Stereopal.com visits Lincoln of Audiotechnique Magazine

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Stereopal Visit: Lincoln of Audiotechnique Magazine, Hongkong Date: March 20, 2006

The "5 Goddess" plus "the 8 Titans", Lincoln's 5 piece CD player combined with the 8 piece

Krell Evolution system is easily one of the most expensive systems I have ever heard"

..... Rick, Stereopal Admin.

It is not everyday that you run into somebody who has absolutely nothing except the Best of the Best. The evening I spent with Lincoln was certainly the highlight of my recent trip to Asia.

Lincoln has over 30 years of experience as an Audiophile, and he is the executive editor of the Audiotechnique magazine. The sound of his system certainly lives up to his reputation. The system is accurate, detailed, fasting sounding, punchy and at the same time, extremely musical. His audio room is not large by any North American standards, but the soundstage is so wide it is jaw dropping.

It is an honor for me to present to you Lincoln's impressive setup.

System Components:

Turntable:	Basis Signature Series
5 Piece CD System:	Transport - Esoteric P-01 SACD/CD Transport with Seperate Power Supply Unit
	Monaural D/A Converter - Esoteric D01 (2 pieces)
	Master Clock - Esoteric G-0s
Phono Preamp:	Boulder 2008
Preamplifier:	Krell Evolution Two Monaural Preamplifier with separate power supply
Amplifier:	Krell Evolution One Monaural Power Amplifier with separate power supply
Speaker:	Venture Audio Grand Excellence Diamond SE
Cables:	Siltech / Taralabs
Power Conditioner	Shunyata Hydra

Stereopal's Comments:

I was thrilled when I learned that Lincoln was inviting me to his house, I knew I would be in for a treat.

Krell Evolution One & Two, Esoteric Top of the Line stuff, and to top it off, the Venture Grand Excellence speakers !

Such rare combination of fine equipments are very hard to come by.

When I walked into the audio room, I said to myself "My ! These speakers are going to over power the room !?"

Lincoln's audio room is not very big. These imposing speakers are less than a feet from the side walls, and the listening position is approximately 6 feet from the speakers.

"Just sit down and listen", Lincoln responded confidently.

I was wrong. I was immediately "drawn into" the music. The was no room resonance to speak of, and there was no bass boom whatsoever. Clean, tight, and full thumping low frequency was present without apology. The speed and accuracy of the high notes was unlike anything I have ever heard before. Then Hugh Masekela was played, it was like he was standing right in front of me. He was not oversized or bloated, all done right in David Copperfield's disappearing fashion.

We had the opportunity to A/B'd between Analog vs the Esoteric 5 piece system. Without listening to the LP turntable, in Lincoln's words, "you would have no complaints whatsoever". The sound of the Esoteric player came very close to 33 rpm LPs on the same title. But when a 45 rpm LP of the same titled was played, , there's still no contest between them.

Once you have listened to Lincoln's system, its very hard to get the sound off your head. Fellow member Stephen, who came with me to this visit had only one comment to make: "Lincoln's system is absolutely stunning, it is like super good sounding multiplied by a thousand fold !"