It's the company's most ambitious, innovative and far-reaching product to date. David Price tries out the Linn Knekt Kivor 'High Fidelity, High Capacity Hard Drive Audio Distribution System'.

INTRO
Linn calls this 'the ultimate source product for multi-zone and sophisticated single-user audio', and I think they might just have a point. Arguably the company's most interesting creation to date, the Knekt Kivor is (deep breath): a web-enabled, hard drive recording and playback 'audio distribution system' that stores almost 1400 hours of uncompressed music. 

It also does the full multi-room thing, serving up to 16 users independently and simultaneously. In a Linn Knekt Intersekt system, access from up to 128 zones is via a Linn Knekt keypad, and by touchscreen or computer.

Each Knekt Kivor has four modules, the (a) 'Tunboks' hard disk music storage system, (b) 'PCI Musik Machine' soundcard, (c) 'Oktal' eight-way 24-bit DAC, and (d) 'Linnk' control interface.

(a) TUNBOKS
The heart of the Kivor - think of this £8,000 box of tricks as the transport. Within its sizeable case, the basic Tunboks contains two 76GB hard drives which give 248 hours of uncompressed music, or far more if you choose to compress. It doesn't stop there though, because you can add 76GB disc drive modules at £500 a time, up to a maximum of 11.

As well as working with the rest of the Kivor modules, the Tunboks can be used in any conventional music system with a stereo DAC, and can furnish up to 16 independent, low-jitter audio outputs. Music can be downloaded via either the built-in CD-ROM drive, or the digital audio input of the PCI Musik Machine soundcard.

When loading a CD, the Tunboks connects to the Internet and downloads the title, track, artist and music type and adds this information to its database. Linn says that the internal modem also makes possible remote diagnostics and future software upgrades.

(b) PCI MUSIK MACHINE
A fascinating product in itself, Linn's first PCI soundcard can be thought of as the digital output section of the Tunboks. It gives eight balanced digital audio stereo outputs for direct connection to the Oktal. 

It works by turning the raw PCI data from the Tunboks into 'jitterless', HDCD-compatible AES/EBU digital audio data. These eight channels are then transmitted for processing to the Knekt Intersekt for distribution. It can also accept one stereo channel of AES/EBU digital audio, which can be converted to 32-bit parallel data prior to storage.

The Kivor PCI Musik Machine normally processes uncompressed digital audio data but it has the ability to pass signals for subsequent compression to MP3 format as well. There is one balanced digital audio stereo input for recording on the Tunboks. Two cards can be fitted to a Kivor, giving 16 digital stereo outputs and two digital stereo inputs.

(c) OCKTAL
The Kivor's £3,000 DAC module is capable of concurrently decoding up to eight digital stereo channels for connection to a Linn Knekt Intersekt system and encoding one stereo channel directly to the Tunboks source. Each digital audio input channel can detect and lock automatically to any sample rate between 32kHz and 96kHz at up to 24-bit resolution.

Linn says it can improve the sound quality of Digital Satellite, cable systems, DAB, MD and DAT products via their own digital outputs, and also directly interface to AES/EBU equipment for professional audio applications. It also offers analogue to digital conversion with manually-controlled input scaling and peak level indicators.

(d) LINNK
This £1,000 device bears no relation to the early-Eighties Linn phono stage of the same name. Rather, it's the Kivor's multi-room control interface and handles up to 16 Knekt remote in/out connections and converts the Knekt communications protocol to and from RS232 to allow a Knekt System to communicate fully with the Kivor Tunboks.

With the Linnk installed, the operation of the Knekt Kivor system is very simple through any number of Linn's Knekt Room Control Units, touchscreens or computers.

USING THE KIVOR
Essentially, your first point of contact with this amazing device will be through a computer screen. Any notebook or desktop PC will connect to the Tunboks via the RS232 port or USB (although the USB software drivers weren't available at the time of writing). Installing the software is straightforward enough - your friendly Linn dealer will come round to your house (mansion, stately home, etc.) and do it for you! Suitably booted up, the software displays, Windows Explorer-style, a list of the music on the Tunboks.

To add new CDs to the system, you simply feed your disc into the Tunboks' slot. If you've checked the 'Auto Record' box on the software, the system starts transferring the music onto the hard drive. Because the CD-ROM drive inside the Tunboks is a multi-speed affair, recording is far faster than real time (roughly three minutes per disc), and you can also play music through the Kivor while the process is going on. Once finished, the system dials up the Internet and downloads the complete track and title information all by itself. Within 10 minutes, your disc and all its text info is sitting on the Kivor's hard drive ready for action.

To fully understand the Kivor, you have to think of it in terms of a multi-room set-up. It's possible to use it as a single-source component in a single room, but that's rather like only using your Ferrari to nip down to the shops. 

To play music, you could either select it on your computer screen or make your way down to the East Wing of the house to your listening suite, whereupon you'll pick up your Knekt RCU (room control unit), and select the disc and track you wish to play. This is made easy by the RCU's text display, and the fact that every disc the Kivor stores has full artist, title and track information grabbed from the internet database. 

