Excellent built quality & a drawer from another world (not plastic!). Sounding very "analog" for a Cd player. Some may called it 2 "soft/dark" sounding, but it all depends on your system, and ability to combine sources? Vocals, instruments; like piano, guitar strings, acoustical instruments in generel, just sounds naturally. Haven`t had any errors yet, under playback, so a very solid built high end product!

Maybe some would need more at the bottom? Add a sub, then! Or try replace your speakers ;-)

Wonderful CD player.
I use it as my main source in a 14' by 18' listening room. It is connected to an Accuphase E202 amplifier with Linn silver interconnects and some Rogers of LS3/5a (15 ohms on 28" high stands and Linn k400 speaker cables) with a gallo Mps-150 subwoofer.
A modest minimalist system but talk about synergy, here is a match made in heaven. The sound is very musical, involving, non fatiguing and oh so addictive. I have had this setup for months now and haven't felt the need to upgrade once!!!
I believe the few folks who find the Ikemi boring just have it in the wrong system. At $1500 or so on the used market, it's a very special CD player quite hard to beat.

Musical, natural warm analog sounding like turntable and easy on the senses.
Fantastic tray mechanism - works soft,fast and very silent - true high end.
Livelike analog sound, original look, build exterior and interior quality - SMD.

cheap remote - why? Display is poor.

I am very proud - I am still owner and I don`t think to change my digital source.
Smooth even handed very musical sounding player. Sound is excellent. Warm, responsive, gorgeous transparency. Very quick and silent transport tray and also HDCD DAC in one small but elegant box. Alu non-magnetic case. XLR balanced outputs most better signal quality than rca`s unbalanced outputs.
So I am very happy with the product. Highly recommended!

Similar Products Used:

Teac VRDS25X modified, CEC TL51ZmkII, Primare CD20, Rotel RCD991AE, Quad CD-S99, CEC CD2100, Marantz CD6000 OSE KI Signature, Denon CD2000AE,
Musical Fidelity CD5, Audionet ART1

not used yet

looks quite plain

HI For Axl...in regards to cable cjoices...I would recommend kimber cables.

Similar Products Used:

naim audio, creek cd53, marantz cd19

excellent overall sound, ease of use, works great with tube gear

not a whole lot

this is an excellent cd player, I have had it over 2 years, very musical and full sounding, works great with my tube gear too. I have had a few cd players in my house.The naimcdx2,ML390s,even the mighty Linn CD12. I definately prefer the linn to the naim, I found the Naim too electronic sounding,the bigger brother is better but at 20 k Yikes, the ML390s and the Linn were my 2 favorite and the Linn is quite a bit less costly. An excellent front end for any system,cant go wrong with this one

Similar Products Used:

Linn, rega,Mcintosh,Naim, M Levinson

Transport, sweet sound

A little thin with bass, small clunky black boc does not look like anything special. Remote is OK

After 3 years of trying CD Players and having my local dealer pund into my head that the Ikemi is one of teh best CDP's around, I decided to try it. In th epast I have owned Sony SCD-1, 77&ES, XA777ES, Cary 306/200, 208T, Shanling T100, Mark Levinson No 39, and a few others. The Ikemi has a "lively" sound and a TAD thin. The best Cd player I have ha din my system befor enow is the Cary 306/200 - That is a phenominal player, and you can get it cheaper than an Ikemi. The Ikemi has something special about it though. A sweet sound that hooked you into the music. It blows away redbook on any of the SOny SACD ES players. BUT I ended up going back to a SCD-1 with a Audiomeca DAC - This way I get SACD, and an even sweeter more involving sound than the Ikemi on redbook. Now, this Sony/Audiomeca combo is almost 2X the price of the Ikemi so if you are looking for a one box player, I would suggest the Ikemi or Cary 306/200. These are two of the best Ive heard in my system. I feel the Linn is a bit overpriced and should come in at $2500 for what it is.

Similar Products Used:

Almost everything under $4k

Accurate sound reproduction, well built, even the drawer is a point of strength. 2 sets of RCA's and 1 Set of Balance and one each for digital output. Simple well thoughtout face plate and controls. Smaller than standard width component for easy placement and isolation.

remote control coding difficult to learn for other multi brand learning remotes

I am very proud of my decision here. I am sure all of you have purchased a product and later said "I wish I'd bought the ___ instead" I can't even think this with the Ikemi. I had a Rega Planet that was good, actually excellant for the price range. Then I upgraded to a Rega Jupiter 2000, whoops. I the purchased the Ikemi after in home trials of the Genki and Ikemi. At first I thought, nope the Genki is the equivelant in sound the Ikemi is just higher due to features. Then the Ikemi settled in the second day with the cables and the Genki went back to the dealer. This player maximizes the redbook cd's capability. What a precise machine for extracting and converting ever last byte out of a disc. What a detailed accurate warm representation it breings to the table. After about a 9 month period I upgraded to Cardas Golden Reference cables and WOW. This Ikemi if just unbelievable. What a wonderful time I have had learning more about each recording as I listen to my old collection. If you can find it used or afford it new, forget the SACD DVD-A war untill it reaches its climax. Re-discover your current collection. As an added not I recently purchased a Marantz DV-8300 DVD video/ DVD-A/SACD etc player. It is a nice machine but it did once again bring to light the outstanding performance of the Ikemi.

Similar Products Used:

rega planet rega Jupiter 2000 marantz DV8300

LINN sound solid transport extended bass

I haven't found any yet.

This player replaced my Mimik and was an immediate improvement. The bass is extended and very defined. The treble is smooth and clear. The ikemi can play music at much higher levels without causing fatigue. The transport is solid and quiet. Clearly one of the best players I have listened to.

Similar Products Used:

Linn mimik other players from NAD, Naim, Nakamichi, AH, Pioneer, Sony

Precision build, smoothness of loading, range of connections.

None

I was looking for an upgrade to my 7 year old Karik III and had narrowed my purchase down to the IKEMI. My dealer however enthused about CHORD's new DAC64 and said that the Karik was still as good a transport as I would find. So I decided to borrow both for testing. I was immediately impressed with the increased bass precision and refinement of the top end provided by the IKEMI. The operation of the unit is impressively smooth and effortless and this comes across in the music reproduction too. I then linked up the CHORD DAC64 to my Karik and using the same CD's found an even greater improvement. Most noticable was the clarity and depth of vocal reproduction but there was a genuine sense of enjoying the music more. I therefore purchased the CHORD DAC. However, if I hadn't already got a decent transport I would have had no hesitation in buying the IKEMI. It is a very good single box player.

Similar Products Used:

Linn Karik III and Linn Karik III used in conjunction with Chord DAC64 DAC.

Smoothness, unforced detail and not too upfront. Excellent error correction

Dynamics, bass definition, spaciousness of soundstage.

I listened to this player alongside the Naim CDX as I was looking to upgrade my Cyrus DAD3Q. This is a very smooth player with good detail, though the bass definition was no way near that of the Naim. Dynamically it was quite good but again the Naim better in this area. I think it gave a more realistic soundstage though and also it managed to cope with a CD that skipped on the Naim. I think both players were good overall, and ignoring price very, very good indeed. Overall i'd describe the Linn as natural but a little too mellow in the bass. In the end neither satisfied my personal need for a player with great imaging but not too upfront. Eventually I chose a Meridian which gave me what I wanted. Not to say the Meridian is better but it just had the attributes I was looking for. Ikemi is certainly worthy of a good listen.

Similar Products Used:

Meridian, Naim, Cyrus, Primare, Krell, Levinson.