I have long thought that Art was the magazines best writer (putting aside his political inclinations). That said, this review was like reading glop. I read it three times and decided...
1. I have no idea what this thing is other than a quality DAC at a big price.
2. The setup instructions from Linn might as well be written in Croatian translated by a Burmese illiterate. Setup was hell.
3. The integrated amp functions were ho-hum at the best
4. The reviewer was walking on a knife edge. He had no real idea what to do with this thing, suspected it could be magic (pun intended) but could not figure it out enough to confirm it so...he praised it with great restraint.
5. JA was less than impressed with its measured performance. 'Fairly respectable' is what I expect from the better $500 gear, not a $4200 oddity.
If I was in the market for an expensive DAC this would not be on my list. I simply could not figure out what its role in the audio sky was supposed to be from this review and the setup seems akin to heart surgery, and just as messy.