will when funds permit ..however I do have a icon audio valve stereo 40i which I have had for a no of years so fancy trying the TDAI1120 connected to my valve amp so acting as the preamp to take advantage of the streaming and RP that it has to offer ..will be interesting to see how it works with the stereo 40 ?
@@jls1495 that should be an excellent combination. Good luck.
@@PearlAcoustics interesting I have been in contact with Lyngdorf and there reply was that it is possible but there maybe a problem of noise due to the high sensitivity of some valve amps , I assume your mono blocks are not particularly low sensitivity and if so have you experienced any increase in noise as of course volume is controlled in the digital domain? I assume you are using it as a pre amp with your sources connected to the 1120 ?.. apologies for the questions but I am keen to try but trying to get as much info as possible before I purchase a 1120.. interestingly david shaw of icon audio thought it shouldn’t be a problem just turn the volume fully up on the stereo 40 as it will now act as a power amp !
@@jls1495 hi, please don’t worry. It will be fine. David Shaw is 100% correct. You will need to go into ‘advanced settings’ in the Lyngdorf and chose for ‘variable’ output - stereo, otherwise you will blast your loudspeakers to kingdom come! I suggest you keep your amplifier at a quarter volume, until you have everything set up correctly. It’s easier than it sounds.
Interesting! For some time I have been interested in a Lyngdorf unit because of Room Perfect, but it has never occured to me that it could be a supplement to, as opposed to a replacement of, my amplifier.
Glad i could offer additional insights
I wonder: Could I add a Copland amp to this Lyngdorf and is that a good idea? Or better the tube amp you sell?
Absolutely you could. Both would be fine. Re our amplifier, perhaps reach out to us via our website? We can give you some background on where we are right now…. Best wishes, H
Great review as always; you give a clear and fair picture of the item with pros and cons; it really helpful.
I’ve just moved; I’m looking to change my 10 y.o. all in one marantz melody M-CR 610 with a new streaming amplifier updated with the best in class digital source. The room is little difficult to manage(a 18 sq meters (3x6) in a L 30 sq meters sittingroom with 2 windows and a bookshelf at the opposite of the speakers (2 Elipson Planet L and a sub Focal Air).
My pick would be in the range of Lyngdorf TDAI 1120 or Cambridge Audio Evo 150 or Nad C 700 or POWERMODE (2021). What do you suggest most? Thank you in advance. Keep on doing top notch reviews.
Thank you for your kind words. You really will have to listen for yourself, these things are so personal. I like the Lyngdorf because it is so flexible that I can use it just as a streamer / Dac / pre-amplifier or amplifier as well. Good luck in your choice!
Hello Harley, enjoyed this and other videos you upload on music (the Elgar became a favorite in my list). Although time passed since you made this video I was thinking of changing my bluesound node with the the 1120 to feed my Sugden 21 SE, do you think this will work and will be beneficial? Thanks for your effort
Hi, thank you very much for your kind words. I think the 1120 is a very good piece of kit with a lot of options. However, if you do not need ‘Room Perfect’ (which I do not use). Then products like Eversolo might be a better option. The price of the Eversolo is so reasonable, and the Dac quality very high. It’s hard to beat.
Hope this helps?
@@PearlAcoustics Thanks for your swift reply. As I need a phono input (and the number of boxes is limited for peace of our mind...) the eversolo is no option. So the 1120 or any other option?
@@ayabittmann5133 hi, I cannot get into specifics here, I am afraid (too many comments to manage each day 😉) but if you already have a turntable and an SE, I am assuming you have a phono pre-amplifier, some of the Eversolo’s have audio in facilities… but as you say yourself, the Lyngdorf will work perfectly in your situation, if you don’t need a moving coil input or headphone output. Best wishes.
Harley Lovegrove you are guilty. I ordered the Lyngdorf at the end of September after this video. Wonderful little machine, I upgraded the signal and power cables a bit, which the Lyngdorf gratefully accepts. It makes wonderful music. I still listen with the little Buchardt mkII, but your Sibelius are at the top of the list for me to listen to. Thanks for the tip.
