I believe this unit was built around 1993. I purchased it in 2008, as a backup player, for around $125 from Audio Systems' (Austin, TX) consignment section.

For the first few months that I owned it, I only used it as a transport and relied on an external Burr Brown 192/24 based D/A converter. Recently, when reorganizing my rack, I decided to also connect the Icon MkII to my preamp via the analog connections. The difference was like night and day. I'm not one to throw around hard to quantify words like Soundstage, Timbre, Depth, etc. All I can say is that when using the icon's own internal 18bit Burr-Brown DAC (PCM61P), to my ears, the sound is absolutely fuller and less grainy. It's so noticable that I'm sure I could do a blind A/B test on this ten times and choose the icon's internal dac every time (when compared to my external 192/24 DAC).

Now then, the big question is - why? I normally don't buy into audio voodoo, but in this case, a 15 year old 18 bit DAC clearly sounds much better than a 2 year old 24 bit DAC. Could it be that the Icon MkII's DAC is "hand trimmed" (whatever that is)? Could it be the 24 bit digital filter? Could it be the "discrete fet output stage"? Who knows? All I can say is that, without a doubt, this player was a steal at $125.

strong, powerful sound. Deep, solid bass and very solid electric bass to propel the music and provide a strong foundation.

Nice midrange.

Great ability to reproduce soundstage on a good recording.

Highs aren't as quite as bright as I'd like.

I bought my California Audio Labs Mk II brand new when it came out years ago. I had a Nakamichi CD player I wasn't very happy with and replaced it with the Cal.

After all these years I've been having a problem with it (the left channel drops out occasionally; "rebooting" the player fixes it), so I went shopping at my local audio stores for a new CD player.
I listened to just about everything they had: several NAD players that have gotten good reviews, a $3000 U.S. Lyngdorf audio CD player, a couple of Arcam players, the Rega Apollo, the NAD M5, and the Cyrus CD8x. After doing a lot of listening and fretting about players, I've pretty much concluded that this player is really very good compared to any of the players I've listened to recently.

All the players I listened to except one of the NADs just had no driving bass. They had deep bass, but the bass guitar line was just not there. They all sounded rather "thin" to my ears. I listen to a lot of rock, jazz, electric blues, etc. and, for me, none of this music sounds "right" to my ears without a good solid bass line. If you listen to electric music at live events, the bass guitar is not shy. It provides the foundation to the music - the driving rhythm. Without this foundation, I just can't listen to a CD player for long - I lose interest in the music.

The CAL Icon Mk II has plenty of driving bass rhythm that is missing from the other players I listened to. The bass isn't sloppy or muddy - it seems pretty tight and well-defined. You can follow the bass guitar line and you can easily differentiate the bass guitar from other instruments.

The midrange is warm and a bit forward, which is good for electric music. Yet, when I listen to vocal music it sounds very good still.

The highs are good, but most of the newer players I listened to have a little sharper highs, but these same players have no "drive" to them. I guess if you lose some of the bass, the highs will sound a little sharper. The difference in the highs was small, thoujgh

What surprised me the most is that CD player technology has changed so much since the Cal Icon MK II came out - dual 24-bit D/A converter chips, multiple isolated power supplies, etc. I fully expected the new CD players to put my Cal Icon to shame. I expected that they'd all sound a lot better than my CAL Icon, they'd have a lot more detail, and they would just really open up the music and make the poorly recorded or old CDs that I have sound so much better, but that wasn't the case at all. After listening to a lot of CD players at the local audio store Saturday, I finally went home and played some of the same music I listened to at the store on my CD player and found that its sound was actually as good as and in some ways better than any of the players at the store.

I did listen to a Cyrus CD8x (a $2000 U.S. player) and I was absolutely stunned by the amount of detail in the music. The detail was truly incredible - better than anything I've ever heard! I came home and was thinking seriously about just buying it the next day the store was open. But, I was so stunned by the detail that I didn't even listen to see if it had bass too. I came to my senses and decided that buying a $2000 CD player on one listen wouldn't be very wise. By the time I got around to going back to that store to listen to it again, they had stopped carrying Cyrus because they had had a lot of problems with them.

For my money, the California Audio Labs CD player is, overall, the best player I've heard so far. It's really a shame these guys went out of business.

