To be honest, you guys need to swap out the Linn IC and NOS-tube the Berning, which I think remains fair given the price disparity.
Although the CD12 is wonderful - for CD - Linn is quite biased component-to-component towards dynamics and detail at the expense of rear hall depth and liquidity (a house bias). In my experience, albeit limited, with the Berning, it also tends towards detail and "accuracy" if not fed right upstream. Given that the Karma's ceramic drivers can also load towards detail, the IC issue becomes even more critical, especially when we concede that our own experiences show us that the wrong IC -and particularly one designed by a manufacturer who designes its IC's as part of a system without the need for versatility from sysetm to system - can make all the difference in the world.
With that said, I thought the Berning was a nice amp at $4500, but did not consider it world class.
Nice thread though and thank you for your efforts.
Although the CD12 is wonderful - for CD - Linn is quite biased component-to-component towards dynamics and detail at the expense of rear hall depth and liquidity (a house bias). In my experience, albeit limited, with the Berning, it also tends towards detail and "accuracy" if not fed right upstream. Given that the Karma's ceramic drivers can also load towards detail, the IC issue becomes even more critical, especially when we concede that our own experiences show us that the wrong IC -and particularly one designed by a manufacturer who designes its IC's as part of a system without the need for versatility from sysetm to system - can make all the difference in the world.
With that said, I thought the Berning was a nice amp at $4500, but did not consider it world class.
Nice thread though and thank you for your efforts.