Linn Forums

I find the Exotik is only a little better than the 5103. It's slightly easier to follow the tune, with a little more clarity between the instruments. One of the more noticeable changes was on a Norah Jones track, where it became apparent that one particular note was caused by a hand tapping on the body of a double bass, where before it had just been a slightly indistinct tap.

Definitely not in the same league of changes as when I went from passive to aktiv Keilidhs or Keilidhs to Kabers, or when I moved from my original Philips SACD to my current modified Naim CD player.

The main reason for buying the Exotik was to give myself the option of using the six channel input, as I plan to buy a Blu-Ray player in the next year, and I want to be able to take advantage of the high resolution audio options. In addition, the 5103 can be rather fiddly to use, the buttons on both remote and fascia tend to stick etc. so an upgrade is nice from an ease of use perspective. The final, and rather trivial, reason to change was to get another silver rather than black box, and one with a blue display not a green! Big Grin

Ideally, I would have picked up a Kinos, but they seem to be going for about £2k, whereas I picked up the Exotik for only £750. The Exotik+DA would make sense if it was better priced, but they're only about £250 cheaper than the Kinos! Saving money on the preamp changes mean that I hope to be able to pick up a DS later this year.