Hegel viking CD player

I had posted on this, basically asking the same question, when it was released a few months back, with no responders then.

”Worth” is always going to be a subjective issue.  One question is whether or not you play ripped CDs from  a Hard Drive and/or stream from a service such as Qobuz.  If the answer is no, and CDs are your main source of replay, then $5K for a CDP looks more reasonable.  

I have the predecessor the Mohician. Compared to roughly a 5K vinyl setup (VPI Prime/Audiotechnica ART9 cartridge), very little difference between CD and vinyl playback, I know blasphamy but they're really close, each with some different strengths.

. I have thousands of CD's so it made sense to me, sometimes I need the convienence of CD  playback

I had the Mohegan which had tremendous sound quality, however it had numerous quality issues and has been replaced by a CEC belt transport. A great move.

samgar2

Can you talk about the issue(s) with your Mohican?

I added one to my system last week. SQ is excellent and compliments my AYRE integrated nicely. IMO, the Mohican has the advantage of a 1st geneation AKM chip. I can hardly await to read more on Viking.  Similar to the Mohican, how many players will Hegel build?

Happy Listening!

Had a problem reading discs, or would skip. Sent back to their repair facility twice and still had the same problem when it came back. SQ is excellent, however their tray loading the disc is flimsy as well. Perhaps it will not cause you any issue, it worked well for 2 years and then started causing trouble. Assembled in China, that might be the issue. Good luck with yours as the sound is quite enjoyable when it works.

@samgar2 -- my Mohican also recently developed some skipping after 3 years. I noticed it seemed to lessen as the player warmed up about 1 hour.

Spoke to the dealer who thought it could be a lubrication issue, the laser mechanism rides on two rails as it moves along the disc and if it sticks, it'll skip.

So after powering up, I hit 'next' a few times, then 'prev' a few times and it goes away. This is just till they send some instructions on how to lube it, I'm reluctant to ship anything fragile and seems the repair facility is in need of being repaired.

The latest situation is that the cd drawer will not open up. Then if I can open it, when I put a CD in and close it, it bounces back open. Big disappointment with a $5000.00 CD player.

I have pretty much scraped it out!

samgar2

Where did you send your Mohican to the Hegel repair facility? Location?

Thank You for sharing your story.

Happy Listening!

Pyramid Audio, 305 E Braker Lane, Austin, TX 78753

Phone: 512-458-8292

Website: pyramid-audio.com

Good luck and sure hope they can fix yours! Nice people, however after 2 service calls and still a problem, I have scraped it out.

samgar2

Thank You for the follow up. Odd, as Pryamid Audio has an excellent reputation.

Happy  Listening!

I imagine they tried their best, but the unit failed shortly after getting it back. They should have replaced the disc drive, instead they just lubricated it. 

Good luck with yours!

Sam

samgar2

I concur. The disc-drive should have been replaced. That is an odd situation?

What brand Player do  you own now?

Happy Listening!

CEC T5 Belt Drive  Transport

and Gold Note CD1000