Linn Ikemi CD Player vs. Other Lower Cost Options

I have never seriously auditioned Linn players so take this for what it's worth... I have auditioned several players including the Wadia 301, the Naim, the Sim Moon Eclipse, the new Ayre cx7, and the Resolution Audio Opus 21. I finally decided on the Resolution Audio Opus 21 for its absolute clarity and precision. In this regard it easily beat out the others. I also really liked the Ayre player. I found that generally speaking newer was better. FRom what you said about the Wadia being too bright, I'm not sure your tastes would be for the Resolution Audio player, but if I were you I would not buy a player until you compared it to the Ayre and the Res. Audio.
PS: The store that had the Ayre also had the real expensive Linn player (I forget the model. Something like $10,000) and it sounded way too dark and slow for me.

I also recently auditioned several players before deciding on the Ikemi. If you are patient you may be able to find a used/demo unit close to your price. I was able to get a demo unit for $2200 and I notice that someone is asking $2900 on Audiogon. They don't appear often, which tells you something about them. BTW, I compared it to the Cary 303 and 306, Meridian 588, FMJ23, Krell and Marantz sa-1. For me, the Ikemi was the clear choice both in build quality and sound.

Have you considered a "modded" Sony XA-777ES or Philips SACD 1000? You can get the base CD players for about $2000 and $800 (mail order), respectively, and the mods can cost anywhere from $500 to about $3000. These players will play all formats. The basic modded Philips at a price of about $1300 is a terrific deal (Reference Audio Mods) and you probably would have a difficult time finding a better player (at any price!) than the fully modded Sony XA-777ES (EVS or others).

For the mods, you might try Rick at Electronic Visonary Systems (EVS): tweakaudio.com, or Kyle at Reference Audio Mods: referenceaudiomods.com.

I have the Linn Genki now and recently compared it to the Shanling. I also heard the Electrocompaniet and Gamut CD1 through quad speaker. The Genki was very close to the Shanling through a Hovland line stage and AR tube amp. The Gamut was a very good sounding unit with no harshness good bass and very open fast sound. It seemed to bring out details very will. Some have criticized it's lack of timbre on acoustic recordings. I may wait for Linn to come out with it's universal players later this year.

Good Luck

Thanks for the above info. Do you have more info on Linn's universal players scheduled for later this year?