Linn formats

In a Linn recording, the company's legendary audio expertise is employed to capture the unique atmosphere and emotion of the original live performance. Linn recordings are all made to the highest specification currently possible, using the best available equipment. Linn's precision engineering and commitment to quality consistently delivers recordings that provide the very best sound your player can offer.

The Linn catalogue currently has recordings available in three different formats. CD (including various additional audio enhancements noted below) Vinyl and Download (available in various file formats and sizes noted below).

 

CD

The Compact Disc has come a long way since it was initially introduced. Linn has used its expertise in sound recording to use the CD medium to the full and offers discs which all play back in regular CD players whilst offering various enhancements which can be exploited on more specialist disc playing products. The enhancements include SACD, HDCD and GOLD discs.

CD/SACD

All Linn SACD (Super Audio Compact Disc) discs can be played on all CD players, with the high definition layer only available when a compatible player is used. All Linn's SACDs are hybrid discs. Your disc player product manual should contain information telling you if your player is SACD capable. If you do not yet have a player with SACD capabilities you can still benefit from the best sound available on any CD player. Hybrid discs are recorded on two layers, much like a DVD disc, one layer has a standard CD recording and the second layer is used for the SACD recording. A standard CD player will automatically select and play the CD recording as if it were a normal CD. However, the SACD recordings offer amazing clarity with an unbeatable depth of detail that allows the listener to experience music with striking realism and emotional power. For a truly thrilling SACD experience listen to a Linn SACD on a Linn player. Many SACD discs, additionally, offer multichannel recordings and these discs can be played back in multichannel or standard two channel mode. Consult your product user manual for information regarding selection of the various playback audio formats available from your player.

CD/HDCD

All Linn HDCD discs can be played on all CD players, with the high definition enhancement only available when a compatible player is used. The player product manual should contain information telling you if your player is HDCD capable. HDCD (High Definition Compatible Digital) encoded recordings provide more dynamic range which helps bring the recordings to life. In effect the dynamic range is stretched by a clever use of a patented recording technique. When your player recognises this disc type it switches in the appropriate decoding circuitry and reconstructs the original musical signal.

CD/GOLD

All Linn Gold discs can be played on all CD players. Linn GOLD discs are specially re-mastered from the original analogue or digital master tapes and pressed to the highest standard using a pure 24-carat gold coating for maximum performance. These limited edition discs are a collector's item and are no longer available from Linn Records.

 

VINYL

The original, and some say the best, high quality music recording system. Linn's top quality pressings are available on 180 gram VINYL and are manufactured by the prestigious Pallas firm in Germany, which is highly regarded by vinyl lovers everywhere. When played on a high quality record player these discs deliver a sound quality that is unmatched by any other domestic analogue system. People that have record collections just keep adding to them. In recognition of this fact we have done all we can to deliver what we feel is the best that is possible today. The surface noise on our LPs is as low as we can make and any minor imperfections are easily ignored when the music is delivered in such a seductive way.

 

DOWNLOAD

Linn makes download files available in three quality levels: Studio Master (best), CD Quality (better) and MP3 (good).

You should select the level you require based on the sound quality you desire. Do remember though, the better the sound quality the larger the download file size. The various file types are discussed in greater depth here. If you are an advanced user you can also read a lot more about our downloads by clicking on the "download" tab at the top of the page.  

You will find five different download choices on this site - Studio Master FLAC, Studio Master WMA, CD quality FLAC, CD quality WMA and MP3.

If you are a PC user we recommend you choose Studio Master WMA, CD quality WMA or MP3 files. Advanced PC users can also choose FLAC.

If you are not a PC user we recommend you choose Studio Master FLAC, CD quality FLAC or MP3 files.

If you are intending to play your downloads through a Linn DS digital stream player we recommend you choose Studio Master FLAC or CD quality FLAC files.

 

Studio Master FLAC

If absolute sound quality is what you want then this file is best for you.

FLAC files are lossless at various high bit rates, for example, 44.1kHz, 48kHz, 88.2kHz, 96kHz and 192kHz (check each title for actual details).  The quality is identical to that of an SACD (Stereo only). The format will be dependent on the actual recording method we used originally. No DSD files are offered as it is not possible to play them back on a PC so an equivalent PCM format is offered. These files offer true "studio quality" and are what was used by Linn to produce the production version of our CD releases. Be sure to check compatibility with your computer sound card etc before you download a file and note that large amounts of storage space are required for each track.

