What do you think of the new Linn Unidisk?

I've received the Unidisck SC/5125 a couple days ago. This is an upgrade from a Linn Classik Movie DI. I'm still playing with set-up and so on. The sound precision and video are clearly better.

Here are a few minor bugs encountered so far:

1. There is NO power off capability from the remote!!! This is even stated in the users manual. Why would this be Mr Linn??? The unit gets VERY hot if left on stand-by all day as does a disk if left in the player on stand-by. In fact there is no stand by mode - only the front display can be set to go on stand by. There is an ON/OFF switch in the BACK of the unit (which happens to be upside down by N.A standards...). Something in the player gets turned on/off (some large transformer? with a protection circuit click sound) when the AUX button is pressed to get out of player mode to play an external source. The switch/click is also audible when cycling the AUX command to "TV". Must be turning on/off the internal video processor section.

2. The front display is significantly weaker and smaller than the CMDI. I can no longer read it from my sitting position. I have 10/10 vision... Also, the AUTO DIM actually works (didn't on the CMDI) but the sensor is useless - it dims the display much too low. My dimmer is set at 100% and is still not readable from sitting position (12 feet)

3. Opening or closing the CD tray automatically switches the unit to CD/DVD mode (cutting out any external source you might have been playing while loading a disk). This problem was resolved in the last software update of the CMDI but didn't make it on the SC first release apparently.

4. The disk player is very sensitive to minor smuges on disk surfaces. I NEVER had a mis read on the CMDI. Now the same disk collection occasionally fail on the SC (they play fine after wipping finger prints with a tissue). I have yet to encounter a disk that will not play at all.

5. Minor: the disk tray is short of opening fully by about 1/2' - no big deal. Requires very slight tilt to place disk on tray. No sure why this is.

6. Minor: Most disk (but not all???) seem to AUTO PLAY on tray closure. There is no setting to prevent this.

7. Minor: A black Linn unit use to be black... The black SC has a large silver section (the "unidisk" central section of the facade). Was this a cost saving measure? Would have preferred all black with silver buttoms like the CMDI.

8. Minor: The remote is the SAME as the CMDI. The SC does not come with the metallic and illuminated Unidisk (1.1 or 2.1) remote :-(

9. Minor: Noisy/bulky tray mechanism.

On the good side: Excellent CD playback, outstanding SACD Multi Playback. Outstanding degree of video and source integration (simpler set-up than CMDI). The Unit has both Toslink and RCA digital INputs. I'm still playing with Video settings but so far image on plasma is much brighter with better resolution - the difference was immediately obvious on first DVD played.

Now, to go Active or not ?!

Cheers

I think it is amazing. Price is depending on how you hear it. I compared it to the teac dv-50. I thought it was worth the extra money based on its sound and support from Linn.

The very short demo I heard would indicate Tom is correct with his analysis.
I wasn't blown away with either SACD or CD replay-I never heard DVDA at the time

1. The case and remote are a bit cheesy for an $11,000 player, a petty complaint admittedly.
2. It is exactly what the ultra high-end HT folks have been wanting.
3. Sonically, I think you could do much better with a separate CD/SACD player and DVD-V/DVD-A player. Probably would save a few grand in the process. While it is an excellent all-around player, I do not believe is is at the top of the list for any individual audio format. It is definitely not the "CD-12" of all digital audio formats.
4. I agree with KR, it is easy to use and has many interesting features and functions. However, I'm much more interested in how it sounds.

It is very simple to use.