in regards to the Lyngdorf not performing well as a DAC, it should be tested in a way in which most users are going to use the product, who cares what the manufacturer calls it. I submitted the Linn for review which does a whole lot more than a stand alone DAC including their version of room correction, digital streaming etc. You could argue it didn't perform high enough to justify the price if you only look at the DAC performance. The results are the results If you can't handle the objective criticism of your favorite product, go read the absolute sound where everything they review is amazing.
Exactly my point. No one is going to use this product as a stand-alone DAC. May be the 'stay all digital until speaker output' philosophy of Lyngdorf is confusing a lot of people, including
@amirm.
I expect a serious reviewer to first delve into what the product subject to testing is designed for. Then he would have known that TDAI-3400 was designed to be an integrated power amplifier, powerful enough to drive even difficult to drive speakers and that the two sets of analogue outputs are only there to add one or two active subwoofers, because according to Lyngdorf their RoomPerfect digital room correction works best with so called 'boundary placed' subwoofers. For this setup it has extended digital cross-over functions build in. If you read the manual of the amplifier this information drips from it in spades.
So testing it as an amplifier over its speaker outputs: yes, testing its digital and analogue inputs: yes, testing jitter levels (digital in - digital out, NOT analogue out): yes and why not: yes also test the analogue outputs but with a side note that these are there for the reasons described above would be in line with the design. Now it's like reviewing a sports car on its ability to carry luggage for the summer holiday.
I am certainly not in the camp of the manufacturer. In evaluating and comparing the unit in my setup I also found flaws I am not happy with. Why build in wifi en bluetooth in the first place? Two well known noise injectors that I found do actually degrade the sound when enabled. Why build in a headphone amplifier that is of lesser quality than even most headphone outputs on smartphones? I think they went too far in designing an all-in-one.
BUT, if you compare the TDAI-3400 with a good stand-alone DAC/amplifier combination on the same digital input signal and driving the same speakers (without the room correction engaged) I dare to say it even performs above its price point. It cannot compete with my Chord DAVE but you have to pay above 2-3K for a DAC alone to outperform the Lyngdorf.