Showing more substance, enhanced clarity, and a great deal of inner coherence, the Lindemann is quick to reveal its higher ambitions. With the re-sampling function activated, the difference becomes even more obvious. Older recordings now have flow, and homogeneity as well. Brilliance, structure in the bass, and a transparent room imaging round off the soundscape. The reproduction gets – it's hard to describe – richer. However, with some recordings, which have accompanied me for many years, it's over the top for my taste, and I prefer the harder and edgier sound of the original resolution. Maybe it's just the long habit? In my view, the better the recording and production quality of the source material, the less re-sampling is needed. Since with the average listener this doesn't apply to the vast part of the music collection, I simply leave the re-sampling mode permanently on; the advantages prevail with 90 per cent of the music. Well, how does the little Lindemann sound? It's not easy to pick an individual audio virtue. It's very complete, big, colorful, and, as already mentioned above, homogeneous on a truly high level. But there is more: an immense tidiness which has nothing to do with clinical purity. Despite the complete absence of artifacts and grain, the Network sounds never cold or hard. Au contraire, there's always a dash of warmth in it while offering a palpable flow and substantial smoothness.

On async remodels, an album where Ruichi Sakamoto personally produced the interpretations of his album async by other artists, "life, life" by Andy Stott features an absurd initial bass gong that reverberates forth in space, lots of different subsonic tones, and a kaleidoscope of reverberating synthesizer layers, which effortlessly bridge the gap between the true acoustical room and the virtual one. Though everything is totally synthetic, the Lindemann manages to not only give power and punch to the deep initial strike, but also to model the reverb tail in a wonderful manner without detaching it from its origin or leaving it wavering in the empty space. It's a little more on the voluminous side, without brutality, yet with full emphasis and a tad bit more volume than structure. Actually, the entire bass range already becomes manifest here: very deep, structured and yet lush, also nicely balanced between volume and resolution and with just the right amount of impact. "Organic," this word comes to my mind, so real does the inherently synthetic bass figure sound. Certainly intended by the artist, but it takes quite a bit for a component to perform in such a convincing manner!

By the way: I need to admit that, due to the cornucopia of choices, I was in fact listening randomly, and now I can't remember too many names of outstanding examples. The search for high-resolution material was good fun. Including songs by Schubert, recorded at 24-bit/96 kilohertz. On the first album a pinpoint imaging in a very large room, a precisely contoured piano with an extremely transparent body, in front of it the vibrant singer whose voice is unraveled in all facets. Beauty that makes you want to get down on your knees. This is high-res, I was thinking by myself. On the second album a piano, the room slightly diffuse, the voice a little reserved. Pretty well known and normal. Also with high-res after all, it really matters who's sitting at the controls.