So, you scroll along through your discs by ARTIST (i.e. 'Van Morrison'), click DO to change the RCU's arrow buttons to select TRACK (i.e. 'Coney Island') and click DO again to get the PLAY MODE display, where you select PLAY. Within a second or two, the remote power amp you have in the corner of your room gets the Kivor's line-level feed and the music begins to issue forth through your loudspeakers.

SOUND QUALITY
I auditioned the Kivor in multi-room form, driving a Linn AV5105 power amp and Ninka loudspeakers. The results were superb, and I got the impression that it was better than its partnering equipment. This combination had quite a dry and clean character - very Linn, of course - which bristles with pace, bounce and dynamics. A very good analogy would be Linn's own £1,950 Ikemi, which is itself a big improvement on the Karik 3 I reviewed and loved back in the mid-Nineties.

The listening kicked off with Van Morrisonís 'Coney Island', which is a slick but beautifully-recorded track with some fantastic string work. The Kivor set up an extremely wide and tightly-defined acoustic, whose depth perspective was excellent, the music rising out of an inky black silence. 

Although it leant to the dry side of neutral, the Kivor conveyed the rich, resonant nature of Van's voice impressively well. And while strings didn't shimmer as convincingly as they do through either the CD12 or LP12, they were still rendered with a smooth, even texture that never once became strident. The overall effect was as moving as I've heard from any CD player, CD12 notwithstanding.

Next was Air's 'All I Need', an equally engaging piece of electronic Pop that can be incredibly involving if reproduced right. As the song kicked off, the Kivor's superbly articulated bass shone through. It's very Ikemi-like in this respect - strong and powerful with real grip, but also a tad dry and clinical. 

Above this, a clean, open midband was joined by a sweet and delicately etched top-end. The Kivor was very good on the 'architectural' aspects of the sound too, the result being that everything fitted into the mix with real precision.

This was pretty much the form whatever music I tried. The Kivor sounds just like any high-end Linn CD player - dynamic and tuneful, yet dry and smooth. This is no small praise - ultimately, Naim's CDX might just have the edge over it in terms of musicality and deep-down forensic detail, but the Linn's an accomplished all-rounder nonetheless. Whether it's a Sony remaster of Miles Davis' 'Sketches Of Spain', or Karajan doing Beethoven's Ninth on DG, you get an engaging but neat presentation that cuts to the mustard.

The Kivor's scope for flexibility is so vast that it's impossible to cover fully here. This is a remarkable product, and undoubtedly a blueprint for things to come - respect is due to Linn for launching it to a world as yet unaware of its potential. Give it time though, and I suspect someday all music systems will be made this way.

SPECIFICATIONS

TUNBOKS
TYPE: Hard disc-based music archival and playback system.
STORAGE: Up to 1380 hours of uncompressed music storage. Standard configuration includes 2  76GB drives. Up to 11 76GB drives can be factory installed.
COMMS: 2 serial interfaces for RS232 communication, 2 D-Type serial sockets.
ACCESS: 16 concurrent users, eight users or zones per Musik Machine PCI card.
FEATURES: Automatic retrieval and logging of CD Title, Artist, Track, Genre information for discs listed on Gracenote (CDDB), 56K analogue modem built in.
DIMENSIONS: 177x482x505mm, 12-20kgs.
FINISHES: Black and Silver.

OCKTAL
TYPE: 8-way stereo 24-bit converter unit.
DIGITAL INPUTS: AES/EBU interface on RJ45 connectors for direct connection to Tunboks.
DIGITAL OUTPUTS: 8 stereo channels, 1Vpp/110 Ohms, S/PDIF digital on RCA phono sockets, 8 stereo channels, 0.5Vpp/75 Ohms.
ANALOGUE INPUTS: 2 single-ended inputs on RCA phono sockets, input impedance 15k Ohms, adjustable in 0.5Vrms, 1Vrms, 2Vrms, and 4Vrms steps.
ANALOGUE OUTPUTS: 8 single-ended outputs on RCA phono, 2V RMS, 200 Ohms output impedance.
DIMENSIONS: 89x482x355mm, 5kgs.
FINISHES: Black and Silver.

PCI MUSIK MACHINE
TYPE: High Fidelity PCI Music Card.
OUTPUTS: 8 AES/EBU balanced interfaces on 2 RJ45 connectors.
INPUT: 1 AES/EBU balanced interface on 1 RJ45 connector.
CHANNELS: 8 stereo, 1Vpp/  110 Ohms, four stereo per RJ45 connector.
DIMENSIONS: 246x106x18mm, 100gs.

LINNK
TYPE: Knekt Control Interface.
CONNECTIONS: KNEKT 'remote in/out' (16 pairs, RCA phono), RS232 port1 for communications with Tunboks at 38400baud, RS232 port2 for software upload.
DISPLAY: 2 LEDs per source showing communications between Linnk and Intersekt. 2 LEDs for RS232 port1 showing communications between Linnk and Tunboks. 2 LEDs for RS232 port2 showing communications between Linnk and any product connected to the AUX port.
DIMENSIONS: 89x482x355mm, 5kgs.
FINISHES: Black and Silver.

WORLD VERDICT
Innovative stuff from Linn. Possibly the company's best ever product, it puts the writing on the wall for conventional CD-based systems. Superb sound and user interface allied to broad range of capabilities make it good value even at this price.