Gerrardasnails:JohnDuncan:Though the new Classik has a digital-in as well. Looks quite funky.
My experience of the older Classik was that it more than held its own against similarly priced separates (Rega Planet/Mira), but you never know which Linn is going to turn up when new products come out.
It does look good. I think the price is indicative here. If this machine was really that good, it would cost a lot more than the price of the CA separates. Linn is an expensive brand and it's compact, good looking and therefore highly marketable. Normally a all in one box system lacks the performance of separates but you pay the premium of space saving and looks. I reckon you could add another 50% on the price for the fact that it's Linn.
Oh there's definitely margin in there, but as Ashley is fond of saying, you're paying a lot of money for the box to keep the electronics in, so there's a balance to be had. The old Classik was somewhere between the Arcam CD73/A70-something and The Rega Planet/Mira whilst throwing in a tuner, so was pretty good value I thought.