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CD versus 16/44.1 USB streaming. This CD-only Teac transport—one of the few so specialized parts remaining—isn't of the vintage read-once sort. It uses an intermediate buffer and performs multiple read-ins across questionable disc passages. If CD/CDR are so coded, the Lindemann displays their album/track titles. This even works with recordable discs burnt in your computer's drive. Letters with various accents not in software inventory show unembellished. This turned the Roma "Amare čhavore" or "Šun Devloro" into "Amare chavore" and "Sun Devloro". It substituted other letters it couldn't recognize with a '?'. The Spanish "sueño" turned into "suen?o" on a commercial recording by Miguel Ángel Cortés whilst the 'ñ' displayed properly on a home-burnt CD for a Diego el Cigala track entitled "Canción Para Un Niño En La Calle". An Aytac Doğan track turned into "Herkes Kendi Gördü?üne Do?ru..." because the display lacked the Turkish 'ğ'. And a George Dalaras track in the Greek alphabet turned logically into one solid string of question marks. When you switch inputs without pausing a disc, the musicbook:15, after switching back to its drive, resumes CD play where you left off. This proved ideal for comparisons. It also was yet more evidence that Lindemann pursue a very detail-obsessed approach to design.

Comparing Qobuz desktop streaming at full CD resolution—and without intercession of a Windows player like JPlay but simply set to WASAPI exclusive mode as shown—had the Qobuz stream sound dirtier and grittier particularly in the treble but frankly all across the bandwidth. I worked in DreamWeaver, PhotoShop, FireFox and Word at the same time to consume far more computing resources than are necessary for playback. But obviously that's what anyone does who actually works on their PC. My wired connection to the Internet is via certified CAT6a cable from direct seller Blue Jeans Cable. That puts its data/bandwidth specs well in excess of 16/44.1 audio streaming. Subscription streaming from full-resolution services like Qobuz or WiMP/Tidal is an indisputable advance over 320mbps Spotify+ to which I also hold a subscription. Yet in this A/B, it wasn't as good as legacy disc spinning - at least not without the assist of a memory player like PureMusic's D-Pad. For that I'd have to move to my music iMac which I never tax with any non-playback related computing tasks.

To make Qobuz FLAC streaming equal to spinning CD on my desktop required shutting down my various work programs, stop multi-tasking and just listen. On most comparisons now, I couldn't tell a difference. For unknown reasons however, on some selections CD still trumped streaming.

PureMusic in full memory play at 352.8kHz 64-bit upsampling versus CD. This comparison took place in the main system set up with an Esoteric C-03 preamp, Pass Labs XA30.8 amplifier and Albedo Audio Aptica ceramic speakers. As the most even-handed comparison I could make, with this deck one still uses two different converter engines between CD and USB. At the HighEnd Suisse show in Zürich's Mövenpick Hotel, I watched Norbert Lindemann below explain the ins and outs of the musicbook:15. Unlike unrepentant anachrophiles who claim that magnetic USB playback is inherently inferior to optical disc spinning, I understood Norbert to hold the opposite view. To get CD to sound as good as properly done USB is a challenge. For him it entailed the use of Anagram's sonic descrambling engine that's not in use with USB.

For the most convenient comparison, I used three of my home-burnt CD compilations whilst at the same time, the equivalent files were streaming off the iMac. Having defeated all other inputs on the musicbook:15, I could toggle between CD and USB ad infinitum and with nary any downtime (the disc drive auto switching to pause when its input is deselected does take a few seconds to wake up again).

The yawning upshot of this exercise? For most intents and purposes, it was a clean draw. However, very critical listeners would surely have detected slightly glossier textures for USB. On some material, this could suggest a somewhat higher contrast ratio. If one delights in agonizing over minute differences at this level, hairsplitting is the thing. Lesser extremists would leave their hair alone and rest well knowing that this machine treats either data stream almost indistinguishably. On a music-optimized USB source, USB could hold a small advantage. On one where major computing resources are shared with programs like Photoshop, Mozilla et al, CD could win. Either way it's a close call.


Intermediary wrap. Beautifully built and styled as though by an award-winning Scandinavian design studio—no Germanic chrome bling in sight—fully featured with analog inputs for purist preamplifiering, with an excellent headphone output whose volume is separate from the main outputs, Lindemann Audio's musicbook:15 is a modern thoroughbred of a multi-tasker. Its dual-engine DAC seems unique in this price class. Even the use of the AK4490 could be a first. By insisting on an analog volume control, there's no redundant conversion of the analog inputs. Here Lindemann are more inclusive than the purely digital AURALiC Vega which they compete against head on. For preamp users, Lindemann even have a volume-bypass direct mode accessible from the menu. It all makes for another very strong contender in the €3K USB DAC class. On top of it all, this one is unusually loaded on features and very pretty. How it plays with its stablemate musicbook:55, we'll find out when the latter begins shipping.
 
Quality of packaging: Tidily engineered box with redundant protection.
Reusablity of packaging: Many times.
Build quality: Very high. Particularly the industrial design and lack of all visible fasteners on the main surfaces is brilliant.
Nits: The remote control's angle of acceptance is frustratingly narrow.
Highlights: Very high-performance headphone output makes this into an ideal bedside component. Just add digitally docked iDevice or similar source or even simpler, spin CDs and you're all set at a very high level.
Value: Considering build, features and sound, ultra competitive. That's even more surprising given German origins which aren't exactly cheap labour. This deck puts lifestyle on equal footing with peak performance.
Lindemann Audio website