
The Linn Sondek CD12 is one of the very few players
in the world that “gets it right”. Linn are extremely proud of the
Sondek, indeed the word Sondek in Linn’s eyes represents something
unique a once in a lifetime product, indeed only the LP12 launched back
in 1972 has ever shared that title
Weighing in at well over £10,000, the Linn Sondek CD12 is far from
cheap but Linn has put together a package that is so musical and
accurate all round. Critics (many of whom never thought 16 bit audio
could sound so good) were amazed at what information the Linn Sondek
could extract from a shiny 12cm disc. One of the secrets of the Linn
Sondek CD12 like the earlier and much cheaper Linn Karik, is Linn’s
solution to CD jitter. Linn’s approach is to send clock timings to the
transport from the DAC, something that is only possible if you
manufacturer your own transport systems. Sadly the majority of
companies tend to buy off the shelf and build a DAC and player to
suite. The biggest problem with this is that these transports have no
inward bound clock communication and so vital information and timing is
lost before any digital information reaches the DAC. Yes the DAC can be
synchronised with the transport via PLL in the SPDIF, but this can
cause latency which is not ideal.