• WANTED: Happy members who like to discuss audio and other topics related to our interest. Desire to learn and share knowledge of science required. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!

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

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

Set the right DNS and the two services now work.
 
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.
 
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'.
 
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.
20220312_101742.jpg
20220312_101802.jpg
 
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.
 
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?
 
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.
 
What happened to part two of this review?
 
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.
 
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.
 
Back in 2013 I auditioned the B&W 805 D3 at a HiFi shop. I wanted to know in person what the B&W speakerhype was all about. The Amp playing the 805's was a Lyngdorf TDAI-2170. And the 805 sang. And I was impressed. Then the clerk switched to other amps in the room at a similar pricepoint. Mostly class A. And immediately the 805 sounded dull. As if a curtain was put over the speakers. I was in bit of a shock. The Lyngdorf was that good. And the tales about B&W were true, they power hungry. Although I would never have payed the ridiculous price of 3000 Euro per one 805 D3. I did fell in love with the Lyngdorf amp. But now I see their flagship 3400 isn't thát good. And I'm confused.

Can you recommend me other, perhaps cheaper alternatives. That have similar capabilities that can easily drive the 800 series B&W. Maybe even the 802 ?

I'm new. And I understand little about the technicalities behind audio amplifiers.
 
Back in 2013 I auditioned the B&W 805 D3 at a HiFi shop. I wanted to know in person what the B&W speakerhype was all about. The Amp playing the 805's was a Lyngdorf TDAI-2170. And the 805 sang. And I was impressed. Then the clerk switched to other amps in the room at a similar pricepoint. Mostly class A. And immediately the 805 sounded dull. As if a curtain was put over the speakers. I was in bit of a shock. The Lyngdorf was that good. And the tales about B&W were true, they power hungry. Although I would never have payed the ridiculous price of 3000 Euro per one 805 D3. I did fell in love with the Lyngdorf amp. But now I see their flagship 3400 isn't thát good. And I'm confused.

Can you recommend me other, perhaps cheaper alternatives. That have similar capabilities that can easily drive the 800 series B&W. Maybe even the 802 ?

I'm new. And I understand little about the technicalities behind audio amplifiers.
I expect your post will get some pushback. And the reason is that you are reporting "results" of an invalid test. I mean "invalid" in that, unless your conclusions are based on double-blind testing, that is testing where you compare amplifiers without knowing which amplifiers are which.

I once did such a test. The comparison was between a B&K ST-140 (70w/ch into 8 ohms) and an Electrocompaniet 100 (100w/ch into 8 ohm). The volume levels were matched, and measured to be within .01% of each other. The Electrocompaniet was a highly regarded, expensive amp. The B&K was also a well-regarded, but "budget" amp which cost considerably less than the Electrocompaniet.

I could detect no difference in sound quality between them. As the late Peter Aczel, publisher of the late, lamented The Audio Critic, once said, (and this is not a verbatim quote), if two amplifiers are competently designed and built, "Why would they sound different?"

Now, I am not you, and I obviously don't have your ears and experience. But it is a fact that, once the labels are concealed, "differences" between amplifier "sound" disappear. (I am not including Class D amplifiers because I'm not knowledgeable about them.)
 
Back in 2013 I auditioned the B&W 805 D3 at a HiFi shop. I wanted to know in person what the B&W speakerhype was all about. The Amp playing the 805's was a Lyngdorf TDAI-2170. And the 805 sang. And I was impressed. Then the clerk switched to other amps in the room at a similar pricepoint. Mostly class A. And immediately the 805 sounded dull. As if a curtain was put over the speakers. I was in bit of a shock. The Lyngdorf was that good. And the tales about B&W were true, they power hungry. Although I would never have payed the ridiculous price of 3000 Euro per one 805 D3. I did fell in love with the Lyngdorf amp. But now I see their flagship 3400 isn't thát good. And I'm confused.

Can you recommend me other, perhaps cheaper alternatives. That have similar capabilities that can easily drive the 800 series B&W. Maybe even the 802 ?

I'm new. And I understand little about the technicalities behind audio amplifiers.
For me personally I will use ASR reviews simply to tell me if something functions as intended i.e. "it's not garbage". Following that, I will select the things that are "not garbage" that offer the features that I want within my budget and then the only way to know if I like how they sound will be too listen to them.

There will be lots of (valid) discussion / argument here to suggest that much (or all) differences you hear between dacs and amps is imagined (assuming they are "not garbage") but it really doesn't matter so long as you like what you are hearing. If you can't listen up front then buy from somewhere with a good returns policy.
 
Back in 2013 I auditioned the B&W 805 D3 at a HiFi shop. I wanted to know in person what the B&W speakerhype was all about. The Amp playing the 805's was a Lyngdorf TDAI-2170. And the 805 sang. And I was impressed. Then the clerk switched to other amps in the room at a similar pricepoint. Mostly class A. And immediately the 805 sounded dull. As if a curtain was put over the speakers. I was in bit of a shock. The Lyngdorf was that good. And the tales about B&W were true, they power hungry. Although I would never have payed the ridiculous price of 3000 Euro per one 805 D3. I did fell in love with the Lyngdorf amp. But now I see their flagship 3400 isn't thát good. And I'm confused.

Can you recommend me other, perhaps cheaper alternatives. That have similar capabilities that can easily drive the 800 series B&W. Maybe even the 802 ?

I'm new. And I understand little about the technicalities behind audio amplifiers.
Sorry but I'm not following you. Do you own the Lyngdorf 3400 or looking to buy? Do you have B&W 802 speakers and looking for an amp? Something similar maybe the Anthem STR which is about $3000 cheaper than the 3400.
 
Back
Top Bottom