The Lindemann 820 raises the bar for CD and SACD performance with a sense of musical realism that transports the listener directly inside the studios and concert halls of the world.

Innovative technologies, implemented with great skill and attention to detail, make the 820 one of the world's most fascinating signal sources; yet it offers much more than just high resolution and a sensational measured performance. With this player, you will forget you are listening to hi-fi equipment. The 820 handles everything from powerful orchestral performances to intimate vocals, from historic to modern recordings, with extraordinary ease. Enjoy your CDs with unimagined levels of quality, and experience the sonic dreamscapes of Super Audio CDs at their maximum potential.

Highly advanced converter architecture

The 820's digital to analog converter is based on our own HiDRA® (High Definition Resampling Architecture) technology, which previously appeared in models CD1SE and D680. Now HiDRA® has been further developed and refined for the 820. At the heart of this innovative technology are a sample rate converter (SRC) with origins in the professional recording studio, today's state-of-the-art DAC's and a high-precision master clock. The SRC upsamples the CD signal to 176.4 kHz, 24-bit to improve soundstaging, low-level detail and the purity of high frequencies. The converter (PCM 1792) then raises the sample rate further to 1.411 MHz - equivalent to a bit-rate of 5.64 MHz for the subsequent sigma-delta multi-bit DAC. Unlike the PCM signal, the DSD signal is not converted. Since it already has a bit-rate of 2.82 MHz after decoding, it is simply filtered by the DAC.

At the heart of the design is the master clock, which features fully discrete construction and is powered by a dedicated feed from the outboard power supply. Its close proximity to the converter circuits ensures ultra fast re-clocking and thus a highly precise data stream.

To ensure the best possible synchronicity of the digital audio data, all required clock frequencies in the signal processing chain are derived from this master clock - from the generation of audio PCM and DSD data on the servo board right through to the converters themselves. This provides a closed loop which, together with the HiDRA® architecture, virtually eliminates timing jitter in the D/A conversion process and preserves the precise timing of the digital audio signal. The result is a sound picture of unequalled transparency and tonal accuracy from both CD and SACD.

Fully balanced design

The 820's entire signal path is fully balanced. The D/A converters (operated in mono-mode) produce a double differential analog signal, which is routed to a phase linear filter to remove unwanted high frequency noise. The subsequent analog volume control and output stages are also fully balanced.

Total isolation of transport and converter

A unique design feature of the 820 is the complete electrical isolation of the transport and converter sections. From an electrical standpoint, the 820 is a separate transport and converter in a single enclosure. The internal converter derives its power from an outboard power supply, the 800 Analog Power Supply.

Data from the transport passes to the converter via an innovative device known as the iCoupler. This extremely fast inductive coupler enables digital audio data to be transferred in I2S or DSD format. Moving data directly in this way is far superior to the traditional method of converting to SPDIF at the digital output and transferring via a cable.

The strict separation of transport and converter not only means that high quality power cords can be employed very effectively for the outboard power supply; it also means that the converter is fully isolated from possible interference from the transport section.

Built-in preamplifier functionality

The 820 is equipped with a selectable volume control in the form of an integrated resistor ladder network. It provides fine adjustment in increments of 0.5 dB. By including this control in the analog section, we avoid the drawbacks of digital volume controls and the DSD to PCM conversion that these require. The volume control enables the 820 to drive power amps or active speakers directly.

The "direct out" mode provides a signal derived directly from the output of the analog filter stage, featuring a bypass option for the volume control. The 820 then functions exactly like any other CD player.

Four digital inputs (PCM up to 192 kHz) which, like the CD data signal, are re-sampled to 176.4 kHz, allow you to connect digital sources such as a digital radio, DAT recorder or PC soundcard. Source components benefit from the same superb quality converter as the CD signal. You can also name each individual input and select sample rates via the remote control menu. When used with digital sources, the 820 acts as a high quality digital preamplifier.

Decoupled transport mechanism

The high quality Sony transport used in the 820 is equipped with a dual laser pickup with coated glass optics and a servo system with separate decoding for CD and SACD data. To prevent vibration reaching the transport, the mechanism is mounted on a 3.8 kg steel block, being connected to the bottom of the casing via polymer dampers. The bottom panel is constructed from three separate layers to effectively absorb vibration. Fitted beneath the unit are high tech aluminum feet, each of which contains three ultra hard ceramic balls, which conduct resonances and vibrations away from the player into the support.

Sophisticated user features

The 820 comes with a high quality remote with a host of control options. The player is fully configurable via a user-friendly setup menu. In addition to standard commands for volume, balance and input select, you can set the volume display (in dB or absolute), the maximum volume level, mute level, absolute phase and the sample rate of the converter. A communications port (SYSLINK) lets you link several 800 Series components. Finally, yet importantly, the easy-to-read CD Text display with adjustable brightness makes the 820 a real pleasure to operate.