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cdp3E: Ahem. In use the absence of a most basic mechanical button for TOC/play/pause and stop was terribly awkward. Standing right in front of the machine without the wand, the only action I could take was load a new CD if the present one had first been remotely stopped or spun to the end. Being forced at such proximity to prompt any real function by remote seemed silly to be polite. I'd lobby Ivo hard for some basic controls on the top cover right behind the front edge. That'd keep the fascia pristine and punters happy. Since this is a new and lower-volume product, such changes seem unlikely. Be sure then that you can live with the cdp3E as functionally prude as it is.

Ditto for its automated DAC access. It admittedly will be the rare owner who on the fly would want to A/B/A toggle between CD/Pro and external source like reviewers do. But who in their right mind would (or should!) tolerate a €4.500 preamp or integrated amplifier where changing sources requires physical cable swaps? That's exactly what Linnenberg expects. Doing this a few times actually killed one of my Onkyo ND-S1 digital-direct iPod docks. Thankfully it still was under warranty. Eluding repair, the dealer promptly dispatched a replacement. I'm unsure whether the Linnenberg somehow backfires a small transient switch current whenever it disconnects its own transport from the DAC to see the BNC input instead.


In his owner's manual to the DAC2 Daniel Weiss for example sternly warns against connecting his Firewire DAC to any computer whilst either are live. Apparently doing so can kill a Firewire driver. In any case, I duly refrained from using the Onkyo again. To explore Linnenberg's digital-in feature from my iTunes library, I ran the tough pro-audio Weiss as a Firewire-to-S/PDIF converter instead. While it was curious to watch a CD spin yet kill its sound simply by switching to a new source via a digital cable connection—and reverting instantly to CD again by merely pulling the cable—I would have much preferred a physical switch to leave the cabling alone.


What exactly constitutes a "valid signal" at the BNC input to activate it? With the Stealth Audio Varidig cable connected to listen first to the iMac stream, I kept a CD spinning to find out. I paused PureMusic 1.72 to interrupt the signal. This did not unmute the CD/Pro. I next exited PureMusic and iTunes altogether. The spinning disc still remained stumm. Disconnecting the Stealth Audio Varidig digital link from the Linnenberg did the trick. As long as the digital cable was in place even with the Weiss powered down, the cabled connection took precedent and no signal was required to mute the disc.

Internal I²S vs. external S/PDIF: Ivo's claim for the former's superiority was fact. My context had S/PDIF run from iMac to Weiss via Firewire, coaxial from Weiss to Linnenberg with plenty of extra circuitry, connectors and conductors. Had the cdp3E offered its own USB/Firewire input like the latest generation of 24/192 async USB-enabled Esoteric decks, this might have evened the score, minimized the offset or turned tables. Given the detour's nature, to the casual observer the magnitude of difference would at first have seemed surprisingly small. More attentive listening would have realized however that the more direct (and parallel rather than serial) connection threw more depth. All the tiny spiderwebby backstage stuff we group under hall sound or ambiance was more illuminated and teased out against the far more primary foreground action. While both paths had stupendous micro detail, I²S had more. Also peaks with perennial fave Dulce Pontes on Lagrimas could at room-filling levels get a mite glinty over the iMac whereas the CD/Pro maintained its sweet composure.

Renaud Garcia-Fon's latest Méditerranées [true aficionados of the 5-string bassist will want the 36-track version of the Composer's Series Parts 1 & 2 for the full Monty] confirmed that the primary advantage for the direct feed was secondary and tertiary data and how its presence enhanced the obvious foreground action. The cdp3E's ability to reveal all also clearly defined the exotic and strangely hissing drum beats for what they were. Less resolving machines can raise alarmed suspicion that these sounds are actually distortion.

Meanwhile this packed/stuffed surfeit of precisely sorted yet musically intermingling lines and activities filled the air in my space with such substance and density that any accusation of hyper realism would have failed its mark. Such a degree of resolution intensity gets artificial only when image density and tone colors don't keep pace with location focus and separation power. When the two sides of the hifi scale—emotional vs. mental, participant vs. observer, dynamics + tone vs. holography + micro resolution—are loaded up equally, the listener gets neither disoriented nor fundamentally cheated. One only feels incapacitated to refuse attention because the illusion of things happening right there gets magnified in persuasiveness. Put differently, the Linnenberg managed to sound loud down to quite diminished levels. To listen to it as background noise filler (think doctor's waiting room or sonic wall paper) would take rather lower than customary SPL before the music failed to intrude and involve.

cdp3E vs. Weiss DAC2: The Linnenberg fleshed out and texturized what the Weiss left drier, starker and paler. Quite matched on raw detail even though the cdp3E held a small advantage, the truly decisive factor was the legacy machine's greater image/tone density. Without any valves in the signal path, these qualities added up to what one usually expects from glowing bits whilst avoiding their liabilities. Transparency itself is ghostly. In more ways than one you see right through it. To mistake a virtual for a real performer without the aid of sight needs something extra, even compensatory. Think of it as incarnation factor. It turns ghosts into believable presences. For that our hifi must grab us on a nearly instinctual gut level far away from the mind. There dynamics certainly factor highly but during playback in the home they hardly ever approach realistic breadth and the true violence of live peaks. What's left then? However you define it, that's what made up the core difference between Linnenberg and Weiss.


cdp3E vs. Burson HA160D: This juxtaposition inverted the above. Very well matched on that—flesh & blood, incarnation factor, your term—the German had the superior ambient retrieval. This micro detail wrapped itself around performers to extricate them to a higher degree from the soundfield to become nearly freestanding entities. While this freestanding illusion never comes off fully, the cdp3E went just a bit farther than the HA160D. The sense of presences interacting with defined recorded space was more acute. In declining sequence of excellence, it thus was Linnenberg, Burson, Weiss. The first two shifted an important dividing line. Lesser albums apparently flat dimensionally and tonally would still sound flatter than their more masterful peers but no longer flat per se. The more incarnation is in place, the broader the scope of CDs or music files becomes that can sound very satisfactory. This is key to enjoying a library that's built from the music up rather than the sound down. The cdp3E brilliantly checked off all the usual audiophile attributes centered around resolution. More importantly, it began steadfastly on the other foot of physicality and substance.


Since my embrace of computer audio in early 2010, the Linnenberg became the first legacy player I've met—or let into the house—which suggests that the rationale or justification for its kind hasn't entirely expired yet. For the cdp3E it has most certainly run out on features (cough) but not on performance. To hard-boiled hifi fanatics that could be sufficient. Softening the scratchy hair shirt is the very attractive €4.500 sticker for a better than €3.000 Weiss converter + CD/Pro transport with custom servo board and all European manufacture. Add an ultra low-jitter USB-to-S/PDIF interface like the $495 Audiophilleo and the Linnenberg can even be converted into the last CD player you'll ever need. Ideally of course you'd want full PC functionality in one and not two boxes. Incidentally none of my prior CD/Pro-fitted digital decks ever failed me mechanically. I'd expect the cdp3E to be just as stone reliable. If it had more creature features and a USB or Firewire rather than BNC input, I'd be very tempted. Price, build quality and sonics are all top notch. I'd simply want it all. And that's where for me the Linnenberg doesn't deliver. An Esoteric K-03 for example has all the conveniences licked. It's also built like a tank. And it costs more. Could it sonically match the cdp3E? I'll be reviewing a K-01 or K-03 later in the year but the Linnenberg will long have returned to its maker to leave that question open.

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