It has voodoo, and eye-of-newt inside to produce an indescribably magical, musical event. It is as rugged as the proverbial tank- yet more dependable than a tank. It is an under priced overachiever of the highest order. Powerful, tight, defined, refined- yet smooth, tonally accurate, and sweety seductave. You get the best of both worlds in a perfectly balanced symbiosis. Never harsh- always right. Its strengths are many.

...perhaps a bit aesthetically challenged when placed next to some of the flashier looking components of today. I'm nitpicking here- it has no performance "weakneses".

I bought this unit (with the powerboss HDCD upgrade) for a slightly heavy price at 600 but I don't regret a thing. I'd buy it again at that price many times over. The following review is singing the praises of the POWERBOSS equiped unit; I cannot attest to the quality of the regular Icon mk2.

My system is very revealing. I use high end studio monitors of various sorts (recent ones have an 18" JBL sub), Threshold amplification on the low frequencies and various EL34 based tube amps for the midrange/upper frequencies. It is biamped with a world class active crossover and my latest passive crossover utilizes charge-coupled (9V battery powered) caps so the end result is details, details. I reap breathtaking transient attacks. It is also very clear and open without any constraints to speak of. I would describe my system in one word as "effortless". If a source component is harsh in any way- it will drive you out of the room in an instant.

Back to the little Icon mk2 powerboss. My impressions start out very much like the flattering review in Stereophile, in that I have been a fan of vinyl throughout most of this hobby and choosing the medium 10:1 over digital. I had yet to find a CD player that captured the soul of performances and had that quick lively feeling that vinyl does. That is, until I met this CD player. It has been said before, but I'll say it again: The icon (with powerboss) comes about as close as you can get to a quality turntable set up.

The bass got me first. I know good bass, because I spent my entire youth playing in rock bands. Mastering the bass guitar was one of my fleeting attempts at coolness and I know what a high end bass rig is supposed to sound like. Ditto for most musical instruments. I wanted to be a recording engineer for years and I used to spend countless hours in the studio volunteering. I learned a lot of things, but mostly- I became conditioned to proper sound. It is for these reasons I can safely qualify my impressions of the Icon mk2. The Icon gets it right. It really gets it right. A bass guitar is not just a bass guitar- it is the whole bass rig being played IN your listening room. The immediacy of the strings as they relate to the timing cannot be explained in mere words. Imagine it is like holding some of the instruments in your hand. It is visceral and real.

But it's all good. And by 'good' I mean proper. The leading edge of notes, the weight and body of the note itself, and the gentle decay of those notes is just the way it was intended to be (read: recoded/performed). Drums of any kind blew me away the first time I plugged it in, and they continue to impress to this day (years later!). They are taught and open at the same time. I wish I could put it into words. No matter what the genre, no mater what the intimacy- it was just right. Not too loose, not too tight, not too forward, not too laid back- Just like Goldilocks and her choices in oatmeal, seating, and bedding "just right". It is very balanced- without anything standing out of order- no exaggerated highs or boomy bass. Everything is tight and right throughout the entire 20-20,000kHz listening range.

oh, and the vocals....People, this thing does vocals very VERY well, which is surprising considering it can pound the sheetrock off the walls with a proper crescendo. If you don't want the NY Philharmonic or Metallica playing in your listening room- keep your hand on the volume or they might pay a visit. Usually, a component has it's strengths and weaknesses. You pick the piece that suites your style, and don't worry about the tradeoffs. Not here. This player does it ALL. It is not just a "jack of all tades"- it is the master of those trades. Vocals will reduce you to crying. Imagine being on a date with Ella and she leans over and sings to you- personally. That's what you get every time you load the tray.

I don't know what happened at the Audio Lab when this thing was being R&D'd, but the moon must have been set over the 7th sun and the planets aligned just right for magic to shine on it. The strange thing is CAL attempted to "better" the little Icon powerboss several times and failed. The term "greater than the sum of its parts" cannot be more applicable than it is right here in this unit. Opening it up reveals nothing spectacular- basic parts, Wima caps, etc...but somehow , SOMEHOW- it works WAY better than it should.

