Downsizing: can I get a similar sound for much cheaper?

[Jasonovich]

Annnnnd, ta da!

Primare SC15 purchased for the bargain price of £600.

I’m excited to hear it, just one small problem: still waiting for the xlr to phono adapters so I can connect the speakers 😬😬😬

Very nice Matt, it's a streamer, preamp and DAC. Looks good on the specs, plays DSD256. Congrats, enjoy!

 

[RTHerringbone]

For a downsizing, it sure looks like a good one!

 

[Revolutions]

Very nice Matt, it's a streamer, preamp and DAC. Looks good on the specs, plays DSD256. Congrats, enjoy!

Thanks, and yep minus the phono pre it’s got all the features of the Linn. Let’s see how it sounds - considering I paid 90% less than for the Selekt - will be interesting for sure.

 

[Jasonovich]

Thanks, and yep minus the phono pre it’s got all the features of the Linn. Let’s see how it sounds - considering I paid 90% less than for the Selekt - will be interesting for sure.

Peter Tyson is selling £999 reduced from £1,799, that's quite a bargain!

 

[Al ears]

Peter Tyson is selling £999 reduced from £1,799, that's quite a bargain!

Only 1 left..... Be quick

 

[Shrek]

Annnnnd, ta da!

Primare SC15 purchased for the bargain price of £600.

I’m excited to hear it, just one small problem: still waiting for the xlr to phono adapters so I can connect the speakers 😬😬😬

DaM I would hate that waiting for cable to connect it but worth the wait 👍🍺

 

[Al ears]

DaM I would hate that waiting for cable to connect it but worth the wait 👍🍺

Annnnnd, ta da!

Primare SC15 purchased for the bargain price of £600.

I’m excited to hear it, just one small problem: still waiting for the xlr to phono adapters so I can connect the speakers 😬😬😬

Why does it need adapters??

 

[Revolutions]

The adapters turned up! I managed to get cd playing quickly. Took a while to get the unit recognised on my network, but all sorted & Spotify connect working lossless 👍🏻

@Al ears need adapter as the unit doesn’t have xlr output. RCA only.

It’s sounding… fine? Been a bit of a manic few days so hard for me to tell the difference between this & the Linn. Maybe it’s missing a touch of the delicate, warm homeliness. But that’s exactly what I wanted from my hifi: something with the same clarity but with more punch.

Spotify sounds pretty good & so does cd. Will take a while to give this some proper listening over the next few days. The phono pre should arrive tomorrow; that will be the biggest test.

 

[Revolutions]

early proper listening & things were sounding a bit like a (quality) car stereo when you turn the bass & treble up. It felt fun, yet a bit relentless & empty.

Then I was leaning in & realised there was a much better sound here, warmer & less aggressive. So I pushed out the toe-in on the speakers & like magic the sound was transformed.

There’s a lot of things that don’t quite live up to the quality of the Linn: sometimes when you select a track it plays & misses the first second, also playing from a NAS gets lots of clicking/noises skipping between songs & sometimes it loses connection. But tbh none of those are dealbreakers for me. Also the Primare App is possibly 10% less crap than the Linn app, which is painful at best.

The sound, it seems to have a lot more bottom end, which I don’t dislike. It sounds great & I’ve been enjoying everything I played via Spotify & the NAS. There is one thing the Linn sound gave me, which was the music feeling like a hug. Still, super impressed with the sound on the Primare so far. Really decent bit of kit, would definitely recommend from a sound quality perspective.

 

[Revolutions]

Ok, so erm

Good news is that the Groove sounds excellent on first listening, if a touch aggressive in the highs. I know the Primare has some eq so might think about that once I’ve done a lot more listening across all formats.

Bad news is I might have underestimated the size of the Groove… might have to live underneath the unit.

 

[Al ears]

Ok, so erm

Good news is that the Groove sounds excellent on first listening, if a touch aggressive in the highs. I know the Primare has some eq so might think about that once I’ve done a lot more listening across all formats.

Bad news is I might have underestimated the size of the Groove… might have to live underneath the unit.

I feel sure it will grow on you.

 

[Revolutions]

I feel sure it will grow on you.

I’ve wanted a Tom Evans phono for the longest time, can’t wait to play through my collection & hear it

 

[Revolutions]

Surprise! In case anyone is wondering what the worst phrase I could utter to myself might be? As it turns out "short-term solution" is like a red rag to a bull.

As I said a week ago, the SC15 is an excellent piece of kit. Some of the buttons/functions aren't as luxurious feeling as the Linn Selekt DSM, whilst those things matter to a certain degree it didn't degrade my enjoyment. I'm honestly not sure if there's a better streamer/dac/preamp out there for that kind of money 2nd hand.
The DAC sounded great. Everything worked for me. That could have been my long-term fix. Except in my head it was always a stop-gap. And as I rarely do things by halves the next stage escalated quickly.

There was method in my Primare choice as I wanted to see whether I liked the sound profile with my speakers. And I do. The reason is that I had a chance to grab a rather nice analogue preamp: Primare Pre30. My plan was to sit on my hands for a few months, but a seller gave me a really good offer & I couldn't help but take it.

