Sheer musicality

None for my ears

Linn CD-12, though expensive, is worthwhile investment for those who care about the ultimate CD playback. Before CD-12, I used Forsell Air Reference MkIII transport, together first with Forsell Reference D/A Mk III, then with Cello Reference DAC. The digital cable is XLR NBS Monitor 0. You know these combinations are also very costly, and are reputed to have rather "analogue" sound. However, the musicality of CD-12 surpasses all these. I never regretted in investing in CD12. Will give ten stars if possible for quality and my enjoyment of music from this machine; but three stars for value-rating. This CD player is obvious not for everyone.

Customer Service

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Similar Products Used:

Forsell Air Reference MkIII transport, together first with Forsell Reference D/A Mk III, then with Cello Reference DAC.

This product's sole reason for being is to sell Ikemi and Genki players... Nothing else. [OK, I take that back. It's also a Scottish plot to separate American dot-com millionaires from their easy-come-easy-go money.] If Linn manages to sell a few, then they're way ahead of the game.

You covet the Sondek, but could never afford it, so you steal from the kid's college fund and pay $3500 for Ikemi---it's worth it, right? After all, it shares components with the Sondek, right? Hell... It's a damn bargain!

I'd be willing to bet the cost of the unit, that in a double-blind test, nobody could pick the player out from a lineup. In fact, I bet if I stuffed it's guts into a Marantz case, and sold it for $500 dollars, suddenly there would be all sorts of imaginary flaws that make worse than some 5,000 dollar Meridian, or such. What a racket.

Think how much great gear you could have for 20,000 dollars!!

Geez. P.T. Barnum was right.

I bought the Classik. It was worth it, right? I mean, after all... ;-)

A very beautiful piece of sculpture that happens to make CDs wonderful.

Induce envy from some of us that nobody should have enough money to own it.

Have you watched that film the Fifth Element where an imaginary alien opera singer sings that aria? During my visit to London hifi show those nice guys from Linn plays this piece of music again with their new shiny silver colour Sondek with a few Klimax driving a pair of active speakers. It was wonderfully natural and involving. It shows how good a singer is Meiwenn Le Basco. I was instantly in love with this piece of box of magic. The only thing that top that was a pure Sony SACD demonstration set up.

I have a friend who could justify buying for himself a Mark Levinson transport, 335 monoblocks and Revel Salon speakers. A lot of audiophiles do owns Krells and speakers like B&W 801, 802, and Wilson System 6 and it cost more then that box of magic. Unfortunately, they do sound better (but as some of you point out not much so). I am afraid the Sondek CD12 is targeted at them. It is also true Linn may have made the CD player as a demonstration of their ability and I say they did it very well indeed. Mercedes & BMW invest lots of their money in making top end cars, which are not destined to sell many but to move their cheaper products. Do we make fun of them? Do I detect envy in some of the reviewer here?

Think of it in another way. There are many paintings, sculptures, potteries and so call art objects, which are also priced the same if not easily more. Would you fault me if I try to convince you that I would buy it because I believe it is truly a beautiful limited edition work of art in its own right that just happen to play CDs wonderfully. Love is blind.

Similar Products Used:

Mark Levinson 31.5CD Transport. Linn Karik/Numerik. Sony CD1. Meridian 508.2

I heard this player at the VAD hifi show in Veldhoven. They compared this CD player with a Sondek LP12. Conclusion: the LP12 sounded much better then the CD player. It's not for nothing that Malcolm J Lathem said, if you want to sell this player then don't compare it with the LP12, because then you won't sell any....Probably it is a good player, and sounds terrific...but it still can't beat his college.

Beautifully Crafted

Ridiculous, ludicrous price.

