Article: Audiophile Style Podcast: Episode 11 | Linn Interview

[The Computer Audiophile]

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[Danny Kaey]

Another week, another great podcast! Love listening to these... 🤩

[John Yow]

It would have been interesting to cover their history with Naim.  Linn & Naim used to be a matched made in heaven before parting ways.

 

Also, I do not agree that Linn was the pioneer in high end streamer.  They may have been the first to charge high end price for a streamer.  But as far as I am concerned, Slim Devices invented the network audio client/server genre with their squeezeboxes.  Sean Adams was the genius who made a user friendly system for streaming audio over the ethernet viable.

 

Many audiophiles saw the potential and hot rodded the squeezeboxes.  And subsequently convinced Sean Adams to come up with a audiophile grade streamer called the Transporter.  As I recall it was priced at $1,999, which was audiophile pricing but not quite Linn pricing.

 

Linn's Klimax DS came a couple years after the Transporter.  I remember bringing my Transporter to a Linn dealer to compare with the Klimax DS, my friend and I could not convince ourselves that the Klimax DS was 20X better, or if it was even better.

 

Anyway, to me Linn's forte is still their venerable LP12, may be I am old school.  For digital my go to marque is dCS.

[MikeJazz]

I am very glad I bought the venerable Sneaky DS more than 10 years ago. It still serves me well as a streamer, and once served me as a small streamer/amp integrated. It continues to be supported and upgraded by Linn. Not many companies display this kind of commitment to their legacy products.

 

[ASRMichael]

Certainly being Biased here but my favourite yet! Being Scottish myself that is! 

[ASRMichael]

@The Computer AudiophileI would love for you to add the Scotland flag as an option. 👍🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

[The Computer Audiophile]

Just now, ASRMichael said:

@The Computer AudiophileI would love for you to add the Scotland flag as an option. 👍🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Understood. I'll see what I can do. 

[John H]

Great cast Chris. It was exciting and unexpected to hear my speakers mentioned. Looking forward to more!

[AudioDoctor]

Listening now...

 

I worked at a very popular coffee shop when I was in undergrad. The big draw wasn't only the great coffee, but we had a fully manual espresso machine. Customers would request certain Baristas to make their drinks.

[Iving]

A few notes of appreciation of this Linn podcast ...

 

It’s long at over a hundred minutes! I started but had to abandon it some weeks ago. This time I managed the whole thing.

 

Thank you for such a lively and "in the moment" conversation with the current Linn anchors.

 

I have a fondness for Linn going back to the 1980s. David Prickett, who worked at The Sound Organisation in York, came to my then home in Selby to set up my first LP12. I want to say with customary British modesty that he probably wouldn't remember me. But I recall him as such a decent chap I shouldn't be surprised if actually he did. David was cool for all sorts of reasons. We were both very young and - whereas I had merely a pair of Linn Kan II – unbelievably he had Isobariks. Goodness knows what sacrifices he must have made to have owned those. The coolest thing about him was that he said to me something along the lines that I should buy records - that I should spend as much on music as on Hi-Fi. This is the kind of integrity that maintains my faith in humanity.

 

This LP12 of mine had a black plinth, an Ittok arm and an Audio Technica OC7 cartridge which I later upgraded to a Linn Asaka. Those are hazy days to me now. Even before then, I lusted for a fluted walnut plinth, a Troika, and Isobarik speakers. There was no Ekos [tonearm] till much later.

 

In time I upgraded my way through mostly Linn gear - until a personal watershed around the turn of the millennium. I sold all my Hi-Fi - including Linn Kabers - and all my records too. I used some of the proceeds to acquire a pair of Snell Type A III. I used to read about these majestic speakers in audio magazines I would buy to while away commuting trips into London when I was barely out of school. I knew about rotting foam surrounds, and sure enough mine suffered. The woofers were the first to go. I got these and the mids restored by competent old school guys I found after much research. The Snells are still a love of my life. They are vertically bi-amped in accordance with the manufacturer's recommendation. The only Linn component I have now is a Klimax Kontrol pre-amp. If things go my way, I'll get a couple of Linn Klimax Twins to replace my current power amps in the fullness of time.

