Rega Planet vs Cal Audio Labs Icon MK II

Sorry Gthirteen and not sorry Naimbrain. I should have been a little more PC in my comments about the Planet. This was just my take on it after auditioning it in two shops when I was looking for a player for my stepson. And it does depend on the associated equipment (I knew that and was just not thinking of the whole picture at the time - excuse me)! Klhender - there was an Icon -w- the Power Boost and HDCD upgrade listed at this site by Ambrosia Audio for $400.00 which is a steal, if it's still there. But by all means you should audition both these and other players as well if at all possible before you laying your money down. Others to look into in your price range might be the Audio Refinement Complete (which I owned for a short while and would recommend). I would also check out the new revised Cambridge models as they have had time to fine tune them, hopefully for the better. Search the site under CD and you will find a lot of user info on reasonably priced but high quality CD players. In regard to the descriptive terms that I used (and use), I was an amateur and later a professional musician for twenty years and "those" are some of the terms that are used to describe the tonality of instruments (music) including voice. I don't know what Planet (get it) you grew up on Naimboy but most popular music is amplified in some manner and the same terms apply among musicians with the exception of "visual" terms such as imaging and sound stage (the recording and sound tech's are the ones that worry about that part of it). In addition, I was talking about a CD player not your mother and it would do you well to lose the snot nosed little attitude that you bring to your post. You might also restrict your comments to things that you know something about, unless your sole purpose here is to amuse myself and others. Well, so much for my New Year's resolution.

I have had the CAL Icon MK II with PowerBoss upgrade for four years and have enjoyed it very much. $700.00 may be about right with the PowerBoss, but you should make sure that is what you are getting. (I don't think the regular Icon MK II has HDCD, so that might be how you know) I haven't auditioned the Planet, but based on reviews I have read, I suspect for the relatively small price difference in buying these units used, you may find the Cal much more rewarding. Since I bought my Icon, I have updgraded the rest of my system (an ongoing process) to a Levison 380S and Moon W-5 amp, and you know, even with the increased transperency of those units, I have not been particularly eager to replace the CAL. (Though I will eventually do so). That speaks well for this CD player.

Here's another possibility: the California Audio Labs DX2 is several hundred dollars cheaper than the Icon MKII, yet not far from it in sound. An excellent midlevel choice!

Yeah, I have a DX-2 and have enjoyed it. I payed 550.00 for it 2 years ago. I figured I have gotten my $ worth at this point. I auditioned the Icon MKII at the same time and on the same speakers I have at home. The Icon was just a tad maybe only a tidge smoother. At the time the MKII with HDCD was almost twice as much. I couldn't reason the extra dough so I went with the DX-2

Dekay, I was interested in your comments. I am considering a Bel Canto Dac to use in conjuction with my DX-2. What do you think? I have also wondered about the use of the vibrapods, as I have not tried them. I don't have room on my rack to install the shelf with vibra's you describe. Couldn't I just take the feet off the DX-2 and replace with the vibrapod feet? I hope no one minds my interlude in this thread.