2. digital
  3. 1065826189

Bel Canto DAC 2 or Ikemi?

I know the digital front end is so subjective, but I thought I'd solicit feedback.

I have listed to a lot of players now (Moon, Adcom, Rotel, Meridian, Musical Fidelity, Audio Research, Krell KAV, Classe, Denon...) and the Ikemi is the one I liked best. So why am I even asking? Because I have seen the Bel Canto compared to an Ikemi in sound, and it costs a lot less.

There are no Bel Canto dealers near me, and I don't know anyone who has heard both.

Anyone?

Joy Elyse
joyelyse
greenman
53 posts
 
The Vecteur D2.2 ($1490) gets very good reviews (I have not heard it). The caveat is that the importer(there are very few dealers), Mutine, seems to be either an arrogant jerk or hopelessly disorganized or both. Aside from the Vecteur well regarded transports for <$2K are a very scarce commodity. Hopefully someone else will have a better suggestion.
For what it is worth I really like the Stealth Varidig digital cable.
ben_campbell
1,169 posts
 
Like Greenman I also chose the Ayre CX-7 over ther Ikemi-even though here in the UK the price of the Ayre is very expensive.
My point is,if it helps you, is that I think the Ikemi is great with acoustic type material-with rock or more complicated modern recordings I think it lacks performance.
I would try hard to hear a CX-7 if there is a way you can.
ben_campbell
1,169 posts
 
Ignore my last post-I misread your audition.
martian_23
20 posts
 

I'm enthusiastic about the DVD 963 SA/DAC2 pairing. Before I used an Audiolab 8000CDM as transport, but the (cheap) Philips offers immensely more detail. Its downside is its not very audio-friendly handling.
joyelyse OP
42 posts
 
I ended up going with the Denon 5900 as a transport. It's more than I was looking to spend as a transport, but since it has beautiful video and fairly good SACD, it was the perfect choice.
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