(Image credit: Future)

Linn Series 3 Speaker

For the purposes of this review, the world can be divided into two types of people: those who've never heard of Lynn, and those who know the Scottish hi-fi specialist, have been a respected high-end brand for the past 50 years.

This second group of people will be excited and a little concerned to know that Lynn has released her very first wireless multifunctional speaker, the Series 3. The first group will be keeping an eye on the look and price of the Series 3, and wondering if it's not all over.

Then for the first band: Linn has been at the forefront of high-end hi-fi ever since his legendary Sondek LP12 turntable appeared in 1973. It appeared on the ground floor of digital music broadcast in the mid-00s and has been purposefully promoting digital audio technology ever since.

The brand has the seal it deserves. And no, Series 3 is far from over—deadly serious. Despite an abundance of extremely expensive, extremely capable alternatives from the likes of Bowers & Wilkins, Devialet, and Naim, Linn believes the Series 3 is the world's best wireless speaker.

(Image credit: Future)

design

The desire to offer 'something' feels very much like the 'something different' sensation that most people are familiar with - and the Linn Series 3 is an absolute gift in that regard.

The 30 x 25 x 21 cm Series 3 Wireless Speaker is curved in the shape of… what? Some kind of vessel? The fruit? Part of the body? Whether you think the Series 3 is reminiscent of a wine glass (as Lynn herself suggests), or an egg, or a supporting character in the Star Trek Reboot, there's certainly no point in mistaking this for any other company's wireless speaker.

(Image credit: Future)

This plump cabinet is molded from a natural mineral compound most commonly used in home ceramics and then hand-finished. It's almost like a stone to the touch and has the same density and hardness characteristics as stone. The damping properties make it an ideal acoustic material.

The top (neck?) of the cabinet is not'• horizontal but tilted slightly forward. It's covered in a smoothly integrated glass top panel that adds visual and tactile appeal to the Series 3's (as well as a curb weight of 6.9kg).

Peculiarities

Series 3 is designed to work as a standalone wireless speaker or stereo system. First, your £2950 buys a '301' Series 3, with all the connectivity that's going to be discussed. Spend £5450 and you'll get a '302' Series 3 partnership along with '301' to create a stereo pair.

Realistically, you're right to expect a pretty extensive spec sheet when you're spending three grand on a wireless speaker. Luckily, Series 3 has 'extensive' pretty well covered.

Inside each Series 3, there are two Class D power amplifiers. Each of them has a power of 100 watts - one of them is equipped with a 19mm silk tweeter, and the other one is equipped with a 160mm midrange driver. After that, however, the story is almost all about the '301'.

Digital audio information can be transferred to '301' Series 3 in quite a few different ways. It's Roon-ready, so all your network audio (up to 24bit/192kHz) is available. There's Apple AirPlay and Bluetooth 4.2 for direct streaming*, and the Linn/Kazoo control app allows you to integrate Spotify, Qobuz, TuneIn, and TIDAL accounts. It's probably worth noting that Lynn has absolutely no truck with MQA, which is why TIDAL Masters disabled that particular menu.

(* 'Live Streaming' As far as Bluetooth goes, there should be a slight caveat here: Series 3 showed some demands on Android smartphones during launch. Linn's 'maintenance' is promised, it's possible that this has happened by the time you read this review, however, any potential customer should check their Series 3 Android phone before forking out for cash.)

(Image credit: Future)

There's also an HDMI ARC connector, so the Series 3 can do wonders for your video as well as audio sources. It's one of the few physical connections - the others are, of course, mains power, an Ethernet input (for complete network stability), and an Exakt Link connector. This is the physical connection used for the '301' to its '302' partner in a Series 3 stereo system. The '302' only has an Exakt Link connector and the main power input.

Lynn introduced her Exakt digital audio engine earlier this decade, and it's been perfecting ever since. One of its main functions is to keep audio information in the digital domain until the last possible moment - and the Series 3 packages the implementation of the Exakt engine in the same way as some Linn products that cost five times as much. Any incoming audio file below 192kHz is upsampled to this resolution because the Exakt engine digitally cross-filters to this standard. The received information is then sampled again up to 768 kHz to bypass all the digital-to-analog sampling stages. The signal is then fed to the power amplifiers, which have just been converted to analog.in advance. It's a painstaking and expensive methodology that Lynn believes in unwaveringly.

(Image credit: Future)

Control options please' Not much, but still, there should be something here that suits you. The aforementioned Linn/Kazoo control app is generally pretty acceptable - it's not without weaknesses, but they are bland and sparse. It's very convenient and makes setting up a Series 3 multi-room system very easy. Much easier than making money to afford Series 3 multi-room accommodation in the first place, definitely.

Some basic voice control is also available if you connect the Series 3 to the same network as the speaker with Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa. Setup in the Alexa app or Google Home app is done via Bluetooth and is easy to complete.

Some basic voice control is also available if you connect the Series 3 to the same network as the speaker with Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa. Setup in the Alexa app or Google Home app is done via Bluetooth and is easy to complete.

Or there are touch controls that glow softly under a glass top panel. One hundred LEDs form a softly lit circle and indicate the volume level. There are also paired controls and presets for 'favorites'. That's all on the '301', of course - the '302' just has a glowing Linn logo on the glass surface.

Spectacle

Are you talking? Fair. The Linn Series 3 is a great-sounding wireless speaker, as its price point absolutely warrants it. There are one or two areas where the equally priced, excellent Devialet Gold Phantom has an advantage (well, actually only one: the full power and the scale that comes from it), but as for playing all the courts. goes, Lynn is as good as you can hear now. Every aspect of sound reproduction is handled confidently and without much skill.

Once through a 24-bit/192kHz download Chic's glorious C's chic gives Linn ample opportunity to showcase his expertise. A big part of Exakt's Engine's Duty is about sound time alignment - the idea that music sounds most convincing when all of the frequency information reaches the listener at the same time, regardless of its position in the frequency range.

There's an almost palpable sense of oneness with the way the Series 3 sounds - it allows musicians to sound like they're performing as one, in absolute harmony and understanding with each other. This timing facility is by no means a given in audio systems at any cost and is a big part of the Series 3' charm.

(Image credit: Future)

In addition to this unambiguous immediacy of presentation, Lynn piles on the details. Bernard Edwards' peerless bass playing is deep, textured, and expressive; Nile Rodgers' guitar is crisp and nuanced; Tony Thompson's drum kit has a punch on the bass, a powerful midrange attack, and a convincing tone on the top end. And Alpha Anderson's Vocal is projected ahead of all this seething instrumentation loaded with detail and nuance. Series 3 will take you straight to Studio 54.

Other genres are equally skillfully dealt with. TIDAL Stream Charles Mingus' Goodbye Pig Hat has all the dynamic features, both low-level and fully on, to make the melody sound alive. Kendrick Lamar's Wesley's theory hits relentlessly and has relentless momentum - Series 3 has the rigor to describe the attack and decay of individual notes or sounds with real precision. And the New York Philharmonic under Leonard Bernstein passes through Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite a spacious, crisp, and eloquent listener.

Yes, it's true that if you want to play neighbor bait toms, it's possible to improve in Series 3. But unlike its nominal rivals, Lynn doesn't let his composure when the levels get oppressive. It's level-headed, compelling, and exciting listening.

Conclusion

Its appearance is a matter of taste, but its sound is less debatable - since Series 3, Lynn hit the 'wireless speaker' bull's first time with an s-eye. There are some Bluetooth bugs and maximum volume levels may be supported. But the Linn Series 3 has a finesse that gives it a luxurious feel - even with its attractive price tag.

The best wireless speakers: more sound, fewer cables