Upgrading my Linn set up HELP advice please

Interesting reflection by Lugnut on digital source purchase at this time. I myself am wondering about low end digital, now that I'm looking for a player for a friend. I want to hear some cheap DVD players with CD outs. Good comments I've heard about these recently may be a sign that the digital playing field is leveling.

OTOH my biggest surprise recently was my Apogee DAC. My goodness that was a step up in liveliness and immediacy, a veil torn away.

But to sum up, yes, Joolz, I concur with Lugnut, look into preamps now. When you find one, enjoy, then when ready, glance at the digital source question just in case there are clear signs by then that you should go that way. If there are not, then go right on to Aktiv.

ive been looking around the site for preamps and there seems to be a couple of other preamps other than the kairn.....they are the wakonda and the kolector and they seem to be cheaper($400-$600used) how do these fair??? or is just worth spending the $900 for a used kairn?
also is it worth adding a audio alchmy DAC to the arcam,it seems to be a fairly cheap upgrade and a maybe a fairly noticable one too($200ish used)
cheers

Joolz,

You need a TUBE preamp. Seriously. I own a Wakonda and like I said before, it's okay. Sonically, the Linn preamps haven't come far since the days of the LK1. What they are now is feature rich. If you want to whole-house your system then the Linn preamps make it a snap but if you want to take the performance up several notches go with a tube unit.

Joolz, it's great playing backup to Lugnut. He's right, you know. Look at what I said up above: one nice thing about Linn active systems is you don't have to use Linn amps. That goes for preamps too. You can have a wonderful Aktiv system eventually, and with careful shopping it will sound better than anything Linn can sell for the same money... or maybe even for a bit more.

Your Linn dealer will not agree.

Upgrades are expensive. Don't fool around; get the very best preamp you can afford. Do you absolutely, positively feel you must go Linn? Then in Linn-relative terms, the Majik is a lot better than the Classik, the Wakonda is a nice step up from the Majik, and the Kairn is a real upgrade from the Wakonda. In high-end relative terms, though, the Kairn is good; the Wakonda is OK; the Classik will do nicely in a bedroom. If you want REALLY musical, oh-darn-I-hate-to-turn-my-system-off sound for similar money, look elsewhere is good advice.

P.S. you asked about an AA DAC, and again my advice is to get the very best you can squeeze out of your wallet. IMHO you need to do more research on DACs before you choose one. You may do better with a two-box upgrade, but OTOH you may not. (A tip: if you do go for a DAC, try to find an Apogee DA1000E if you can.) However, if I were you, I would not let the appearance of a deal on a possibly-interesting DAC distract me from my main search now, which is for a preamp. You will not recognize your system once you have found that.