I had an opportunity to audition the CD12 at an audio-video show held annually by a high-end stereo store in our city. I sat down in a luxuriously decorated listening room in a nice fat chair and waited in anxiety for this $20,000 CD player to suck me into a realm of live music that I had never experienced before. The entire system was Linn, from the CD player to the Aktiv speakers. Their best. Their most expensive. Well, what happened? I heard recorded music. Although the player was silky smooth, vocals rich with energy, bass that was strong yet tight and energetic, I didn't feel that I was "there". I listened to several different recordings, and it still sounded "recorded". There is absolutely no justification in the price that Linn is asking for this unit. It may look and sound wonderful, but $20,000? Get real Linn. I can think of a million other things I could spend that kind of money on.

The Sondek is not for the faint or heart when it comes to the cost ($20K) but is it worth the money?. ABSOLUTELY!!! There is nothing out there for less or more that may beat the Sondek CD12 by any remote margin. At best it may match the sonic performance. I auditioned the Sondek CD12 against the Wadia 270/27ix, Wadia 7/9 and the ML 30.5/31.5. The Wadia 270/27ix has it all except the extreme musicality of the Sondek (especially vocals). The Wadia 7/9 matches the CD12 and possibly beats this unit but at a cost of $26K and not available any more. The Mark Levinson 30.5/31.5 was not even at par and so off base it is not worth considering at $25K.
Where does the Sondek out perfom where others have failed (everywhere). The highs are extremely delicate and full of finesse and the low end had an impact that will make those drums sound live. The mid range has a realism that will almost make you forget that you are listening to a CD, rather live.

The only draw back is that there is shortage of preamps that can do justice for this CD transport (ML 32 or Conrad's Art) are the only two preamps that I can think of immediately that may allow the full sonic characteristic to surface and even then, I would say that the preamp's are still contributing to 5% of sonic degradation.

If you have a lot of CD's and plan on purchasing lots more CD's the SONDEK is the only CD player you will probably need. I figure in the last ten years the referance transport/Dac are still being sold and sounds referance level (i.e. Wadia 7/9, Sonic Frontier T3/P3, etc). So how long is it going to be before the Sondek is revamped or upgraded to warrent significant enough improvement in sound (maybe another 10 years or until the CD become obsolete?).

Auditioned through full active Linn Keltik system using Klymax amp's and Tara Two speakers cables with Quatrofil interconnects. Also auditioned through referance Mark Levinson gear using Tara One interconnects and speaker cables.

I had the fortunate privilege to listen to the Linn Sondek CD12 (I think, for obvious reasons, it should have been called the "CD5") at Sounds Like Music in Phoenix, on a system which previously had the famous Levinson 30.5/31.5 combo hooked up to it, and I've never heard that room sound better in the three years I've visited the store. Electronics were flagship Levinson, the speakers were the flagship Revel. I have never heard Dave Brubeck's fabulous 'Take Five' sound better.
What does the CD12 achieve?? It brings out an analog "nuance" (resolution) which I previously thought could never be extracted from a CD. It basically combines the subtle textures which Wadia is famous for, but the analog section if far better- there was a sense of "acoustic atmosphere" which both triode and analog lovers would salivate over. (And make one listen to music 'til 4 in the morning...) A relaxed dynamic- a lack of a "splashy" character which even the finest before the CD12 could not be devoid of. Also, both the micro and absolute dynamics are unmatched, coming closer to that of analog as well. Note that I am neither a Levinson nor Revel fan, but that system was among the best I've ever heard at any price, and the transformation the CD12 brought to the system was nothing short of astounding.

And oh yes, the price. At $20,000 for this modest-looking piece, it seems like the only people who will be able to own a Linn Sondek CD12 are only those who can afford the likes of an Audio Note Ongaku or JM Labs Grand Utopia, but for those who can afford the finer things in life, this unit breathes new life into the much-maligned 44.1-kHz sampled 16-bit compact disc. Although the price has tempted me to knock off a speaker from the Audio Review rating, until an integrated player or 2-piece digital rig matches the Linn Sondek CD12's performance at a lower price, I will give this product five speakers.

