Quite recently I have been to one of the "Linn Lounge" events, these are set up usually with dedicated evening, in this case Miles Davis.
These have been designed to demonstrate the best that Linn have to offer and at this sitting the Exakt Akubarik Active Speakers and Klimax Exakt DSM network enabled player.
Primarily having been wowed by my experience with my Mojo and Miles Davis through all the IEM's and HeadPhones I own. Now there I was expecting to be blown away by the Linn gear.
I mean afterall we are talking about £20K+ active speakers and £8K+ network player. Surely a no contest?
By now you can probably guess where this is going. What I will say in defence of the Linn set up is that it was not in ideal listening conditions and it was good, very good. I would say that this venue was not best suited for solo listening the acoustics may have been all over the place. But at the end of the day
1. I would not, unless a lottery winner, be buying equipment at that price in the first place
2. Would probably need to experience this in a properly set up home Linn system
3. My listening through headphones allow me to tailor my listening experience solely for myself
I did consider offering the demonstrators my Mojo to try inline to feed the Active speakers but I'm sure they would not accommodate this.
I have since been back for a Mozart evening and again comparing tracks I own against those demoed, I personally on these 2 experiences would not have felt like I was missing out on anything at all while listening to the Mojo as I thought more details was gleaned from the music in my own setup.