dt79
Junior Member
Posts: 343
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Post by dt79 on Jan 27, 2022 8:46:23 GMT
I have been lucky enough to get hold of a Lyngdorf TDAI-3400 at a pretty decent price. £3,250 including the optional HQ analogue board. It was an ebay auction and in the end I was the only one who bid. Considering this would be ~£5,200 new, and the second hand ones all seem to be pitched north of £3,800 whether or not they have any optional boards, I didn’t think that was too bad and crucially within the range of what I should be able to offset if I have a thorough clear out! It has been the dream to own one of these but I never thought I’d be able to. I don’t have long right now so just a few words on the sound (if only for stevew  ). I bought it more for convenience, features and future-proofing. I didn’t actually need or expect it to sound any better than my TDAI-2170, which was already the most transparent amp I’ve ever heard. It does sound better though. Everything sounds slightly clearer, with more dynamic contrast. What immediately struck me was that instruments at the extreme sides of the soundstage had more presence. Altogether there just seems to be greater resolution. The bass is simply phenomenal. Whether I’m using my speakers with subs or not (I’ve tried both ways), it somehow - unbelievably - goes deeper and is tighter and more textured. I was particularly surprised that this could be the case when using subs, as obviously the power amp is then alleviated from most of the hard work. I didn’t think I would ever be able to say any of these things about any device in comparison to the 2170. Obviously putting it like this makes it sound like a dramatic difference, which of course it’s not, these are all incremental improvements, but all very worthwhile, so I’m chuffed. |
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Post by misterc on Jan 27, 2022 9:55:53 GMT
Question for you dt, was the decision to purchase anorther Lyndorf based on the fact you already liked the house and the fact you do not require a dac due to the 3400 upsampling all the incoming data both analogue and digital to 96Khz?
Thanks
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dt79
Junior Member
Posts: 343
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Post by dt79 on Jan 27, 2022 11:06:59 GMT
Question for you dt, was the decision to purchase anorther Lyndorf based on the fact you already liked the house and the fact you do not require a dac due to the 3400 upsampling all the incoming data both analogue and digital to 96Khz? Thanks Yes exactly. I'm totally sold on the 'power DAC' concept and Room Perfect room correction. The 3400 has an integrated Roon Ready streamer, airplay, bluetooth, both types of USB input, a headphone amp and is much more powerful - so it was all about features, streamlining and future-proofing. |
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Post by misterc on Jan 27, 2022 11:27:06 GMT
Totally understand that thanks Dt |
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Post by antonio on Jan 27, 2022 13:59:01 GMT
Great price and I pleased your liking it, will have to try and get a listen to one of these Lyngdorf's, they seem to be well thought of by owners and reviewers
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dt79
Junior Member
Posts: 343
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Post by dt79 on Jan 27, 2022 15:24:24 GMT
Great price and I pleased your liking it, will have to try and get a listen to one of these Lyngdorf's, they seem to be well thought of by owners and reviewers There are a few quite active threads over on AV Forums and the conversion rate of demo to purchase seems to be about 9/10. They are really great products. |
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Post by stevew on Jan 27, 2022 22:16:44 GMT
Well done Dan. Was very curious about the price you’ve paid and that’s a great price.
Also interesting to hear your thoughts on the better sound quality from the 2170.
I must get to hear how the 3400 and the 1120 sound compared to my 2200.
Tony makes a good point however.
I have to say that although Lyngdorf now put everything into theIr models (streamer/dac/amp) I have always found that whilst I use a separate streamer (SOtM) and dac (Mutec/Denafrips) it’s still useful to have an inbuilt dac.. it takes optical from telly or surround amps without getting and audible delay. Putting the telly optical into the Mutec gives too much delay so isn’t an option.
I’ve also recently discovered the improvements to the power section of the 2200 by adding a separate power amp. I suspect the 3400 is a closer call.
I still highly rate the dsp and room perfect function that Lyngdorf gives… even with my now ageing versions.
I wish they did a pre amp with room perfect but of course that’s not how a power dac works!
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Post by hifinutt on Jan 27, 2022 22:32:00 GMT
Thanks for write up. Seems to be a lot of love for this brand so good to hear it's working for you
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Post by stevew on Jan 27, 2022 22:48:03 GMT
I’ve been ultra impressed by their aftercare. I bought my amp (tdai 2200) years ago second hand. Then after quite a few years it just stopped working. I think I paid about £180 but for that a courier collected the box, returned to Denmark. They
fixed the issue, replaced a few other components (this amp is pushing about 20 years old now) updated the software and returned it. That must have been 10 years ago now and it’s been good as gold since and seen off a few contenders.
