Adikt upgrade

[Mikeg]

I have been using an Adikt for about 10 years now and with the introduction of the Koil I am wondering if it is time for a change. I don’t want to change for change sake but if there is likely to be a musical improvement I will bite the bullet and make the move.



Considerations:

I moved from a Dynavector DV20 because of the increasing running costs with the thought that a relatively cheap replacement stylus that brought at least as much musical enjoyment was the way to go. However the cost of the stylus has increased significantly and I find that I am replacing the stylus every 15-18 months.

Would the stylus profile of the Koil mean it would last longer? What is the exchange/replacement price on the Koil? Would that bring the running cost of the Koil closer to the Adikt?

Would the Koil work well with my system? Older versions of the AT-OC9 (on which the Koil is based) were said to be a bit brittle in the treble on an Ittok.



System:

LP12/Karousel/IttokII/Adikt/Lingo4 – setup using Tom’s torques

Naim 72 (with RSL boards)/HiCap/250/SBL



A cheaper option would be a new AT-OC9XML which although not the same as the Koil and hasn’t been tweaked by Linn is the basis of the Koil and Linn must have felt it was a decent enough base to build the Koil.



What do you think?



Mike

[Mikeg]

Problem with predictive text 😂

You've probably guessed it should be Adikt upgrade. Hopefully it got everyone's attention

[Charlie1]

Hi Mike, I tried the Koil for a few months but didn't feel it really suited my vintage systems as well as the VM95s or Adikt. There were always good albums but overall I preferred the MMs. I've also wondered whether it's an MM vs MC thing and I'm one of the few folks that prefer MM.

I used serviced 323/5 cards and an Entity 1.2.

My hunch was that the Koil isn't quite as musical as the Adikt but I really wasn't sure as it wasn't head to head.

I've since sold the Koil, a pretty poor VM540, and now getting the Adikt re-fitted :)

[nmakowsk]

Mike, which phono stage are you using and have you investigated a Slipsik to pair with Adikt? I bought the bullet and upgraded from Slipsik 7.1 to Slipsik 8 and there is no question that that Slipsik 8 is a better trimmed amplifier and allows finer small details to be resolved. When Fredrik announced this eighth generation product a year ago he mentioned that the differences were actually more on the details/sound oriented side and bigger than the musicality differences. He also said it was closer to moving coil sound coming from the Adikt. His assessment really nails the differences I heard when I demoed the 8 at home. I upgraded to the 8 just a week later having thought about the 5 grand it would take to get me to MC (Entity and good MC such as krystal). I too have been using Adikt for 10 years and I thought I might go MC but things just keep getting better with my system overall without having more expensive MC running costs. Also I would say I average a stylus replacement about every 20 months so fairly close to your replacement intervals. I too wonder if a MC cart profile might last longer but to me there is no way that any good MC is going to end up being cheaper than popping in another Adikt/2 stylus when things start to sound questionable. Especially if you had to go visit Tom to have him properly torque MC cart screws. Two years ago I bought 2 spare styli before the first price hike because I knew I was already doing really well with my cost for playing LPs. Those LPs only sound better now.

Its also possible that Linn introduced the Koil MC to allow people with a magik LP12 to go straight to MC carts as many folks might wonder why such a $5000 dollar table would come with a lowly MM cart. The Adikt may still be more musical as Charlie1 seemed to indicate.

[Mikeg]

I currently use RSL MM boards in the Naim 72 which to me were significantly more musical than the older Naim boards.

I had thought about the Slipsik but to be honest there is no place on the rack for it to go.

[nmakowsk]

Hi Mike, the synergy between the Adikt cart and the Slipsik is really something. I am sure it would sound good sitting on the floor next to your rack. Give it a shot before giving up on the adikt.

[sktn77a]

However the cost of the stylus has increased significantly and I find that I am replacing the stylus every 15-18 months.

How many hours/LP sides does this correspond to?

[ThomasOK]

I haven't done any Koil vs Adikt comparisons as we only recently got in our first Koil. But in terms of dollars per record played there is no doubt the Adikt will remain well ahead. As with all MC cartridges the whole cartridge has to be replaced when the stylus wears out so figure in a trip back to the dealer for refitting the new cartridge. The Linn price list doesn't have the trade in price for a Koil listed yet but all the other Linn MCs get a trade in between 15% and 25% of the price of the cartridges, with the lower price cartridges getting the lesser amounts. With the Koil being $1060 even a 20% trade in credit would mean a replacement cost of $848 - close to the price of a complete new Adikt and almost twice the price of the stylus. As to life of the stylus both the Adikt and the Koil have line contact types of styli (although different variations) and are likely to have similar levels of polish. So I expect there will be little, if any, difference in stylus life.