Dear Dirk, so pleased you are happy with the 1120. Hopefully you’ll get to hear our Sibelius loudspeakers one day. Until then, enjoy your music.
Everyone needs to hear one of these in their own room to fully appreciate what modern room correction software can do; for me it was an epiphany.
For the vast majority of Hi-Fi nuts who have a family and live in a "normal" household, this IS the ideal solution as it will allow THE best sound available for a normal living space.
However, i'd still suggest that the less the software has to do the better so id still make very effort to place speakers etc. so that this is the case.
The real best way to get this amp singing is to go the whole dual subwoofer set up as my understanding is that the room correction is primarily set up around that arrangement.
Not withstanding the room correction, the amp itself has a unique sound that sits somewhere between a solid state and valve amp....I love mine but i could also see some people not falling for its charms.
Try and get a demo of the full Steinway Lyngdorf system where they threw the whole budget at it..they are quite something
Thanks for your comment David
What is the whole lungdorf system - speakers too? So hard to find anywhere in Canada.
@@morespinach9832 Lyngdorf make a whole range of products. You’ll need to check out their website for dealer information. Sorry I can’t help more.
Would the 1120 be ok with a horn speaker like the Klipsch Heresy? Some say to stay away from class D amps? Really like to hear!
Hi Henk, I don’t see any reason why the 1120 would not be a good match and you could ‘trim’ the sound with your own settings, to get it just how you want it. It’s not the purest approach (tube rectified, single ended tube amp) but it’s practical and fine for my ears and you can always use it it purely as a preamplifier.
For that speakers only tube amp.
You convinced my to buy the Lyngdorf TDAI 1120. I have this Marantz PM 8006 and I would like to know how to connect my Lyngdorf TDAI-1120. Should I hook my Lyngdorf in Pre-Amp on the Marantz or in the Power Amplifier? And do I hook-up my turn table on the Marantz or the Lyngdorf? The reason is that I want to use the Lyngdorf because of the Room Perfect settings. ( I have the Klipsch Heresy iv speakers. Thank you!
Hi, I think you will need to experiment using the 1120 on its own and then as a pre feeding into the Marantz. Only by doing that will you know for sure. Try it for a week or so on its own and see how you get on. And then for a week connected to the Marsntz using the pre. Out on the Lyngdorf. Enjoy!
Hi Harley and community,
I've purchased a tdai 1120 recently and it is interesting that the amp is producing a slight hiss (with my head really close to the tweeters) on basically any input. The hiss is more audible on analog inputs, less on tidal/roon/etc w/o signal sent to the amp.
Is anyone else experiencing the same?
Hi, I personally have not heard any hiss from a TDAI, except, as you say, if one puts one’s right next to the drive cone. Even then it should be absolutely minimal. If it is bothering you, my best suggestion is to contact Lyngdorf support, and / or go back to your retailer. You will need to eliminate cables and other possible component issues. Remove all input cables and see what you hear… Lyngdorf’s a good company, I am sure they will look after you.
@@PearlAcoustics Thanks :) Got my 1120 since then. I'm super happy with it, it is a magic how it integrates stereo with subwoofer. It is great how it finds its place as an external amplifier for my fronts in my avr setup.
@@CoreProject05 I am so pleased! Thanks for coming back to me. I appreciate that and I am sure my other viewers appreciate it too. Enjoy!
Very Interesting, But can I Just use the streaming n tuning features n don't use the preamp m dac function? Tis becos I hv very expensive dac n preamp n amp already?...
I don’t think it has a digital out. Not really sure why you would want to though, as its fine in itself.
Hi , Thk u so so very much for yr swift response, I m impressed. My dac, my pre amp, my dac are all 5 figure sums. So I shd continue to use them incl. A REL Sub woofer, right? But I want to see if I can upgrade my listening experience further. So is using the tdai 1120 analog out to my preamp is the only solution, yet can benefit fully from the rm perfect features of the 1120 ? Rgds.