Rather than pick up the preamp & then spend some time sorting a streamer & DAC, things have moved fairly quickly here too.

Here's the Primare Pre30 & an ex-display Primare NP5 mk2.



Ok, I didn't even consider that a preamp would be any size at all. It might even be bigger than most other components I've had in years past. It just about fits here, setup with my Chord Mojo 2 for temporary DAC. That will be replaced by a Qutest in the next few weeks.

It sounds really nice. As it should. More importantly, if I didn't have the world's shortest attention span & a constant attraction to novelty, this ould easily be my end game setup.

My original goal: a setup that sounds as good as the Linn Selekt DSM & LP12, but cheaper - this was to unlock some cash, and have a stereo I'd be less worried about moving around or leaving in storage in case I end up moving abroad. I also wanted my rock & metal collection to have a bit more presence as the Linn sound was a bit too laid back sometimes. Luckily number of boxes wasn't a deal breaker 😂

Old

• Linn LP12
• Linn Selekt DSM Organik
• Leema Elements cd
• ATC SCM40a

New

• Technics SL-1210 mk2
• Tome Evans Groove+ SRX mk2
• Primare NP5 mk2
• Chord Qutest
• Primare Pre 30
• Leema Elements cd
• ATC SCM40a

And what about cost? Just totted it up & I've spent 53.5% less than the original Linn setup ❤️

@nopiano whilst this is somewhat crazy, you'll notice that I planned this with the ATC speakers as the starting point. I'm still so grateful for your advice & suggestion back when I last felt the need to nuke my system. If I can help it, these spekaers are staying with me for life. I m planning on being pretty much done for a long time now, though 🤞

 

[Jasonovich]

Surprise! In case anyone is wondering what the worst phrase I could utter to myself might be? As it turns out "short-term solution" is like a red rag to a bull.

As I said a week ago, the SC15 is an excellent piece of kit. Some of the buttons/functions aren't as luxurious feeling as the Linn Selekt DSM, whilst those things matter to a certain degree it didn't degrade my enjoyment. I'm honestly not sure if there's a better streamer/dac/preamp out there for that kind of money 2nd hand.
The DAC sounded great. Everything worked for me. That could have been my long-term fix. Except in my head it was always a stop-gap. And as I rarely do things by halves the next stage escalated quickly.

There was method in my Primare choice as I wanted to see whether I liked the sound profile with my speakers. And I do. The reason is that I had a chance to grab a rather nice analogue preamp: Primare Pre30. My plan was to sit on my hands for a few months, but a seller gave me a really good offer & I couldn't help but take it.

Rather than pick up the preamp & then spend some time sorting a streamer & DAC, things have moved fairly quickly here too.

Here's the Primare Pre30 & an ex-display Primare NP5 mk2.



Ok, I didn't even consider that a preamp would be any size at all. It might even be bigger than most other components I've had in years past. It just about fits here, setup with my Chord Mojo 2 for temporary DAC. That will be replaced by a Qutest in the next few weeks.

It sounds really nice. As it should. More importantly, if I didn't have the world's shortest attention span & a constant attraction to novelty, this ould easily be my end game setup.

My original goal: a setup that sounds as good as the Linn Selekt DSM & LP12, but cheaper - this was to unlock some cash, and have a stereo I'd be less worried about moving around or leaving in storage in case I end up moving abroad. I also wanted my rock & metal collection to have a bit more presence as the Linn sound was a bit too laid back sometimes. Luckily number of boxes wasn't a deal breaker 😂

Old

• Linn LP12
• Linn Selekt DSM Organik
• Leema Elements cd
• ATC SCM40a

New

• Technics SL-1210 mk2
• Tome Evans Groove+ SRX mk2
• Primare NP5 mk2
• Chord Qutest
• Primare Pre 30
• Leema Elements cd
• ATC SCM40a

And what about cost? Just totted it up & I've spent 53.5% less than the original Linn setup ❤️

@nopiano whilst this is somewhat crazy, you'll notice that I planned this with the ATC speakers as the starting point. I'm still so grateful for your advice & suggestion back when I last felt the need to nuke my system. If I can help it, these spekaers are staying with me for life. I m planning on being pretty much done for a long time now, though 🤞

Matt, if the Qutest is 'too polite'....Gustard has just released R26 II R2R, I suspect, the original R26 can be had for a reasonable price.

Love the look of your Primare preamp, looks puka! 🙂

 

[Revolutions]

Matt, if the Qutest is 'too polite'....Gustard has just released R26 II R2R, I suspect, the original R26 can be had for a reasonable price.

Love the look of your Primare preamp, looks puka! 🙂

Thanks Jason, yep the preamp looks the part of a serious piece of kit. It hit a real sweet spot for me too: knew I like their 'house sound', modern enough to have a remote control but old enough to be pretty cheap. And of course lots of these small-ish european brands seem to punch well above their rate & 2nd hand sell for a lot less than more familiar brands.

Will bear the Gustard in mind, ta. The "ESS ES9028Q2M Sabre Reference DAC" inside the SC15 sounded great so hoping I don't fall down yet another rabbit hole. As I said

Unsurprisingly, not much going on under the hood the preamp...