LINN Akurate DS vs. ANY CD PLAYER

I auditioned the dcs Puccini player against the Akurate DS, version 1. They were both the best digital sources I had heard at the time. The difference was the spice. I went with the Akurate and could not be happier. I owned a couple of decent $2500+ CD players and on both the transports went bad. I have had the Akurate DS since 2009 and the only problem with it is the quality of the recordings that are played through it. It is very transparent. The better the recording the better the realism. The worse the recording... the more you have to enjoy the music.
the used marked for the akurate DS is very good. I do not have the dynamik upgrade.

I see what you are saying... if the recording is not very good, the DS will just project that bad recording through the resy of the system.

My Akurate DS is the latest version with the Dynamik PS. I only paid around $5,500 for a demo unit, would have been tougher to pay the full price - I would have gone with a Majik DS or DSi then. But even at full price, I am thinking that you will have to pay so much more with a traditional CD player to even approach this level of sonics. It sounds far better than any CD player I have owned and I have access to over 8,000 songs on my iPad - how can you beat that?

Someone has to buy it new before you get to purchase it used. In my opinion (and this is after hearing a LOT of cd and SACD players that were higher priced than the Akurate) is that it is more than worth it's retail price. That is borne out easily by the worldwide sales of this superb digital front end. The new piece that they are getting ready to release is an even better deal in that it has digital inputs (HDMI too) along with analog (phono input of course)and is also a preamp. I have not heard it yet but am betting it will be a stunner at a 10% increase in price over the Akurate DS. It is the Akurate DSM.

I'm still not totally clear on the DS pieces (and I'm a Linn guy). What makes them different than having a computer-based system playing through a high quality DAC? I casually demoed a DS at the local Linn dealer when I was there for something else. I won't mention the dealer, but they were actually playing me mp3 files over the DS! I would think Linn HQ would have a fit if they found out their dealers were doing that. Point being, I couldn't tell how good the DS was.

Nothing, really. You could build Klimax DS functionalities (don't have Akurate DS)using a server + Transporter + dCS or any of the other $15k DACs out there. The downside is that there will be more jitter in the system than using your Linn DS alone (may be you can hear this, may be not), not to mention the cost of an extra one or two digital cables and power cables. So you may or may not actually save any money going multi-box route, but it will certainly not sound better.

I personally don't mind listening to mp3 (320kps) using Klimax DS. It sounds a whole lota more analog and musical than the same CD played back on the CDP that Klimax replaced. Yes, mp3s sound great, CDs sound amazing and hi-res sounds heavenly.

Seriously, one box, and you are done - what's not to like.