I mean usd 5 figure sums..
@@boonchyelim8598 Hi, in my experience, I find little correlation between price and performance. Just because your dac had a 5 figure USD price tag does not mean it will outperform the TDAI. It might have been very expensive because it was hand made in very low quantities. I certainly do not think you should run the output of the TDAI into your preamplifier because you are adding more components than necessary into the system. My advice is try the TDAI, discover the benefits of its filters and possibly its room correction. And if they outweigh what you have now, stay with it. Of course you can always experiment by connecting it with your other devices, for example, I use mine with my monoblock power amplifiers in the winter. This is the joy of our hobby. There is no one perfect solution.
Happened to me with Kate Bush's Hounds of Love-it's not that my equipment is as refined as yours (just a DALI Katch One and Sub) but I played it and it felt *flat* compared with Madonna's Confessions on A Dance Floor.
I love-hate this realization 😂
😉 thanks for sharing
hello from germany. i am not very sure, if the tdai 1120 is going to work well with my nubert nuvero 140. there is no additional pre amp in my system, just the lyngdorf. do you think the power is enough…!? regards
Hi, thanks for your comment. I am not sure quite what you mean 'just the Lyngdorf'. What amplifier do you have right now?
@@PearlAcoustics hi, i mean there will be just the lyngdorf tdai 1120 for my nubert nuvero 140. no additional preamp on top. do you think the power is enough? regards kamil
@@PearlAcoustics currently i have the yamaha as-1200. i want to buy an amp with room measurement.
@@KamilWypior-dh6yo power, should not be an issue… but if you have doubts buy it’s big brother the 3400
@@KamilWypior-dh6yo consider the TDAI-3400
Great review! Ik have one question.. what will the longevity be? Will it be able to communicate with the smartphones in the near future? Or will the Lyngdorf be obsolete and unuseable after 5 years? Love to hear your thoughts about this. Again thx for the detailed review! I AM really considering buying this amp. Grtz and happy holidays!
Thanks for your kind words, they are much appreciated. I really think your question on longevity is a a crucial one! I am extremely into sustainability and having equipment that can last decades and be handed down to the next generation. I can imagine that, over time - smartphone technology will move on and there could be issues. However, Lyngdorf is a strong company that has invested millions into its software interface and each unit, I believe, has an upgrade possibility. So I do not see this as an issue for the foreseeable future. However, maybe one day it might be, but then what are you left with? A perfectly suitable standalone device with traditional inputs, that I am sure will connect to whatever system for streaming we are using then. The filters and RoomPerfect do not need smart phones. I also purchased the separate remote control that works via infrared and even though I do not use it, if smartphone connectivity stops, I can always go back to it or other remote control devices. And failing that, I can always get out of my chair and control everything from the front panel on the device, like the 'good old days'! ;-) Enjoy your music
I don’t believe companies like Apple or Spotify can afford to introduce a version of Apple Airplay or Spotify connect that isn’t downwards compatible. The problem of equipment getting obsolete like happened with models from Sonos isn’t going to happen with the streaming standards from the likes of Apple and Spotify in my humble opinion. It is not in their interest if new connectivity cuts out a significant part of their customer base. But as Pearl Acoustics replied there is always the physical connections if you want to add up to date streaming in the future.
I fall into yr category of audiophile w very very expensive equipment (experience hifi enthusiasts). If my dac is a dcs Rossini ( but I don't hv excellent perfect rm due to physical rm constraints), does using 1120 means my Rossini is rendered TOTALLY useless? If my pre amp n amp IS dan agostino, I ought to continue using them , correct? Wud apprec yr advice pse.