And you can listen for hours upon hours and it keeps delivering the goods without a hint of fatigue. I have auditioned/owned some very impressive CD players, REGA's, Levinsons, Krell's, etc- but this little honey keeps me content. SACD on a very high end unit is definitely a good thing, but XRCD's, HDCD's, MFSL 24kt Gold's, and plain old Redbook CD's on the Icon are about as good as you will ever want. I do not know what guides people into spending >$1,500 on a CD player when you can score one of these for +/- $500.00

OK, all this aside- here is yet another amazing attribute. It is now 2007 and this CD player performs as well as it did on production day. It is SO well made. Never have I had a problem with the tray or anything else. It has never been serviced and I don't think it ever will. It is the Mercedes DIESEL of CD player construction. I'm afraid to let anyone turn a screw on it because it may anger the audio gods. I want it to remain just as it is- producing some of greatest digital music I have ever experienced.

This CD player can trick you into believing the muscial event is happening- right here- right now- before you. Listening to this thing is an experience one has to...well...experience! It is worth several times its current marketplace value (~$500)- especially when putting it head to head with the likes of the Krells, Levinsons, Wadias, etc... Before even thinking of buying ANY other CD player- you would be doing yourself and your wallet a major disservice by not trying out one of the Icon powerboss CD players. This CD player has GOT to be the ultimate sleeper. History will show this thing is/was one of the all-time greatest CD players ever conceived (albeit by accident). It is a benchmark and a classic. It is rugged, affordable, and appropriate for all genres in all systems. My highest praise. Buy one, so I can say "I told ya so!"

Customer Service

I wouldn't know....It might as well be welded together- nothing fails. Built to LAST!

Similar Products Used:

Sony, Krell, Rega, Levinson.

excellent bass and midrange

slightly soft and grainy treble

Are there audible differences among cd players? Listening to this player convinced me that there are indeed. The Icon gives the music a strong bass foundation that's missing in lesser players. This foundation helps the music maintain its rhythmic pulse. Midrange performance is likewise exemplary, being warm and ever so slightly forward which helps bring out musical detail that again lesser players miss. If I had one qualm with this player it would be in the treble region. The highs are a little on the soft side and just a tad grainy compared with some Rotel players I've owned. Guess you can't have everything... By the way, I'd just like to take a moment to point out that at no time in this review have I mentioned the other components in my system. Personally, I think that reviewers who list their other audio components (you know the people who write "my system consists of... blah, blah, blah...") are pretentious losers seeking groupie approval. Nobody cares what kind of system you have!!! All we want to know is what you thought about the product you're reviewing. Sheesh...

Similar Products Used:

several Rotel models, Sony ES, NAD, DENON

open soundstage, great dynamic range, and a great warmth and still very revealing...........

styling

I have been looking to get rid of the digital harshness that comes from cd's. No matter how accurate sounding the system sounded, something was missing! I tried the MSB Link111, which at least made the music worth listening to...I purchased DHLabs cables thruout, but the accuracy I was able to achieve had so much digital harshness, that I had to try something else. So, I went on the internet and found this player, and read the reviews. It seemed to perfect for me, a warm and liquid sound, without the digital harshness. It is better that I had hoped!!!This player has the powerboss/HDCD upgrade, and the sound coming out of my speakers is so involving, articulate and sweet, I cannot believe the improvement over the MSB Link (basic version). I have a bright system for a reason, carver tfm-55 amp-380 per channel-ct23 preamp/dhlabs q-10 cables with the bi-wire 10ga. silver sonic cables-Paradigm reference 100v2 speakers.

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none..........

6 months ago I upgraded my entire system to BAT VK50se preamp, BAT VK6200 amp, Audio Physics Avanti III speakers and I thought my old CAL Icon MkII had no place in the new system. The local dealer was kind enough to lend me the BAT VK-D5se and the Meridian 508.24 for a few days. A few days later, I happily returned the 2 expensive players and kept my CAL Icon MkII. Yes, the BAT and Meridian players were better than the Icon, but the difference is very small but the price difference is huge. The Icon is very well rounded with solid bass, warm and detailed. Soundstage is slightly more restricted than the BAT and Meridian (The Audio Physics Avanti III is incredible with its holographic soundstage and it really brought out the difference). Having said that, the Icon is a steal for its price, especially if you can find a used one for $500. I can't praise it enough. I also had a chance to listen to the Musical Fidelity A3 at home and found it to be a decent player. However the Icon is slightly warmer with more solid bass.

