The LessLoss Laminar Streamer Direct Drive SD Player certainly caused quite the uproar with its final landing on the market. It took LessLoss quite some time to finalize it (some six years to final maturity) and its appearance certainly looks the part.
This unique Player arrived protected within the large, armored aluminum shipping crate with satin, shape molded protective innards, waking suggestions more of a luxurious precision mechanical machine than of your typical audio product of today.
The Laminar certainly doesn’t look like anything we've seen so far. A mixture of Art Deco, Art Nouveau, and UFO-like, 21st century futuristic design cues form an object that will instantly spark a discussion.
The Laminar Streamer was designed from the ground up as the most simple operational device. There’s no complex menu diving, help files, or complicated interface. The only thing you’ll have to deal with is moving your .aif and .wav files to the SD card. From there on, Louis Motek’s vision of full relaxed state listening can kick in. You simply insert the SD card, choose the folder, press play and forget about the invasive world of information influence around you.
More will come soon in following updates, but the most important question right now is: how does it sound?
It is early to draw grand conclusions, but what I hear so far having had the device for only a few days is inspiring. This possibly relates to the unique Laminar approach to jitter reduction, as LessLoss wrote every single line of the device's LessLoss Direct Drive OS themselves. They did not base any of it on pre-existing Linux, MAC OS or Windows modules. So when audiophiles code, you know the results won't be merely mainstream.
I can tell you right now that the difference was not small by any means compared to my server/streamer or the USB input. When I first connected the Laminar Streamer to the MSB Select DAC II, the first thing I wrote down in my listening notes was “analog-like easiness, fuller and more vivid projection of the sound,” as well as “prolonged sense of the scale.”
Stay tuned…
Matej Isak
www.LessLoss.com
This unique Player arrived protected within the large, armored aluminum shipping crate with satin, shape molded protective innards, waking suggestions more of a luxurious precision mechanical machine than of your typical audio product of today.
The Laminar certainly doesn’t look like anything we've seen so far. A mixture of Art Deco, Art Nouveau, and UFO-like, 21st century futuristic design cues form an object that will instantly spark a discussion.
The Laminar Streamer was designed from the ground up as the most simple operational device. There’s no complex menu diving, help files, or complicated interface. The only thing you’ll have to deal with is moving your .aif and .wav files to the SD card. From there on, Louis Motek’s vision of full relaxed state listening can kick in. You simply insert the SD card, choose the folder, press play and forget about the invasive world of information influence around you.
More will come soon in following updates, but the most important question right now is: how does it sound?
It is early to draw grand conclusions, but what I hear so far having had the device for only a few days is inspiring. This possibly relates to the unique Laminar approach to jitter reduction, as LessLoss wrote every single line of the device's LessLoss Direct Drive OS themselves. They did not base any of it on pre-existing Linux, MAC OS or Windows modules. So when audiophiles code, you know the results won't be merely mainstream.
I can tell you right now that the difference was not small by any means compared to my server/streamer or the USB input. When I first connected the Laminar Streamer to the MSB Select DAC II, the first thing I wrote down in my listening notes was “analog-like easiness, fuller and more vivid projection of the sound,” as well as “prolonged sense of the scale.”
Stay tuned…
Matej Isak
www.LessLoss.com