Hi Boon. You really need to ask yourself WHY you need the Lyngdorf? Is it because you need a streaming device? Or because you like the idea of the room perfect equalisation? If you just need a streamer, it would make far more sense to get a separate unit and plug into your Rossini DAC using an optical cable. If you are interested in the room perfect equalizer philosophy, it would make more sense to invest the extra cash on room treatment. Regarding the question about integrating your Rossini DAC with the Lyngdorf, the answer is yes! Just connect the Lyngdorf to the Rossini DAC with an optical cable, then run the Rossini into your pre amp and connect the speakers. The signal will then run through the Rossini and use that DAC. I might be wrong, but if you simply plug the Rossini into the Lyngdorf, and use the Lyngdorf as your amp directly to the speakers, then I think the "chain" will still use your Lyngdorf DAC. The Rossini needs to be in-between the Lyngdorf and the speakers, so obviously you'll also need your pre amp to connect the speakers. It seems like overkill to me. I would suggest just getting a simple, well engineered, decent powered separate streaming box with high res capability - the DAC is not so important as it will go into the Rossini, and then just spend some time/money on room treatment. Good luck!
An other solution to make less than stellar recordings sound more enjoyable is to indeed get a pair of forgiving Harbeth speakers. Then again, The Nightfly still sounds good to me, even though there is less 'body' than on my huge IMF at the time. Yes, instruments now sound more 'miniature'. And despite their reputation of being honest Danes, Dynaudio speakers also very forgiving.
Hi Alex. Loved your comment ;-) My point is that there is no loudspeaker in the world that can make every recording sound optimal. However, Harbeth do have a reputation for being very forgiving. It's a matter of choice.
Very interesting, because I have always believed that the sounds in a recording studio do no not reflect what you would be hearing in your listening room. Also I have the problem now that I am in my 60's that I have significant high frequency hearing loss (20db down at 4kHz). Could I possibly use this device to tailor my hearing to what it was in my youth? I do not want to listen to my speakers with a hearing aid. Any one who believes a flat response (as set on their amplifier) is kidding them selves that that is what the recording sounded like to the recording engineer (assuming he has perfect hearing). You get used to not hearing high frequencies as you get older and do not miss them until you start to find hearing sibilants in speech difficult and then you realise that you must be missing a hell of a lot in you music as well.
Dear Gary, in addition to my previous answer. My 20db at 4Khz is quite a big drop. Have you had your hearing professionally tested because many self tests are just too unreliable.
I have heard from some professional musicians that there are some excellent DSP hearing aids designed for them and even hifi lovers - so it might be worth giving them a try. I personally don't think the TDAI can help that much. In theory it could boost 4khz by 12-20db, but the curve would need to match your hearing loss and it would sound weird for you at first and would also be absolutely ghastly for anyone else in the house! + you could easily damage your loudspeakers. Personally, I don't think any compensation over 9db, is a good idea. Maybe you can borrow one and try it out. I would love to know how you get on.
Hoping this helps a little?
Hi do you use the 1120 for turntable also or just steaming?
Hi, thanks for your question. At the moment I am just using it for CD snd streaming. But we are building a new listening room and there we will use it with a turntable. We will compare it with a high quality turntable preamplifier - to hear the difference when it is all analog (because the 1120 converts analog to digital and back again, which seems a bit crazy, on paper).
Why would you not be able to integrate subwoofers with this? Doesn’t it have sub our?
Hi Thomas. Sure you can integrate sub woofers, I was just commenting that with our Sibelius loudspeakers, I didn’t find it necessary. + if you are using it as a pre-amplifier for monoblocks etc. Then you need the only outputs it has for that function.
@@PearlAcoustics thank you. I’m happy yo responded as I’m actually wanting this strictly for the purpose of a pre amp / streamer, and have heard the Lyngdorf is magical at integrating subs. This one at this price is a lot more palatable than stepping up to the next.
I want sh you’d review the new Buchardt i150, very close to this lyngdorf in functionality, but a lot was put into it as a pre amp , seperate power supply, has room correction, made like a tank
There is no DAC in this product. The PCM is converted straight to PWM for the output stage. Is is uncommon, I know. I thought this was possible only with DSD.