 

I did have a fluted LP12 eventually - with an original Ittok/Troika. It was a great deck - but I let it go not long since to fund upgrades to my current digital system. Maybe one day I shall have another - although the price of a good LP12 now - taking account of the difficulty and expense obtaining NM (Near Mint) analogue era vinyl - and I harbour doubts I must confess.

 

I listened with fascination to you guys talking about networking. You made me feel old! To me, things were never the same after the arrival of the CD. It is, indeed, striking the way that Linn have not just kept up with the times - but blazed the trail in many respects too. You guys were talking about DSP ubiquitously for the second half of the podcast! I am only just catching on, having recently become a convert to HQPlayer. All of a sudden I get new insight into the nature of digital music - and realise that the old Linn "source first" mantra invites adjustment. "Bitperfect at the ears"! Well that's a notion and a half. I do understand what you mean ...

 

still ...

 

... I *did* clutch my pearls when you discussed the "digitising phono stage"! The idea of broadcasting, in real time, a (presumably sota) LP12 over a network - mainly for listening convenience in multiple locations iirc - is anathema to me. I don't know why. I'm not saying that I wouldn't audition and might even agree about SQ. But I do opine that, in the end, things are of their time. Shellac discs are a perfect medium for pre-War jazz. LPs and 45s for *analogue* music created before the mid-80s. Sure - go ahead and play digital music through any route that makes your ears happy. If I may be so bold - I do think that vinyl records of digital masters are a nonsense - even a con on the young. I hate the idea of youngsters spending their pocket money on repro vinyl records that don't offer an analogue listening experience. It's just a pov. I have no idea whether David P would secretly agree!

 

I'm not anti-digits! I'm very proud of the digital front end I have built (even if I do owe so much to both manufacturers such as Uptone and DIY pioneers such as austinpop and Nenon here). It's been a far more arduous journey than I imagined, but I'm a happy listener of 0s and 1s now.

 

We are all on the same team when - as you mentioned in the podcast - we agree that our system upgrades enable us to hear our favourite music for the first time over and over again.

 

I was also nodding with you all when you were talking about the room (not just Room Correction but the room) being physically part of the system itself. I love to feel music somatically. In my listening room I feel I am sitting *inside* the loudspeaker, not before it.

 

Unlike you Chris, I haven't visited the Linn factory. Or, for that matter, been to our own Albert Hall!

 

I have always, and still do, associate Linn products with quality, reliability, value and endurance. Whilst Linn very understandably extol a particular kind of approach to buying new, those of us with an eye to the second hand market realise that we can't always audition everything on our shortlist. That sense of risk of disappointment is reduced virtually to nil in the case of Linn components.

 

I thought your composure and energy, Chris, an integral part of the quality of the conversation. The Linn guys seemed keen to come back for more - and I hope you may feature them again in a future series. They hinted that, on their horizon, the home network is the "bedrock" for musical reproduction. I'm determined to be offline (wrt playing music for serious listening) - and am working towards fully wireless in our home! I am not a typical user - and I know that. I still listen to music very deliberately in something of an old-fashioned way. I don't mind. I kind of have Linn to thank for that - at least in part.

 

Your fun Q&A at the end were a gas. A bit unfair I thought in one or two cases! I wish you might have asked … “When we look back at 2021 as vintage, say in 20 years’ time, what will be cool and perhaps still valued as worthwhile commodity? What will best be forgotten?”

[The Computer Audiophile]

Such a great post. Thanks for the kind words and for the stories. 

[Iving]

1 hour ago, Iving said:

fully wireless

 

too late to edit ... I meant to say working towards fully *wired* in our home! [i.e. = *no* wi-fi]

 

Still getting my head around DSP and its capacity for tuning everything all along the way to our ears. I just don't imagine our domestic environment will evolve to include distributed music. I'm getting too old to concentrate on music and whatever else I'm doing at the same time. I keep saying I'm old. I'm not even 59 yet.

 

Yeah - I don't have teenagers at home. Makes all the difference. What was it one of the Linn guys said? Their children threatened him ... iOS [not Android] - or I'm leaving home.