Linn Series 3 Wireless

 ALL-IN-ONE MUSIC SYSTEM

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Linn was one of the first hi-fi brands to launch a music L streamer back in 2007, so it was surprising the Glasgow-based company waited until 2020 to launch its first wireless speaker. And this is it - the Linn Series 3.

While a newcomer in the market often faces an uphill battle to conquer established rivals (in the case of premium wireless speakers, that would be Naim), Linn's entrant arrived exuding a cool confidence thanks to the company's decade-plus experience producing high-end network streamers.

But there's an elephant in the room - the Series 3 is expensive, costing more than the Devialet Phantom 1 108dB, and being more than twice the price of the Naim Mu-so 2. Can this wireless speaker, even considering Linn's level of streaming expertise, justify the price?

Familiar design

Anyone acquainted with one of the brand's streaming products doesn't have to go far to find familiarity in the design. The speaker leverages Linn's well established streaming platform, which offers access to networked servers, as well as music services Tidal and Qobuz, via Linn's Kazoo app.

You can add Spotify Connect to that list, as well as AirPlay, Bluetooth and Roon support, but while Qobuz's hi-res catalogue is fully accessible on the Series 3, subscribers of Tidal's top tier won't be able to play the service's hi-res Masters tracks. Linn has shunned the Masters Quality Authenticated (MQA) technology that these tracks are based on and so none of its hardware supports it.

Multi-room is an option for those with Linn Series 3 speakers in different rooms, while voice control is available here when the speaker is wirelessly paired with an Alexa-compatible device on the same network.