I tried to choose my words very carefully, after talking directly with Peter Lyngdorf and some of his technical team. It's tricky explaining in plain terms without short changing the details.
@@PearlAcoustics Nothing is tricky to explain. You just have to know the basics and understand them.
If you want to try something like this in a all analog domain check out the SST Ambrosia
Ok thanks!
The Lyngdorf's rca line out jacks connect to the monoblocs, yes? And no need to connect speaker wires to the Lyngdorf's binding posts, yes? So you're essentially using the Lyngdorf as a digtal preamp, yes?
I have that arrangement in mind but would like that confirmed please.
Thank you for a most interesting video.
Dear Geoffrey, absolutely. I am using it as a digital pre-amp. you can switch the loudspeaker posts out or bring them in as you wish.
@@PearlAcoustics thanks for the prompt reply. I presume that the Lyngdorf's volume control can be used to control the output of the monoblocks?
@@geoffreydebrito2653 absolutely.
One question. Can be reproduced the music through USB port?. Is it compatible with DSD?. Thanks a lot :)
DAC chip has an amplifier built into it
I love this channel!! Sharing your lifetime of experience and insight is greatly appreciated. Where may one find "hessian" sacks like the ones you have? Everything here in the U.S. seems to be very ugly potato sack like burlap. thanks again.
Hi Thanks for your kind comments. Very motivational. For my acoustic sacks, I purchased Hessian (sacking on a roll) and sewed them myself. + I used Rockwall Insulation and made the sacks the same circumfrance as the Rockwall rolls. I am thinking these type of products must be available in the US? Good luck!
Hello, please tell me how 1120 will work with pmc 5.21i speakers
Hi, I don’t think the Lyngdorf is very loudspeaker dependent, so it should be fine. You can always try it as a preamplifier, feeding into your existing amplifier first… to get the best comparison
@@PearlAcoustics Thanks a lot for the answer, maybe I should pay attention to 2170
i would love to watch a video on your favorite rap albums
😂 - watch this space! (Though thinking about it. Grand Master Flash - The Message, was ground breaking and with it becoming an Olympic sport….)
@@ultimatepu5h I certainly will - thanks!
I've been looking at the Linn Klimax DSM but its an eye watering £13k. Would be very interested to see how this sounds in comparison. V similar philosophies.
Absolutely - I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised
How well is this when paired it with Spatial M series speakers?
Sorry, DAC means digital to Analogue converter not Audio converter.
No sorry needed, it was a slip of the tongue. You are right to point that out. I hadn’t even noticed I had said it until after the video came out!
@@PearlAcoustics A friendly pleasure. I enjoy your work...
May I add? First off, I enjoy these presentations, they are relaxed and informative. I would like to comment on something a slight bit 'off topic'. I was watching your intro clip with the orchestral musicians in what looks like wonderful church and concert hall spaces. I must confess that an eyebrow was raised when I saw a close mike on the instruments!
In your video, you made the comment using the word 'purest', which prompted me to comment in return. When I capture a live orchestral, organ and choral performance, I believe in the principles of true stereophonic recording. I was noting that your multi mike scheme and later mixdown procedure reminded me of what maestro Von Karajan was doing with his engineer and friend Gunter Hermmans (on a smaller scale of course).
I am curious though, do you have any true stereo recordings you've done in your own library? I would be most curious to hear them if they were made available. Thank you.
Dear Gary, thank you for your kind appreciation, it’s much appreciated. With regards to microphone placement, this is a very complex matter and what you see in the videos is often the video taken after a recording session ‘to give an impression’ and the video team will habitually move microphones to give an impression. However, having said that, 80% of most of my input comes from a stereo ‘omni’ pair with fill in from closer placed mics. I am not radical with my placements, rather the old fashioned ‘Decca Tree’ and Blaumline, type of engineer. I will make a video on my approach one day. To answer your question, I do have a number of recordings, where the stereo pair dominate. What music type do you like best?