Similar Products Used:

BAT VK-D5se, Meridian 508.25, Musical Fidelity A3

Clarity, neutrality

This player is very detailed, neutral and well built. It fits in perfectly if you already have or are building a balanced system. I was a little skeptical about how much the source can affect the sound but my wife and I kept turning around when voices sounded like the performer was right there - it's scary good. Sounds terrific in my system - Dynaudio Contour 1.3SE speakers Solaris stands Redgum Integrated - another great component Zu Wax speaker cables Zu Mother PC Zu Oxyfuel IC

Imaging - soundstage - articulation.

A slight sibilance in my square listening room.

Well, the time has come to turn over my Icon Mk II, so I thought I''d write a few words about this incredible unit. First, let me tell you about the system it''s in. I use a Sakura Systems 47 Labs Gaincard, the 25wpc version. My carriers are Nordost Blue Heaven interconnects and speaker cables, and my speakers are Quad ESL 63''s. This system is very fast, extremly honest and very detailed. I have had the Icon MK II since about 96, and am upgrading to a Linn player. I can honestly say that this player just whips anything in it''s price range, and even triple of four times it''s range. I know this because on the back of this little beauty, there is a digital out, and I have auditioned several VERY high end DAC''s with it, and all of them been found wanting. Krell Studio: Too harsh and forward - not very musical. Classe DAC 1: Smooth, but TOO smooth. I was not involved at ALL with the music. EAD Ultradisk: Same as the Classe. You will notice that a couple of these DAC''s retailed over 4K. The Icon Mk II is simply amazing for what it does, which is present full, lifelike MUSIC in as close to analog fashion as you will hear. This does NOT mean that it is laid back or ''lazy''. It DOES mean that transients are fast and sharp - bass is hefty and more accurate than any of the above (yes campers, even the Krell) and the midrange is sweet and just to die for. Vocals, both male and female are eerie for their presence. Instruments are seperated, clearly defined and articulate. Orchestrel music is full, emotional and detailed. Imaging and soundstage are borderline miraculous. On my Annie Lennox recordings, she might as well be there. My Metheny CD''s sound like nirvana. Focus will shift depending on the CD you are playing - it will reveal a badly mastered CD in a flash. It is one of those rare products in which you will IMMIDIATLY notice an improvement in your sound, and then spend all night listening to your old collection. I use an aftermarket powercord, which I recommend, because this will tighen up your image noticeably. Buy it. Love it. You will not regret it. (email me for more info: sjkenny1@yahoo.com)

Similar Products Used:

Krell, Classe, Levinson, EAD, PS Audio, Sonic Frontiers, McCormack.

Clarity, bass.

Crappy recordings are faithfully reproduced, too.

An astonishing CD player. I used to be very skeptical of claims that any CD player could make a big difference in sound quality. It''s a digital source, so it''s all the same ones and zeroes, right? The digital source will make only a minor difference in the sound. Under this assumption, I''ve spent most of my crazy money on amps and speakers. I was so so wrong. Now that I have this player, I am totally 180 degrees on this question. Start with a good source, and you''ll be delighted with the rest of your gear. And the Icon is a fantastic source. What''s so great about the Icon? 1. Imaging. Powerful, rich, sometimes unsettling in its clarity. With virtually every other player I''ve ever heard, the sweet spot in the sound is like an arrow shooting through your head. A stunning experience, but fairly narrow and specific to the room. With the Icon, the sweet spot is more like a sphere or blob of clear, wonderful sound that envelopes you. It''s very cool. 2. Detail. I definitely hear things that I''ve never heard on my CDs before. You hear the musicians breathing between verses, drumsticks clattering around in the drummer''s hands, in addition to the most detailed vocals possible. 3. Bass. My floors and walls shake even at low volumes, and on recordings that I''ve never really thought of as having much bass. There''s just a lot more on the CDs that my old players never reproduced. It''s really quite astonishing. This helps the imaging, but it''s also a whole layer of sound that exists on its own that I''ve never experienced in my living room. I scored my for $275 plus shipping used, and it was easily the best $300 I''ve ever spent on hifi stuff. I can''t understand why people shell out thousands for new stuff.

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None

build reliable and sound

can be had 2 read from across the room

a truly wonderfull cd player smooth and detailed has hdcd upgrade and shines when a cd w/hdcd is played just love it

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frote,cambrige audio,arcam(remote is beyond stupid to use)