FLAC files can be imported into many media players, such as the Linn DS digital stream player, but unfortunately Microsoft does not yet support high bit-rate FLAC, so these files will not play in Windows Media Player. There are many other FLAC players available such as Media Monkey and Foobar.

FLAC Studio Masters play in Play and VLC, but not in Cog or MPlayer. It is however very easy to transcode FLAC to several other lossless formats.

Mac Users can convert FLAC files using MAX http://sbooth.org/Max/.

For further information about FLAC please visit the FLAC website.

Please note:
We recommend you burn a DVD-audio to create a back-up of your download purchase.  Click here for instructions.
You can also play Studio Master files through your digital media receiver or in windows media player.
These files are too large to burn on to a CD and you will not be able to play these files in your CD player.

We will be adding more albums at this quality rate as they become available. 
Click here for a full list of all available Studio Master albums. 

Studio Master WMA

If absolute sound quality is what you want then this file is best for you.

WMA files are lossless at various high bit rates for example, 44.1kHz, 48kHz, 88.2kHz, 96Khz and 192kHz (check each title for actual details). This download is offered for those who desire the best sound possible. The quality is identical to that of an SACD (stereo only). The format will be dependent on the actual recording method we used originally. No DSD files are offered as it is not possible to play them back on a PC so an equivalent PCM format is offered. These files offer true "studio quality" and are what was used by Linn to produce the production version of our CD releases. Be sure to check compatibility with your computer sound card etc before you download a file and note that large amounts of storage space are required for each track.

Information for PC Users.
WMA lossless files can be imported and used directly in most PC audio programs including Windows Media Player and iTunes. iTunes will convert the files to AIFF.

Information for Mac Users.
WMA lossless files cannot be imported into iTunes but they can be converted using 'Switch', a download for Mac (http://www.nch.com.au/switch/) which will convert WMA files. 

Please note:
We recommend you burn a DVD to create a back-up of your download purchase.  Click here for instructions.
You can also play Studio Master files through your digital media receiver or in windows media player.
These files are too large to burn on to a CD and you will not be able to play these files in your CD player.

We will be adding more albums at this quality rate as they become available. 
Click here for a full list of all available Studio Master albums.

 

CD Quality FLAC

If CD sound quality is what you want then this file is best for you.  

FLAC is a lossless format allows us to compress the music in a lossless manner ensuring that you get all the benefit of a full bandwidth audio performance, but with a file size that is around half that of a normal CD.

FLAC files can be imported and played on a variety of media players, such as the Linn DS digital stream player. To play these files in Windows Media Player you first need to download a filter such as the one at Illiminable.

FLAC files can be played back flawlessly on Macs in OS X. Examples of playback tools are Cog, MPlayer, VLC and Play.

For further information about FLAC please visit the FLAC website.

CD Quality WMA

If CD sound quality is what you want then this file is best for you.

WMA is a lossless format allows us to compress the music in a lossless manner ensuring that you get all the benefit of a full bandwidth audio performance, but with a file size that is around half that of a normal CD.

If you are a PC user it is simple to download WMA.  WMA can be imported and used directly in most PC audio programs including Windows Media Player and iTunes.

WMA files can only be imported into iTunes on a Mac once converted to a Mac friendly format. The files can be played on a Mac, but in a limited way. The Microsoft website has further information regarding playing these files on a Mac. We wanted to offer Apple lossless too, but have been unable to get the rights to do this. You can also use "Switch", an audio conversion utility produced by NCH Swift Sound to convert them to aiff or wav type files which can then be easily imported at full CD audio quality in iTunes.

 

MP3

This file type should work with all computer types including PC, Mac and Linux. This is similar to what most other download sites refer to as "CD" quality. In fact, what they normally mean is that the file is digital, most other compressed music delivery sites deliver very poor audio quality. The audio that we offer is compressed but only to the point that sound quality doesn't suffer unduly (320kbps compared to other sites which are 128kbps).

If the download speed of your internet connection is a concern then this file is best for you. This type of download file is the only one to consider if you have dial up, the others are much too large to download over a dial up connection.