I bought my LP12 around 1994. Over the next six year I did every available upgrade to it. And then for the next thirteen years I just enjoyed it. Last year I took it in for a new cartridge and tune up. They brought it completely up to date and made it better than ever. 
The LP12 is a very well balanced design. Other 'tables might exceed it in rhythm and timing, extension, or background noise level, but the Linn consistently delivers the music from the grooves with all of those qualities in spades. 
The only piece of audio equipment I still have and use from that period is the HD600's, and you can't take them in and get the HD800 parts put in for a nominal charge. 
Buy a used one, get it set up by a pro, and never look back.

Hey Folks,
I have to say that this is the best quality audio I've heard from my MacBook Pro. I'm listening to iTunes through BitPerfect. Most of my listening is through Sennhelser IE80's and it's magical. The vocals sound more 'real' than through any other DAC. I was comparing tonight to the AK120, which I love for a portable player, and it was clear through the Meridian that the acoustic guitar had a pick-up in it, whereas through the AK120 it could have been mic'd. If you want to hear what the musicians are doing, and how they were recorded, this is the USB DAC for you.
What's even better is that you just stop listening for the sonic footprint and enjoy the music. All of the nuance and fun of your music just comes pouring out. I put on a few of the Beatles 24bit tracks from the Apple USB drive and I just couldn't tear myself away. 
I did try the DAC at work on my mac pro the mac is on a KVM extender. For some reason the system complained about USB power, when plugged into the ports on the extender. So I either have to get a very long headphone extension or a very long USB cable - or a new KVM extender. I'll report back if I find a solution. 
Meridian has been one of the leading audiophile companies for digital to analog conversion. This relatively inexpensive devices opens the doors great Meridian sound for your computer. I'm ecstatic. 

I count myself really lucky. I was convinced that these phones were too treble-ey and didn't have good bass. I tried some after market foam pads and the bass just came pouring out of them. This led me to experiment further and found that the black foam pads that came with them gave a very neutral, but full sound. I am very glad that I didn't write a review before because it would have been unfair. 
I used the IE80's to compare a Meridian Explorer DAC to a AK120 DAP and I must say the differences between these high quality sources was immediately apparent. You can hear very deeply into the recording with both. Great IEM's. 
Before I got these sorted out I was fitted for the UE Reference Monitors. If I'd had this kind of sound out of the box I might not have bothered. Although I'm still very curious about and looking forward to the customs.