Having been a Linn fan for years now, i jumped at the chance to listen to the new Sondek CD12. On Ivor Tiefenbrun's (The Founder of Linn) recent visit to Adelaide he brought a CD12 with him to Jim Tate Stereo.
Due to a customer blowing out the bass drivers in the stores only pair of Keltik's we had to be content listening through passive keiledh's. We preceded to perform an A+B test, the CD12 against a Karik (no numerik). The sound was exceptional out of the Karik, but then when we listened to the same track through the CD12, the Karik sounded broken.

The sound was brighter and more of the music was able to be heard, it was truely exceptional. One thing i would have liked to have done was compare the CD12 against a Karik/Numerik Combo, because the Numerik does make a huge difference to the sound of a Karik.

Linn have out done themselves this time but the CD12's quality remains a contentious issue with some other listeners that day, Remarking that the CD12 is not as good as a fully upgraded Sondek LP12.

The Sondek CD12 is a masterpiece of Engineering and Coupled with the new Klimax Single Speaker Amplifier, it will get even better. But with the A$40,000 price tag i think it will be a piece of equipment ill never own.

I also had the chance to listen to a CD-12 at Sounds Like Music. The Sondek was perfect in every measurable way. The voices were breathing and crisp, the instruments were full bodied.
You'd think the musicians were in the room with you...

I played some Dave Brubeck and Keb' Mo'...it was wonderous!

They had this setup with Linn's 5103, 8 Klimaxes, and a pair of fully Aktiv Keltiks. It was stunning, but then for 100K it had better be!

This is the best truly the best CD player in the world! The perfection of CD playback technology.

However, it's 20k pricetag is out of my range at least.

It's a sad but true fact that we here in England were one of the later markets to get the Sondek CD-12. Gone are the days in which Linn only sold within these isles.

It used to be true of Linn products that they only really made sense within an all-Linn system. Well I can report that this is no longer true. We spent a very pleasurable afternoon listening to the CD-12 in two systems, one unashamedly high-end, one in a much lower range, courtesy of our favourite dealers - Phase 3 hi-fi in Worthing, England.

In the high-end system (Linn CD-12 Sondek, Chord Pre-Amp {forget the model number - oops}, Chord SP-1200B Power Amp, B&W Nautilus 801 speakers) the one word that came over was "musical". The CD-12 played music, and it sounded wonderful - from Langlais' "Messe Solomnelle" (Hyperion), through to Dire Straits' "Calling Elvis" we were transfixed. Indeed, on this system it was only when we turned round to talk to each other that we realised how loud the music was. So we tried turning the system right the way down, and the level of transparancy was still amazing.

The real eye-opener came next, however.

We then put the CD-12 into a lower-end system. This used Linn Keilidh speakers, and a John Shearne Phase 2 Integrated amp, with a John Shearne Phase 3 pre-amp (these were chosen to be what we have at home, albeit with a much more modest set of sources.) The system sounded, again, really musical, and we were transfixed at how good our amps and speakers could be given the right source. Shearne amps and Linn speakers are not an obvious combination - indeed I wouldn't be surprised to learn that we were the only people in the world who had such a combination in their main systems at home. The difference between this and the reference system above was one of scale. It didn't sound quiet as open at very low levels (the Chord power supply is known to be capable of very subtle responses), and it didn't play anything like as loud.

The conclusion is that the CD-12 sounds fantastic, even in a very modest system, so scores 5 out of 5 for quality.

For value, however, one has to ask about how high I can rate a CD-player, launched in 1999, a year in which the high-end question is one of DVD-A vs. SACD, which costs £12,000 of our pounds ($20,000 US or $40,000 AUS). What we decided to do was buy a decent DVD to use as a transport (Denon 5000), and buy a high-end DAC (Chord DAC-1500), giving a saving of about £5000 - which, after all, will pick us up a combined SACD/DVDA player next year...