Aqua LinQ Network Interface
The new LinQ was created following a precise idea.
Fast and standard technical solutions do not belong to the aqua philosophy.
Aqua has developed an extremely streamlined long-life platform and network bridge modules focused on audio playback functions.
They prefer to use know-how developed in-house, for a number of reasons in respect of the aqua SQ standards.
This has required a considerable effort in terms of time and resources, but the result is immediately evident on first use.
LinQ is a highly modular device, based on a series of completely independent units.
Each module performs a particular function, for which it is optimized.
Each module has its own dedicated power supply and plugs into a connector on the base platform of the device. In addition to the optimization of the particular function, this architecture guarantees an exceptional possibility of future upgrades.
The communication lines of each module with the network are galvanically isolated.
Note that further isolation is guaranteed by the fact that one of the modules is a LAN switch, developed internally by aqua. This is an important point: in fact, during the listening tests, and also in the laboratory ones, they obtained the best results with the use of this architecture with a built-in LAN switch.
Always having the sound result as an objective, LinQ does not use a USB interface: the output is on AQlink, the aqua I2S proprietary connection. In this way the "passage" on USB is skipped, avoid any losses in sound quality.
Furthermore, proprietary circuits have been developed in the output FPGA, in order to implement the S/PDIF, AES/EBU and Dual-AES outputs.
NO-COMPROMISE AUDIO ENGINE
HQPlayer Core + NAA (cascade-module).
The breakthrough. LinQ knows no obsolescence. Aqua's focus was to create an Audio Engine for Roon with zero-setup. The ambitious vision to combine extreme Sound Quality with delight.
The Core exploits the new i.MX8 micro (ARM 64bit), with its incredible performance, low‑latency, and revolutionary power efficiency. And a customized lightweight kernel (UNIX-based).
Roon can be configured to implement of HQPlayer into a Zone. HQPlayer owns the final connection to the Audio Engine, and Roon is just passing along a stream of bits from media files / Streaming services as Qobuz and Tidal. This allows you to enjoy the benefits of HQPlayer SQ and the library management capabilities of Roon at the same time.
The Core is zero-configuration (Plug and Play). The license key of HQPlayer Embedded is pre-installed in our labs and the LinQ is ready to use.
The HQPlayer-based LinQ Core remains true to the philosophy of aqua brand, it is not aimed at digital signal processing.
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4 VERSIONS AVAILABLE TO ORDER—plus SQUEEZELITE upgrade option:
LinQ Core — £7750
HQPlayer Core + NAA incl. Signalyst License | Plug and Play.
Audio Engine for Roon.
Outputs: AQlink I2S - Dual AES output PCM 384 kHz - DSD 128
LinQ – Core and UPnP — £8960
HQPlayer Core + NAA incl. Signalyst License | Plug and Play.
Audio Engine for Roon. UPnP DLNA Renderer
Outputs: AQlink I2S - Dual AES output PCM 384 kHz - DSD 128
LinQ – Renderer 1 — £6350 (base model)
1 Module: HQPlayer NAA Module or UPnP DLNA Module
or ***NEW*** Squeezelite module
Outputs: AQlink I2S - Dual AES output PCM 384 kHz - DSD 128
LinQ – Renderer 2 — £7590
2 Modules: UPnP DLNA and HQPlayer NAA modules.
Outputs: AQlink I2S - Dual AES output PCM 384 kHz - DSD 128
***NEW*** Squeezelite Module upgrade — £1240
All have these outputs: AQlink i2S / Dual AES output PCM 384 kHz / DSD 128