Hi all ya!

[The Vinyl Adventure]

Yes Steve ' i don't understand why they place so much faith in switch mode psu 's its best used in PC's in my view and certainly not hifi .

The DS player's look to be outstanding ' i heard the Majik at Scalford in a very nice Valve based system ' sounded superb .

i heard there was an akurate there, was it definately a majik you heard and not an akurate?... im wondering if an upgrade to a akurate would solve my problem with lack of middle... or maybe the system you heard compensated for that lack of middle i hear in my system... any thoughts?

[chris@panteg]

Hi Hamish

Well ' a lack of middle eh ' sorry i think you are right i think it was the Akurate .

It was my 1st experience of the DS player's and i was impressed ! but it was a lovely system ' LV OBX with i think an Audionote amp ? + Border Patrol psu .

So Hamish what's up with the Majik then ' i thought you loved it

[Stratmangler]

The trouble today is that Linn use switch-mode power supplies in their amps. Whilst they seem to get away with the way they've implemented them in their source components and preampsn they haven't in their power amps which sound mechanical. The bass in particular lacks in elasticity, texture and sheer groove.

They've seriously dropped the ball (imho) not to mention the documented customer service issues and not repairing even very expensive kit over a certain age.

I'll agree that the Linn stuff of the nineties and turn of the millenium when I started out in this hobby was rather good but they seem to have lost sight of their flat earth fundamentals. I bought a Majik CD in 2006. It actually represented good VFM and it could certainly carry a tune but no way was I tempted to go all-Linn. The speakers they had at the time seemed rather tuneless and the Densen amp I was looking at upgrading from to something better trounced their amps and even the dealer agreed.

I've not heard them but on all accounts the preamps aren't bad.

This business about SMPS may or may not be the issue here.
However, you have to take a more global view on things, and not be as colloquial as to limit your view to the UK - if you ask anyone at Linn as to what percentage the UK market is to them in terms of turnover the answer will be small.

And I know from talking to someone who makes and markets audio equipment that things get interesting when you start exporting kit, as you'll find that certain territories will not allow you to sell into their market unless you have SMPS PSU's end of the story. Local legislation prohibits the sale of any item fitted with a linear PSU. The fact that a well designed linear PSU can be more economical in terms of power requirements to run than a poorly designed and implemented SMPS is neither here nor there - the legislation is passed by bodies with little or no technical expertese and who are swayed by something as banal as buzz words.

It would not be cost effective for any company of Linn's standing to manufacture stuff purely for the UK market - it just isn't big enough for them - so they have to look globally.
SMPS done properly can be very good - look at Linn or Chord from the UK. There's Halcro in Australia.

Personally I'm not going to advocate one approach over the other, I just wanted to point out that the UK quality audio market is not as big as many of us think.
As a group we (audiophiles - for want of a better description) are very much in the minority.

[The Vinyl Adventure]

Hi Hamish

Well ' a lack of middle eh ' sorry i think you are right i think it was the Akurate .

It was my 1st experience of the DS player's and i was impressed ! but it was a lovely system ' LV OBX with i think an Audionote amp ? + Border Patrol psu .

So Hamish what's up with the Majik then ' i thought you loved it

i do... its a brilliant streamer but within my system, compared to within the naim system, it lacks middle and sounds a almost a bit stark...
the copper dac adds richness and middle, so the combination of dac and majik is awesome. the caiman also has a similar effect, just not as rich and fractionally less transparent than the copper
me and steve put it down to the possibility of there being an inherent compatability between linn and naim kit and of course the fact that anthonys kit is so transparent...
i certainly wouldnt warn someone away from the linn kit, i read recently ome reviews of the linn streamers that went into some detail (mostly over my head) of why they are so good at streaming... but the dac in the majik, for me, isnt up to scratch... linn of course have to have differences in their range to justify the differences in cost

[Steve Toy]

Chris, enviro-fascism does seem to be taking over the planet and it's heading our way...

[markf]

So with hindsight Steve which cd player would you say was better as a stand alone player
the Linn Majik CD you had before or the Bel Canto you have now ,because I think in
some other thread you said the internal DAC in the Bel Canto wasn't great.

[Steve Toy]

I'd say the Majik for musicality overall. The Bel Canto wins on the transport and the fact that in conjunction with a top-notch off-board DAC that can also be used for downloaded music, it steams ahead.

The Majik is also found wanting in transparent systems.

[chris@panteg]

Chris, enviro-fascism does seem to be taking over the planet and it's heading our way...

[Stratmangler]

I think ill get me coat

I think this one is directed at me

[technobear]

Chris, enviro-fascism does seem to be taking over the planet and it's heading our way...

I thought the global warming scam had been thoroughly exposed now?

All legislation passed in the name of global warming should now be repealed with immediate effect. No more carbon trading. No more CO2 taxation.