Review and Measurements of Lyngdorf TDAI-3400 Amp & EQ (Part 1)

[Steve356]

For the owners of TDAI-3400: vTuner and Tidal Connect works correctly to you?

About vTuner I press and nothing happen while for Tidal Connect, I open the app on iPhone or iPad, they see the TDAI but If I choose it, nothing happen, the song won't start.

Roon, instead, works correctly everywhere.

Don't use vTuner, but Tidal Connect was working perfectly for me up until my subscription expired at the end of last week.

 

[RiseFall]

Tidal Connect was working perfectly

Thank you for the feedback, now I contact their support directly, it's strange that the app "see" the TDAI but cannot stream.

 

[RiseFall]

Problem solved, I found right now that the DNS on the settings was wrong.

Set the right DNS and the two services now work.

 

[Skingers]

You can easily connect speakers >20.000Hz. First: you do not have to be afraid that the speakers are not safe with the Lyngdorf TDAI3400. Second: you will not hear it and third: it is well known that the measurements done by TS with this digital amp have not been done right, and also the interpretations of the measurements have not been done right. There is absolutely no reason to doubt the sound quality of the TDAI amps.

Absolutely right on all points. I have LS50s that have a manufacturer claimed 79-28K and when I upgraded to the 3400 from my Naim Atom I was blown away by how much better they sounded - I seriously could not believe it was the same speaker. Don't get me wrong I love the Atom but the 3400 was like a different league altogether. I'd rather have something that sounds this good in the range I can hear than something that can drive a speaker to "spec limits" that I have no aural evidence for. THEN I set up room perfect and for the first time in years I've just stopped looking at articles about other amps. It's just that good.

 

[Pragmatic]

This review almost put me off this unit permanently, but decided to borrow one for the weekend from the local dealer. I currently have a brand new NAD M33, which is superb in almost every way, but it's impossible to use it to drive the fronts in a surround setup (way too much audio delay on analog inputs). I was told beforehand by the dealer that it could do this, with the one caveat that I had to change the volume every time to accomodate the receiver.

The Lyngdorf has no such issues, even sporting HT bypass. I was very critical about the sound quality though compared to the M33. There may be some more noise coming from the speakers on the 3400, but not much (on USB input at least, which is what I would use for all critical listening). Only use analog for subs and surround.
I listen to a fair bit of classical music, and it may sound a tad cleaner on the M33, but on the other hand it seems a bit more dynamic on the 3400. That may just be the RoomPerfect doing its thing - which seems to work better in my acoustically treated room (or for my ears) than Dirac.

If both amps could be used in a surround setup, I'd give the edge to the M33 for sure - you simply get more for your money with a great color display with touchscreen, much better software for streaming, MM/MC phono support out of the box, HDMI etc (no USB-B though without paying out the a$$ for an expansion card). But I may still end up returning mine and getting a Lyngdorf instead now, so I can have 'everything'.

 

[Pragmatic]

Since the demo unit I'm borrowing is fully fleshed out with all expansion modules, I did a quick comparison between the regular Analog line in (A1) and the so called high end analog line in (A4). Both inputs have home theater mode enabled, but as it turned out, that actually didn't increase the reported input noise.

For further comparison, the USB Input rests very stable at -120 dB, but I assume that's the nature of digital vs analog.

I also tried disabling and enabling ICC and Subsonic Filter, which made no apparent difference on the reported input noise.

I'm no expert, I've no idea how accurate or good this display is, but I can draw the simple conclusion that the high-end analog inputs certainly seem better than the included ones. So I will be purchasing the version with the analog module, since it will be used in a surround setup. It also includes a Phono input, for MM only.

 

[Skingers]

The analogue outs of this and the 2170 are not meant to use with a power amp. They are for subwoofer use, and so are feeded by a standard akm dac just for that function. I Iearned this the hard way, as I bought a power amp to complement the 2170, and it sounded just plain and bad, while the lyngdorf, by itself, sounded miles better. The nature of the technology used on these models would require you to perform your measurements on the speaker terminals side. I dont know If that is possible, but thats the only accurate and fair way.

Your last sentence nails the issue here. Basically this is the tail wagging the dog "I need to measure and can't measure in the way this amp was intended to be used so I'll plug into a port I physically can". Measurements are useful but sometimes we have to admit when the tools we have to measure with are going to end up colouring the outcome to such a degree that it can't be done with integrity. This I believe is why the "measurements review" presented a fail and the "room perfect" review provided stunningly opposite results. This is a "Power DAC" and the speaker terminals are the main game, sorry but any measurement will involve speakers and microphones in the testing loop and then you are testing those as much as the Amp itself.

 

[Trell]

Your last sentence nails the issue here. Basically this is the tail wagging the dog "I need to measure and can't measure in the way this amp was intended to be used so I'll plug into a port I physically can". Measurements are useful but sometimes we have to admit when the tools we have to measure with are going to end up colouring the outcome to such a degree that it can't be done with integrity. This I believe is why the "measurements review" presented a fail and the "room perfect" review provided stunningly opposite results. This is a "Power DAC" and the speaker terminals are the main game, sorry but any measurement will involve speakers and microphones in the testing loop and then you are testing those as much as the Amp itself.

So the manufacturer makes analog preouts that are severely limited, and for no good reason except to save a little cost?

 

[Skingers]

So the manufacturer makes analog preouts that are severely limited, and for no good reason except to save a little cost?

It's absolutely fine to criticise them for that if you like. The headphone jack is substandard too while we are at it and I don't need measurements to tell me that. My initial statement still stands though.

 

[pras1011]

Would the Lyngdorf SDA-2400 measure the same as the 3400?

 

[Evo-No-Revo]

What happened to part two of this review?

 

[Norcal]

What happened to part two of this review?

Review and Measurements of Lyngdorf RoomPerfect EQ

This is a follow up to my review of the Lyngdorf TDAI-3400. While that review was focused on objective measurements of the DAC and amplifier, this review is focused on the performance of the room equalization (RoomPerfect). As much as I like to perform a comprehensive test and review of Lyngdorf...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[BlairTronica]

Good looking piece, but not $6500 good. Again proves how useful Amir's testing is, you would assume you are paying for good to great performance at least. Now we know we can get much better perfomance for far, far less.

View attachment 21875

Could you name the better performers that cost less?

 

[dkinric]

Could you name the better performers that cost less?

Wow, you quoted a post from me from over 5 years ago - thanks for the memories! Amir's review index can give lots of examples of equivalent or better performing models for less money. There are a lot of great options at $6500, even more than 5 years ago.

 

[Jimster480]

Wow, you quoted a post from me from over 5 years ago - thanks for the memories! Amir's review index can give lots of examples of equivalent or better performing models for less money. There are a lot of great options at $6500, even more than 5 years ago.

Actually nothing comes to mind. There aren't many units like this so I think the question is pretty legitimate.