California Audio Labs Icon Mk II; NOT POWERBOSS

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.