@@PearlAcoustics Thank YOU for such kind words. Ok, I understand that you still run at least 3, 4 or 5 channels. I am most interested in a two track recording with NO mixer involved in the process. Love to hear if you have anything with that scheme used in an orchestral piece. I know that omini's alone are NOT ideal for orchestral use if you want to enjoy the placement of the instruments with only 2 channels. Unless of course you have them in your Decca Tree config.
I will use them (2) spaced a bit for organ and choral performances because who wants to hear individual voices in the sections, OR the divisions in a pipe organ. So, lots of room acoustics are key and some distance from the sources really helps.
On the other hand, I have recorded orchestral sessions with the ORTF ONLY, no out riggers as many engineers will employ. As mentioned, I stick with the true stereo ideals.
These days, I use a single point MS microphone. So far, used it for a college 70 piece symphony orchestra and historic Skinner organ (which we take care of). The final piece was the Firebird Suite. The mike was 15' high to get the layers of the sections, and 25' back from the maestro's podium. I was able to get plenty of room acoustics in the 850 seat English Gothic style church. With cushions and persons absorbing the reverb tail, it was not like an empty and wonderful English Cathedral by any means (O:
Recorded LIVE, it is really a fun listen even if there were small issues here and there with the audience or orchestra players (O: You really get the 'you are here', image.
Sorry to go on so long, but if you have anything like this, I would love to give it a listen over my Martin Logan Classic 9's. Thanks so much again.
@@garysmith8455 dear Gary I have something but not on cd. I get your point but I also work with an excellent post production engineer who uses the main stereo pair but brings in some of the closer mic placements to lick the instruments into position. I used to be a two channel freak but got fed up with solo instruments appearing to wander from left to right. My colleague from the Belgian classical music radio channel is a strict stereo pair man. He produces good results but I find the recordings a little ‘flat’ sometimes it’s nice to have the dynamics of sitting in the ‘golden seat’ (if you know that I mean?). I’ll see what I have
@@PearlAcoustics Ok, I get 'the Golden Seat' (O: Actually, more often then not, the Decca Tree is many times set up over the top of the music director, so you are getting more of what it sounded like to the maestro. Guess I am an 'audience perspective' guy (O: Thank you for taking the time to chat and I'll keep watching and DO let me know how I could find and listen to some of your work.
@@garysmith8455 there are some cd’s on the Pearl Acoustics website. I will put a few more on there.
Whoa!!! I just got to go out and buy this thing. I have no idea what this thing does or why I'm
Buying it or what it cost, but this guy says it will do wonders for my system and maybe my marriage, hey you can't blame me. Right. Someone needs seriously to get control on this reviewer guy.
Anyone tried this amp with the kef ls50 meta, how do they match?
The big advantage with this amp, is that you can shape it to suit both speakers and room, and then if you want something special, you just use it as a pre-amp / DAC / Streamer... enjoy!
This was my original speaker. Soundstage was impressive and very precise, I did however find them fatiguing which was one reason I changed them for the JBL L82s which obviously are a completely different animal but for the music I play ( Old soul & Reggae ) sound amazing and never tiring, I have a REL sub too and have backed off the level to -18 via the amp to keep the neighbours happy. I'm looking at adding the SDA2400 power amp at some point as the 3400 is a bit too rich with the added hdmi and analogue sections I would need. Best suggestion is to listen to them in your room if you can loan a pair before you make your decision. Make sure you run Room perfect first though, this will tame the brightness of the metas. 👍
Hello Harley, What a coincidence! I’m looking into buying a HiFi system and the TDAI-1120 was already on my list. Yesterday I discovered your Sibelius speakers and today I stumble upon your video. I would like to know if the TDAI-1120 by itself would be capable to drive the Sibelius and if it would do them justice? Many thanks in advance. Kind regards, Alain
Hi Alain, absolutely the 1120 can do justice. And the great thing is that, IF, you later want to add a tube or other amplifier you can do it without replacing the 1120
@@PearlAcoustics Thank you Harley for your quick reply!
