Linn Unidisk 1.1 universal player:
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The Who's Tommy: Deluxe Edition, remixed from the 8-track tape, demonstrated all that. Easily the most significant remix of a classic stereo rock recording I've heard, it keeps most of the musical action in the front (effectively using the center channel), while making subtle but significant use of the surround channels to add depth and some startling accents (as when the deep-voiced Keith Moon says "Welcome" in the rear left channel, which caused me to jump).

While the IBC recording studio used for the original recording wasn't in the same technical league as Olympic or EMI's Abbey Road, the engineer managed to capture—on the original Track UK LP pressing, at least—one of the best crackling drum kits you'll ever hear on a rock record. None of the CD issues came close to capturing the smack of the original LP. The new set does—especially on the SACD layer played back on the Unidisk. The bass was extended, supple, and taut on the Unidisk. By comparison, it sounds thick and slow on the SCD-XA777ES, which collapses the Unidisk's spacious, lively, enveloping overall presentation.

Roxy Music's suave, stunning-sounding Avalon (EMI ROXYSACD 9), remixed for 5.1 channels, manages to conjure up all the transient detail and delicacy of the original while preserving and effectively expanding the album's unforgettable atmospherics. From the Unidisk, all the original UK LP's fine-china–like gracefulness, transparency, and spaciousness are finally available to digiphiles. Without that rarified atmosphere, the record can sound empty and precious.

Insert a DVD-A such as the spectacular Frank Sinatra at the Sands (Reprise R9 73777), subtly and effectively remixed by Eliot Mazer, and you're in the Copa Room at the Sands, though not standing in the middle of the orchestra (which would be stupid)—Sinatra is front and center, and Count Basie and the orchestra are effectively arrayed. The DVD-A also includes Lee Herschberg's recent 2-channel CD mix, sampled at 24-bits/192kHz. The Unidisk's rendering was absolutely thrilling; the opening orchestral flourish under the announcer was sparkling and dynamic without sounding bright or overly etched. Basie's piano had just the right combination of felt-hitting-strings percussion, sounding board, wood reverberation, and harmonic development to sound real. From the Sony SCD-XA777ES, the piano sounded thick and canned.

The Unidisk made these, and other high-resolution digital discs I auditioned, sound about as close to the original LPs as I've heard from digital—with the exception of dCS's $33,000 stack of equipment, including the Verdi transport, Purcell PCM-to-DSD converter, and Elgar DAC (2-channel, no DVD-A). The Linn's resolution, frequency balance, and extension at both ends of the audible spectrum made me want to just keep cranking up the volume—the louder I made it, the better it tended to sound. Like a fine wine, it just kept coming at me, delivering more of the goods.

That held true when I used the Unidisk 1.1 as a CD player, although, as good as it sounded, it wasn't as accomplished as the very best CD players I've heard. Even Linn admits that the Unidisk doesn't sound quite as good as their Sondek CD12, though they claim it comes close. I haven't heard the CD12 in a few years, so I can't verify Linn's claim, but I do remember how incredibly spacious, detailed, and 3-dimensional it sounded (for a CD player), and I don't think the Unidisk's CD performance is quite as close as all that. But the CD12 sells for $20,000; the Unidisk costs about half that and adds DVD-V, DVD-A, SACD, and multichannel decoding. And it still offers CD playback that's rhythmically taut, transparent, and spacious, with airy highs, tight and well-controlled bass, and plenty of detail, all without sounding etched or hard.

Conclusion
The Linn Unidisk 1.1 is one of the smartest, most versatile, most technologically advanced yet easy to use high-performance A/V products I've ever reviewed. It's exceedingly attractive, surprisingly compact and lightweight (thanks in part to its switch-mode power supply), and a truly universal player that maximizes perfor-mance from all formats. Its DVD-Video performance was superb, but in my opinion, comparable picture quality is obtainable for quite a bit less than $10,995; unless money is no object, look elsewhere if you're mainly interested in a video player. But if you're an audiophile and a video enthusiast and you've got $10,995 to drop, the Linn Unidisk 1.1 might well be the best universal player available. How well it will perform from its currently nonfunctioning DVI jack is yet to be seen.

The Unidisk 1.1 flinched at a few discs, which required multiple insertions before they were recognized, and for some reason it had trouble playing the new Tommy: Deluxe Edition SACDs. As Linn specifies in the instruction manual, they don't guarantee that the 1.1 will play all discs; you, too, might come up with some that will give it problems. However, all of these problems, including those I experienced with the Tommy discs, are solvable via easy-to-install software upgrades—one of the benefits of its proprietary, software-based operating system.

If I had $10,995, I'd buy a Linn Unidisk 1.1. It's light and small enough to be easily carried from my home theater to my 2-channel system, which makes it more of a $5497.50, doubly "universal" player. Now that's a bargain I can live with.