6moons audio reviews: Lindemann Audio musicbook:15 and musicbook:50

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Arriving in one of those fully engineered boxes with blue foam corner and top liners, with a separate small box for the remote, standard USB cable and mini USB leash for the wand's battery, love was in the air right off. A stylish black 'n' white plus yellow printed owner's manual continued the high style. The musicbook itself looked even slicker and more perfect in the metal than photos had promised. Yousa! Without any visible fasteners on front, top or sides, it relegated the CHF8'600 screw-ridden Swiss Goldmund HDA into a starkly lower tier. Whoever Lindemann hired for the industrial design really knows their stuff. Ditto their metal work supplier. Respect!

Resisting the urge to crack into the casing for a look-see, I first hit Lindemann's Downloads page for the driver I'd need on my Win7/64 work desk computer. That installed without a hitch. Firing up Qobuz Hifi, I set its output to WASAPI exclusive mode where the Lindemann was duly selectable. A quick press/turn on the jog wheel selected USB and instant lock which displayed as PCM 44.1kHz. At 50 on the dial—rotating it for volume momentarily displayed Headphone as the selected output—my Audeze LCD2v2 and Angélique Kidjo's Eve were just right. I had hard-kickin' proof of life. Time to liberate the internals from being held hostage by the sleek lid.

Removing just four hex bolts created full access. How things come apart and go together again is another exercise in clever engineering. The Teac disc drive, jog shuttle and standby switch are the only things mounted to the top.