Anyone tried it with Dali speakers?
I really hear many reviewers praise this amp, but the headline of this review is not correct in my humble opinion. It would only deserve a place in a hifi system if your speakers are not to demanding and you don’t want to use it as a pre amplifier with a lot of options. As an all in one amp it would fit my budget, but as a pre amp needing a power amp it will exceed my budget. With lower efficiency speakers this amp would probably not be powerful enough. I am planning to buy a pair of KEF LS50’s or maybe KEF R3 stand mounts. I’ve been eying this amp, but I am afraid it can not deliver enough current to make this speakers shine.
Thanks for your comment Leo. I think if you set the gain on the amp correctly, you’ll have plenty of power, no problem. But amplifier matching is a very personal process and if you feel that it might not work then, probably best to look else where - but I would certainly give one a try, if you can.
@@PearlAcoustics We still have brick stores here in Hong Kong, maybe I can arrange a demo at a shop selling both the Lyngdorf and the KEF speakers. Thanks for the effort of replying. I will be using a subwoofer too and that could help on the burden of the Lyngdorf if there is a high pass setting for the crossover. Do you know if there is that possibility with the TDAI 1120? I was already thinking the 4 ohm rating of 120 watts sounds promising when the LS50 drops to 3.9 ohm.
@@leokuiper2593 the Lyngdorf is fully configurable (and all in the digital domain, so zero distortion) - that’s what makes it so special. If it seems not to have enough power, remember you can increase the gain by 12db and that will turn it into a very powerful amp.
@@PearlAcoustics I will definitely check it out. You have taken away a lot of my worries. Thanks again for giving me some of your time. I think it’s brilliant and exceptional for a reviewer to do this. A big thumbs up!
@@PearlAcoustics When you increase the gain by that much would you be able to hear a hiss? Or the noise floor would be low enough to not be noticable?
But eventually the built in dacs become outdated and quickly and any ddc of room perfect will effect your future analog dac/transport. I personally heard this with an old McIntosh unit with Room Perfect, i loved it but as dacs got better, the ddc of the unit hindered the dacs from performing and the conversion left its digital sound imprint on any analog dac i tried.
That’s absolutely true, that’s why I am not a big lover of expensive integrated amps with built in DACS. I consider the TDAI very good value for money and the DAC is so good I think it can justify its existence for a very long time.
You didn't mention whether the 1120 supports DSD?
It does accept DSD signal via USB, however, it internally converts it into PWM
Thanks for stepping in. I was not sure to be honest!
Are those Mark Audio Drivers?
Hi Rob, sorry for the late reply, I missed your question. Yes indeed our loudspeakers use Mark Audio drivers, made exclusively for us for the Sibelius enclosure.
Does anyone know of a new version will be released soon? I’m so tempted but want to avoid buying then a new model suddenly appears!
I have not heard of anything… it’s pretty good as it is
Thomas said this device is very complicated to get working with streaming, which you did not mention. The EQ reminds me that Apple Music can be tweaked in the iPads music settings with about 20 different EQ profiles. Unfortunately there’s no customisation though.
Hi, not sure why Thomas found it difficult to set up. As far as streaming is concerned, I found it to be more or less straight out of the box. I hooked mine up to the internet via a cable and it was very much plain sailing from there.
@@PearlAcoustics He said once you’ve worked it out it’s very easy but took a while to work out how to stream to it. Maybe it’s a case of not reading the manual, as many of us are guilty of 😂
@@aussie8114 😉
It should be my last amp (s), because now I am 67 years old.
😉 you’re the same age as me, so I get it! 😀
Who else was most concerned with the fact that he had an open glass of water overtop his pricey electronics...just waiting to be knocked over!? I would have that tipped over straight into the grill work on top in no time.
I think an amazing album you'd really enjoy if u really liked Daft Punks Random Access Memories is Gorillaz Plastic Beach (:
I’ll give it a listen. Thanks.
@@PearlAcoustics yup (: