California Audio Labs Icon Mk II; NOT POWERBOSS

Good player but very long in the tooth and CAL Audio Labs has been out of business for years. I would not buy it.

I had one (std issue) from ~ 1992-2005. It sounded fine for its day, but I did not find it hard to replace after it crapped out for the second time after I had it shipped out and repaired by an "expert" ~ 2 years earlier. I'm not sure I'd trust the reliability of these units in general these days given the age, plus the company is out of business.

If I were to go for a new CD these days, I'd probably first consider a second hand Musical Fidelity in the under $1000 price range in that I believe MF offers very high quality at very reasonable price.

I am still using a CAL Audio Labs ICON MkII (purchased in 1992) for my office system. It has worked faithfully all these years and has such a musical presentation that I have been very reluctant to replace it.

I also own CAL a Alpha / Delta 12 years old and has worked great since day one . I gave up a Theata Jade / DSP 2 D/A for the CAL eq. I liked the sound better . iI will go to a Mac computer hard drive system when the CAL EQ. dies but till then I really like the CAL EQ. Marc

I had the non-powerboss version back in '95 and then
had it upgraded with it. Never noticed any difference (thru
Apogee Stages). Nice player. About as good as a Meridian
508.24 that replaced it. Go for it.

I have owned a CAL Icon MK II for over a decade now, and am having a lot of trouble finding anything better under $2500 U.S. I've listened to the Rega Saturn, several NADs, an Arcam FMJ-something or another at about $1000 U.S. I have yet to find a CD player that sounds so "whole" in my system. The Saturn was too "thin" and too bright, as was the Arcam.

Plus, these players can be found cheap these days. You can hardly go wrong with one of these for a couple hundred bucks. You can still get them serviced by the people at www.approvedaudioservice.com (I haven't tried them yet, but I am about to).

I bought mine 15 years ago.
It still plays fine music.

I have a CAL CL15 and recently had a Marantz KI Pearl home for an audition. To make a long story short, I put the KI Pearl back in the box fairly quickly. The CL 15 is that good, to my ears at least. They have a sound that is hard to find these days. I do not know how it compares to the IKON but I would say that the Cal's are quite the bargain these days.

For you guys who "can't find anything better", you aren't looking hard enough. I had one of these in a second system, and while it was pleasant enough, it was no giant killer. My old Jolida and my TRL modified Sony are head and shoulders better, and neither of those are high dollar digital. But the Delta/Alpha or Sigma combo is still competitive today, and readily available.

Shakey

still have my modified icon mark II

runs well!

will a new cd sound better?

only if I want it to

lr