Kinki

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Kinki

Post by lejonklou »

Yesterday a prototype of the new standalone MM stage Kinki was spotted at a swedish retailer and a story was written at the Swedish Linn forum: http://forum.selleri.de/viewtopic.php?t=3697

I was just about to write the next newsletter, but I will give some details here right away:

Kinki is much better than Slipsik 2.0, yet it will cost less than 60% of its price - in Sweden the recommended price is SEK 3900. Its exceptional performance leaves it with very few competitors.

The performance of Kinki is due to a new circuit design and more than one hundred listening tests (thankfully the Tune Method is fast, otherwise this kind of task would take forever). Each component value is exactly right, which creates a circuit in balance.

The price of a Kinki is kept low due to mass production - this unit will be sold on several markets, perhaps also in a 115V U.S. version. If you have a retailer who is interested, please let me know.

Kinki is available in silver colour only, is not upgradeable and the logo on the front is printed instead of machined. All in an effort to keep the price as low as possible.

Slipsik owners are kindly asked to have patience, you will be rewarded later!
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Re: Kinki

Post by Broccoli »

I have heard it, and it's really good! As a matter of fact, I ordered one right away!
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Post by lejonklou »

Cool, thanks! :D
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Post by Broccoli »

How's it going? Any Kinkis arrived to the shops yet? (Take your time, I want my unit to be carefully manufactured ;))
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Post by lejonklou »

There has been a slight delay due to getting all the manufacturing details right. The company that assembles the circuit boards have proven to be very attentive and good with details, so I have tried ironing out anything that could differ from how I want them.

The first Kinkis will arrive in 2 weeks. Thanks for your patience!
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Post by Broccoli »

No probs. But I'm really looking forward to hearing just how much better my LP12 can sound.
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Post by lejonklou »

The first batch of Kinkis are now being sent out.

Broccoli has gotten his - hope you like it!
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Post by Broccoli »

Yes, I have the one with serial nr 0002, very cool :) I certainly like it!
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Post by lejonklou »

UK version of Kinki is now ready.
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Post by lejonklou »

115V US version of Kinki is now ready and the first unit has been sent to ThomasOK for evaluation.
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Post by ThomasOK »

I just wanted to drop a note to let everyone know how impressed I am with the Lejonklou Kinki. As Fredrik noted, he sent me the first US version a while back for evaluation. It took me a while to get time to give it a thorough listen but I have done a fair bit of listening to the Kinki now and I am quite pleased with the performance.

My first impression when listening to the Kinki was of a unit with a great flow and a lot of power in the reproduction of music and this has been confirmed during additional evaluation. I have compared the Kinki to a number of phono stages both internal and external and it outperforms all but one that I have tried so far. I find the Kinki easily outperforms the Majik Kontrol and Majik Integrated moving magnet phono stages. It is not quite as good as the phono stage in the Akurate Kontrol but I feel it is closer to the Akurate than it is to the Majik. It has the kind of tunefulness, musical flow and rhythmic precision that I am used to in Linn products and a few others and is always enjoyable to listen to. I also found that some recordings that sounded slightly harsh through the Majik phono stage were smoother on the Kinki without losing any of the detail and focus. This is reminiscent of the way the Ikemi sounds more at ease with CDs that sound harsher or brighter on a Genki yet you still get more musical information from the Ikemi.

I and others here have also compared the Kinki to some of our other favorite phono stages like the Rega Fono, the Grado PH-1, an older Creek unit, and several units from ProJekt and NAD. Since none of these are really as good as the Majik phono stage it is an obvious conclusion that the Kinki easily outperformed all of them. While the Rega Fono is still my favorite for anywhere near the $350 it sells for, the Kinki as much more musically involving and well worth the price difference. This is really excellent performance for the money. I already have a couple of customers who are interested in it and it makes me want to hear what the Slipsik 3 can do.

The evaluations were carried out with several different turntables including LP12 with Ittok/Adikt, and older LP12 with a basic PS, Grace 707 arm and Grado cartridge, Rega P5 with Elys 2 and Rega P3/24 with Elys 2. With all of these the Kinki was always enjoyable and informative - truly a fine piece of work. Congratulations, Fredrik.

In the interest of full disclosure I want to let you all know that Overture Imports, the sister company to the store I work for, is being considered by Fredrik to distribute Lejonklou products in the US. (They currently distribute Quadraspire and AVI.) It is the wish of both OI and Fredrik to keep the US price under $800.

I hope to do a couple more comparisons but I wanted to let everyone know what a fine product the Kinki is.
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Post by paolo »

Hello everybody, I'd like to add my view on the Kinki.

I couldn't directly compare it to other MM preamps like Thomas did, I've just had the pleasure to keep it at my place for some time connected to an LP12/Lingo/EkosII/Adikt side by side with my LP12/Keel/Lingo/EkosSE/Akiva/Linto.

The difference between the two sources is of course not to be discussed, nonetheless the former still offers really great musical satisfaction. I know the LP12/Ekos/Adikt combination well enough to be truly impressed by the Kinki's performance. It sounds cohesive, agile and controlled, has very good flow and rhythm, is informative and interesting to listen to. Yes, it really plays in tune :wink:
Great work Fredrik!

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Post by lejonklou »

Thank you Thomas and Paolo!

It feels great to read your praise as I know none of you are the polite and forgiving kind when it comes to sound quality... :wink:

I'm so happy you like it!
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Post by ThomasOK »

I promised a further report a while back but it took longer than I hoped to do the comparisons. I have recently been able to do a few more comparisons and wanted to report back on the results.

The units I compared to this time were more expensive separate phono stages, a couple of which are held in pretty high regard. The comparisons all used a Majik LP12 as the source. The first was the Dynavector P75 mkII which sells for $750US - about what the Kinki would likely sell for in the US. There was no question here, even the owner of the Dynavector agreed that the Kinki was superior. Not only was the Kinki more tuneful and powerful but the Dynavector was a bit bright and forward sounding. The DV owner bought it to use with a moving coil and had heard that MCs were its forté. I hope so since MMs certainly weren't.

Second up was the new PS Audio GCPH MM/MC phono stage that sells for $995. This comparison didn't last long either as the GCPH seemed to rob the life from the music being rather dull and slow moving with pretty weak performance on the tune. The Kinki scored a clear win here with its musical flow.

Finally, I had a chance to compare the Kinki to the Naim Audio Stageline MM phono stage powered by the HiCap2 power supply - the combination selling for a cool $2675. This is the first separate phono to really come close to the Kinki. We did several comparisons and were somewhat divided on the results. I felt that the Kinki was the better performer with musical instruments a little easier to follow and the nuances of how they were being played easier to hear. Another here also thought the Kinki was somewhat clearer but felt the soundstage was wider on the Naim (he's fairly new to the whole Linn/Tune Method concept so you'll have to forgive him). :wink: Another guy here thought the Naim a bit better than the Kinki but didn't say why. I listened to this comparison three times on two different days and always felt the same way about it (and I really couldn't hear any difference in image width so I don't know where that was coming from). So the Kinki/Stageline comparison is at worst a tie - not bad considering the price difference. But even if they were the same money I would go for the Lejonklou.

Considering all these comparisons, the Slipsik must be one SOB of a phono stage! :)
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