Woodnote Combo

This review first appeared in February 2025 on fairaudio.de. By permission of the author and request of the manufacturer, it is hereby syndicated from the German original to reach a broader English audience. Ed.

Reviewer: Jochen Reinecke
Analogue sources: Drive: Well Tempered Versalex with Rega Ania (MC) and Exact (MM) cartridges Cartridges: Rega Exact (MM), Rega Ania (MC)
Digital sources: Rotel CD11 Tribute, CEC CD5, Cambridge Audio CXN v2
Integrated amplifier: Audio Note Cobra, Marantz PM7000N
Preamplifier: Tsakiridis Alexander
Power amplifier: Valvet A4 MkII monos, Abacus Ampollo Dolifet
Speakers: Harbeth 30.2 XD, Audio Note UK AX 2, Audes Maestro 116, B&W 606 S2 Anniversary
Cables: StudioConnections Reference NF, Boaacoustic Evolution Black, Oehlbach XXL Series 7 Mk2 coax and Toslink
Room size: 18m², 2.70m ceilings
Review component retail: €2'249

Indulging in music playback is not only beautiful and enriching. It's also a hobby with an immense variety of tech that inspires experimentation and promises of endless improvements. There are no upper limits on pricing yet fantastic-sounding components that are absolutely affordable exist, too. We can either put enormous machines into our living room to almost suggest we're in real estate; or pursue discreet compact solutions that largely dispense with any conspicuous life of their own. This demure category includes the new Lindemann Woodnote Combo, a 25 centimeter narrow streaming integrated amplifier that nevertheless aims to deliver the full breadth of high-end sound.

Our Upper Bavarian manufacturer has already proven multiple times that it is very much doable to build beautiful high-quality components in a compact form factor. The new Woodnote Combo however is even smaller than the existing already compact Music:book range. Yes, this 'streaming power DAC' will easily stow away in a laptop bag or gent's large handbag. Nevertheless, the cute amp has nothing to do with any basement bargain. To the contrary. The Lindemann Woodnote Combo looks really impressive which among other things is due to that stylish front. Here the display and control elements—a tiny dot matrix display, multifunction rotary and 6.3mm headfi jack—are flattered by a beautifully grained wood panel as probably the namesake for the device.

On the back are optical/coaxial S/PDIF, HDMI eARC and USB-A for storage or an external CD drive, a variable pre-out, twin antennae slots for Bluetooth and WLAN and banana terminals since real estate for spades was too limited. There are even coax/Toslink outputs to rope in an outboard DAC but why would we? The immaculately crafted amp where nothing wobbles or gaps houses a streaming platform, a converter section from AKM and an amplifier which despite the compact housing delivers 30wpc/8Ω so is a switching sort i.e. class D. Yet everyone who knows Norbert Lindemann, founder and head of the company, appreciates that although he isn't averse to embedding well-researched reliable solutions from 3rd-party suppliers here and there, he always surrounds them with creative therefore proprietary circuitry to optimize the sound according to his own standards. Norbert sums it up with a wink: "We work on sound and not on who uses the most expensive chips and best femto clock."

As he stressed over the phone, one thing in particularly is important to him: the shortest possible signal path. Hence between the AKM converter module and input of the latest nCore pulse-width modulation board there is only a single "very high-quality" class A op-amp which amplifies the signal to more than 10 volts. This downgrades the PWM part to a kind of current buffer with comparatively low voltage gain. Since the analog stage can amplify the voltage much better than the PWM power stage, the sound benefits considerably.