I've bought this player second hand in order to partner with a Krell KAV 300i and a pair of Leed Psyche.
After thorough auditioning at home, I've come to the following conclusions :
+ : exceptional dynamic, high transparency (mostly in medium/treble though) and excellent 2D soundstaging ;
- : however, it definitely lacks a lot(and I mean A LOT) of warmth, texture, medium/bass extension, and 3D imaging, especially in a transparent system such as mine.

I've tried several interconnects, even adding a converter (Wadia X32, Linn Numerik, ...) but its specific "dryish" sonic signature remains.
It seems to me this player is only well fited for audiophiles favoring precision and clarity, or to very warm sounding systems needing to be balanced.

My other listening tests were :
- Classé CDP5 : clearly more bass than the Linn but a little rough, unpolished sounding (at least with the Krell 300i) ; lacks fluidity on my system ;
- Meridian 508 24 : lots of warmth, texture and yet detail and clarity ; really a winning mix that I might fall for, BUT ... it doesn't really rocks (lack of boogie factor, slightly slow-paced) ;
- Krell 250 CD : clarity and fast-paced but harsh treble ; excessively bright and "mechanical" ;
- Wadia (model 350 I think) : incredible sound, combining abyssal bass and musically defined medium/treble, and fantastic dynamic ; totally transparent though, therefore unforgiving on bad recordings ; not to mention the price ...

So ? Well, I'm waiting to audition the ElectroCompaniet EMC1, which is supposed to sound as rich and warm as the Meridian, but with more slam ...

Meanwhile I'm keeping my good old Marantz 63SE, clearly simple in its musical presentation and not up to the rest of my system, but at least well balanced between bass and treble and reasonably dynamic.
Who said that building a dream system was simple ?

Built beautfully, you can't get a better transport.

None

It plays music! It sounds like music! No etchyness, nothing cold, everything the way it should be. I prefer it interpretation of music over its newer cousin the Ikemi. It just sounded warmer and a little more laid back to me. More inviting and involving, enchanting even. The emotion and the expression of its taking the music and from its cold digital realm back into the analogue realm is at times astounding to me. Marvelous player, the last one you'll by for a long long time.

Similar Products Used:

Ikemi, Alpha 9, Simm Audio.

gentle audible sound

good only with high class linn amplifier or numeric d/a

to all of you that want to buy this cd.
it sound good only with other linn product (majik for example) so you have to spend more money for this pleasure.
its agood product if you have money.

I have bought Linn Karik III 2.5 years ago. It was one of the first unitsthat were sold at all. I had the problem with it from the first day -
there was interference with my Ensemble Tiger amp through common power
line. Both dealer and Linn Help Line didn't know what to do. It got 3
months to take answer from one of the designers(dealer occasionly was
at Linn factory) to change rf filter built-in in the player. It was changed
and quality of sound "suddenly" was jumped in 1000%(attention! this
problem is common case with almost all CD Players, RF filter in player
is to defence amplifier against digital noise of player!).
There were other little drowbacks in Karik : "Repeat" didn't work,
defective knobs etc.
There was no problem to fix these. After fixes i saw that player is very
hard to set up - i heard unfoccussed sound through my utterly revealing
Ensemble Tiger Amp/ Reference speaker system - microphonics of course
(and at the end high level jitter i think).
I tried Target TT-20 Rack, Base Audio Furniture Rack(very highly acclaimed
in UK press!!!) and this simply didn't work. After 6 months of experiments
i founded win prescription : no rack, 3 Goldring Cones(i think all good
cones are matched) on bottom side of Karik and MASS LOADING on the upper
side - 25KG!!! No microphonics at all!!!
Result? - 1,000,000$ sound,highs and bass from the Heaven,stellar dinamics
and timing,beautiful vocals and very,very detailed soundstage.
Now if i read cd player review i always ask - What about set-up?
You know, you don't get answer in common case...
My voting- 5 - on basis of exellent sound quality after right set-up(all
players need that),very good build quality(it will lasts 100 years
and Linn's improvements are always reprofittable),and generally good
service(at the end you will get all you need!).

you name it got

nothing

great sound stage, very musical, crystal clear and not hard on ears. very warm sound, not too laid back not to forward, just right, aaah! great player, 5 star

Similar Products Used:

merridian, arcam, ikemi

i've been following this disccusion and came to conclusion, that either you love this product or you hate it. I guess, this reflects the opinion of all Linn electronics. Fortunately, i am the one who love Linn products. I auditioned new Genki, and Ikemi. The difference, between Karik vs Genki is NO difference! Ikemi sonded as good as Karik+Numerik, eccept Ikemi is HCDC capable. SOO what? How many HDCD's are outthere? Nobody is making them any more. I give Karik highest score. Only CD player that is somewhat better than Karik is Meridian 508-24. I paid this player 1.2k, and i am very happy with the purchase.