An unpretentious, near-square box, the Linn Classik Music is a CD player, FM/AM tuner, DAC, preamp and power amp all in one, with a fair bit of multi-room capability built in as well.

It lays claim to 75-watt output, though that's into a four ohm load and it even has 'green' credentials in the form of a high-efficiency switch-mode supply, not to mention a 'paper-free' manual supplied on CD-ROM. Just about the only thing it doesn't seem to have is a phono stage.

Design details

Getting all this functionality into a case this size is quite an achievement, even in this age of miniaturisation. The CD transport (actually a DVD-ROM transport, if we've understood the labels on it correctly) is mounted amidships, but there's already an additional circuit board underneath it.

To the left is a heavily screened enclosure where the power supply resides, while on the right is another aluminium lump which turns out to be the heatsink for the power amp. A small fan, with a little air duct next to it, is mounted on the end of the heatsink: it's evidently temperature-controlled and must be a belt-and-braces inclusion as we never got it to come on, even when driving the amp hard and long in the lab.

Then at the back is another circuit board, mounted upside-down so that all one sees is circuit traces. Removing this, we found that the FM/AM tuner is a familiar device from Kwang Sung Electronics, the usual kind of package about the size of a pack of playing cards which does almost everything including RDS. Yet another circuit board is underneath it, with various connectors mounted on it.

Space-saving components

One major space-saving has come from using integrated circuit power amplifier modules. Once reviled (with good enough reasons a couple of decades ago), these have improved over the years and now feature in some quite well-respected kit from a wide variety of manufacturers.

They don't quite eliminate the need for external components, but they reduce the parts count considerably, especially when one considers that they include all sorts of fault protection. From them, the signal runs to BFA connectors on the back panel – those slightly bizarre 'inverted 4mm plug' connectors invented to avoid a feared ban on regular 4mm sockets which never materialised. They work perfectly well, just make sure your dealer sells you some suitably terminated cables!

Unlike other single-box systems we've seen (Arcam Solo etc.), the Classik Music has output sockets to feed as many as four other rooms in a home via Linn's 'Knekt' system. This uses cheap and relatively unintrusive cable between rooms, with power amplification carried out locally. Of course, this isn't a full server and there is no capability for playing different sources to different rooms, but it's a nice feature to have.

Fine build quality

We've nothing but praise for the standard of build and finish of this unit. The CD drawer is perhaps the most discreet we've yet seen, it fits into the front panel so well that one could easily miss it altogether.

The rest of the fascia is very smart and other details, like the feel and consistency of the buttons, have been well attended to. The remote control is a little dowdy by comparison, though it does make life easier.

The display is smart and informative, and is dimmable – but by default it adjusts its brightness automatically according to ambient light conditions. Other features include balance and simple tone controls, plus a host of user settings which most folks will never need to use, but could save the day in odd cases.