The tempo and urgency of a CAL Icon MkII can easily be increased by using the very inexpensive Homegrown Audio Super Silver analog IC's (which, though inexpensive, are great IC's anyway, IMO). Further improvement can be had by upgrading the power cord. I am now using the CAL with an outboard DAC but was very pleased with it's performance as a stand alone player. I have wondered what the HG IC's (or another detailed and fast IC) would do for the sound of the planet. Does anyone use this combination?. I agree with RedKiwi in that HDCD or the bit amount of the chip does not signify better sound. A friend of mine has an ancient (by digital standards) Marantz player (625 or 626 I think) that sounds much more musical than many of the latest tech. models. The only thing that I feel could be a problem with the CAL is that It may be too bass heavy depending on speaker type and location. Yes, that's what I said - too much bass may be a problem if you already have prominent and rumbly lows.
