I work for a Linn dealer and have heard the demo in-store of the Klimax DS through some very expensive gear, including some non-Linn setups. As a high end source it is outstanding. They demoed some MP3 files @ 320 and then FLAC @ 16/44.1 then finally FLAC 24/192 all using the same material for comparison. The differences were very obvious as we progressed. They also used the UniDisk 2.1 as a CD source of the same material to prove the superiority of the new delivery method. Many of the engineering aspects of this device are very well founded in the basis of engineering a proper way to have the music delivered to you from the most reliable and cleanest source currently available. Linn feels that too much energy and expense is spent in retrieving the bits from a disc that can be riddled with many errors in manufacturing and in the delivery method of those bits that can cause the notorious jitter and timing errors. They wish to rely upon a PC drive to do the error correction as the bits are pulled from the disc tot he HDD. From that point they feel they can engineer the final delivery of these "perfected bits" better than they can a solid aluminum servo ladden, focus driven transport extraction device that is increasingly becoming off the shelf CD/DVD Rom drives modified for high end use in $20000 CD machines. By providing a portal to retreive audio from hard drives in any resolution currently and soon to be available they feel they have a opportunity to step ahead of their counterparts Meridian, Mark Levinson, Classe, Krell, etc. Keep in mind Linn is also a record company and are currently transferring most if not all of their catalogue to downloadable files in 24/96 FLAC format for a premium. I think it is a very smart and forward thinking business move. I own a SB3 with some very expensive cables and a very expensive DAC. I am very happy with the results and have sold off my CD transport in the past several months due to the convienance of the SB3. I have dragged my NAS and SB3 into the store and played it through the VTL/Wilson system on demo and have converted many of the stodgy old salesmen to this new way of thinking about the source. Having the Linn support this idea will only help the exlusionary audiophile community embrace what Slim Devices has been pushing for awhile.
Linn will also be introducing 2 additional DS units at lower price points, the Akurate DS and the Classik DS @ $10k and 3k respectively. -- rexflexall ------------------------------------------------------------------------ rexflexall's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=9552 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=38815 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