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dt79
Junior Member
Posts: 343
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Post by dt79 on Jan 27, 2022 23:05:23 GMT
Well done Dan. Was very curious about the price you’ve paid and that’s a great price. Also interesting to hear your thoughts on the better sound quality from the 2170. I must get to hear how the 3400 and the 1120 sound compared to my 2200. Tony makes a good point however. I have to say that although Lyngdorf now put everything into theIr models (streamer/dac/amp) I have always found that whilst I use a separate streamer (SOtM) and dac (Mutec/Denafrips) it’s still useful to have an inbuilt dac.. it takes optical from telly or surround amps without getting and audible delay. Putting the telly optical into the Mutec gives too much delay so isn’t an option. I’ve also recently discovered the improvements to the power section of the 2200 by adding a separate power amp. I suspect the 3400 is a closer call. I still highly rate the dsp and room perfect function that Lyngdorf gives… even with my now ageing versions. I wish they did a pre amp with room perfect but of course that’s not how a power dac works! Lyngdorf did do a DPA-1 which was a Room Perfect equipped pre-amp, from the same era as the 2200. You see them on Ebay, I think there’s one on there now, but unfortunately people seem to want too much for them. The more I listen the more impressed I am with how unconstrained the dynamics are, and this seems to be all levels and throughout the frequency range. It just adds an extra ‘presence’ to everything. I would never have criticised the 2170 for lacking these things, on the contrary, but the 3400 just takes it to another level. I’m listening without subs right now (to The Cinematic Orchestra) and the bass it’s getting out of the Special 40s is unbelievable. I reckon 9/10 people would hear this and assume the subs are playing. For the second time in two days I just had to double check I had it set how I thought I did. I think the 2200 is more closely related to the 3400. The power specs are the same at any rate. |
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dt79
Junior Member
Posts: 343
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Post by dt79 on Jan 27, 2022 23:05:41 GMT
I’ve been ultra impressed by their aftercare. I bought my amp (tdai 2200) years ago second hand. Then after quite a few years it just stopped working. I think I paid about £180 but for that a courier collected the box, returned to Denmark. They fixed the issue, replaced a few other components (this amp is pushing about 20 years old now) updated the software and returned it. That must have been 10 years ago now and it’s been good as gold since and seen off a few contenders. That is great. |
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Post by stevew on Jan 27, 2022 23:31:38 GMT
Well done Dan. Was very curious about the price you’ve paid and that’s a great price. Also interesting to hear your thoughts on the better sound quality from the 2170. I must get to hear how the 3400 and the 1120 sound compared to my 2200. Tony makes a good point however. I have to say that although Lyngdorf now put everything into theIr models (streamer/dac/amp) I have always found that whilst I use a separate streamer (SOtM) and dac (Mutec/Denafrips) it’s still useful to have an inbuilt dac.. it takes optical from telly or surround amps without getting and audible delay. Putting the telly optical into the Mutec gives too much delay so isn’t an option. I’ve also recently discovered the improvements to the power section of the 2200 by adding a separate power amp. I suspect the 3400 is a closer call. I still highly rate the dsp and room perfect function that Lyngdorf gives… even with my now ageing versions. I wish they did a pre amp with room perfect but of course that’s not how a power dac works! Lyngdorf did do a DPA-1 which was a Room Perfect equipped pre-amp, from the same era as the 2200. You see them on Ebay, I think there’s one on there now, but unfortunately people seem to want too much for them. The more I listen the more impressed I am with how unconstrained the dynamics are, and this seems to be all levels and throughout the frequency range. It just adds an extra ‘presence’ to everything. I would never have criticised the 2170 for lacking these things, on the contrary, but the 3400 just takes it to another level. I’m listening without subs right now (to The Cinematic Orchestra) and the bass it’s getting out of the Special 40s is unbelievable. I reckon 9/10 people would hear this and assume the subs are playing. For the second time in two days I just had to double check I had it set how I thought I did. I think the 2200 is more closely related to the 3400. The power specs are the same at any rate. Ha...interesting! didnt know they had done that. so basically I’ve now converted my tdai 2200 into a DPA-1 You have increased my resolve to get to hear a 3400. |
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