Properly setting up, Linn certainly can keep up with the current competition in its price range, I think. However, setup is really important and it is much more finicky and sensitive than VPI or TW Acoustic that I own. However, I have a good friend who is love Linn and tweak it to death. He also helped set up several Linns in my other friends' systems and they all sound great. Certainly have no problem playing hard rock, pop, orchestral, vocal or pretty much any kind of music you throw at it. I rather like it, not well enough to replace my TW or VPI DD but certainly I don't think it is an underacheiver in its price range. The biggest weakness it has is that it does not look like it should cost this much. I am not sure if there is any other turntable above $10,000 that look cheaper than Linn.
