cocopeep

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 4 of 5

Used product for
1 to 3 months

Price Paid:  $900.00 from longplayer stereo, g

Summary:
A well-built cd player, the Roksan kandy is heavy for its size with a choice of 7 colors for the faceplate. The black I have is brushed and matches the B&K components that are next to it. The cd tray open smooth and does not "fly" out at you as some cheap machines do. Fair display, but not the best as the nujmbers are small to read from a distance. Well-made remote control, also controls the Roksan tuner.
As far as the sound goes, this is competitive with other high-end machines costing much more, such as Krell,which is an excellent machine and the best I ever heard. Here, the soundstage is wide and deep, with a very reserved midrange. Great bass extension and well controlled.. The treble can be bright at times with this player, and some adjustment of the treble control may be needed to tame the high pitch treble this machine gives off.

Strengths:
excellent built quality
different color front panel to match any decor
nice remote feel
separate a/c power cord, can be upgraded

Weaknesses:
slight treble glare

Similar Products Used:
Nad C542 (returned because of no disk messages)

Price Paid:  $650.00

Summary:
This player has a very strong vocal and bass. But the high may not be everybody taste as it is not very refined. It will not attract you initially but a longer listen you will find the overall sound is captivating. It has a very different presentation from many players in the market. If your ears are used to typical forward, overemphasized on highs sound you may consider otherwise. This is a player sound more to traditional presenation. I just love it!

Price Paid:  $375.00 from audio image

Summary:
This review if for the new Kandy KD-1 MIII, just got it today. The first thing you notice is the weight of this player it’s not far off 10kg! Visually I prefer it to the older model, it has more attention to detail (etched Kandy logo is a nice touch). It is also different inside, the 24bit burr-brown (pcm1710u) chip has been dumped for an 18bit (td1305t) chip why, I have no idea. As soon as I received it I ran it against my friends 3 month old Rotel RCD-02 player, at first I noticed a lack of bass and attack when compared to the Rotel but I put this down to the fact that it was brand new and still needed to be burned in as my friends was the same. the player is very fine sounding even straight out the box, with great detail and delicacy when playing the right music. But it seems to play all my mixed collection no problem, sounding miles better than my old Marantz player. The player is still very new so, I can’t get an idea of its true performance until it settles down with my system.

Strengths:
-Very detailed and accurate sounding, a little closed in but this must be because it is a new unit -Visually it looks very nice, weighs quite a bit (not sure that’s important) -Has both digital inputs, optical and coaxial -Reads most discs and cdr's no problem! -Smooth transport mechanism

Weaknesses:
Displays a little bright, reflects allot on the outer window

Similar Products Used:
rotel rcd02, arcam cd72t,

Price Paid:  $699.00 from AudioAdvisor(Demo)

Summary:
This CD player looks great and sounds fantastic. Combined with the Roksan Kandy amp the sound is dynamic yet refined and detailed. It does''t favor any particular music style but vocals sound out of this world. My wife (the musical ear of the union) felt that Barber and Krall sounded so natural and real. The Roksan combo mated extremely well with the SPENDOR S6s. MIT cables are ideal with this combination.(thank you Audio Advisor)

Strengths:
Detailed dynamic and realistically refined sound. Great cosmetics.

Weaknesses:
For the price none.

Similar Products Used:
NAD

Price Paid:  $380.00 from eBay

Summary:
I don't know the performace level of the CD players in its price range. I don't have many complaints about this unit except its price: $380 used. Hmmmm, this made me think. I know there are a lot of people who will say that a CD player of this quality under $400 is a great deal. Maybe, but I wonder if this expense can be justifiable. I still don't know, and I will sell this unit in near future because I feel it's a little bit overpriced.

Anyway, KC-1 sounds pretty good, giving a lot of details against a deep background. Yes, this is one of the best sounding CD players I have ever given a listen to. DAC is PCM1716, a 24bit multi level Delta Sigma conversion unit. So, can I expect its peformance should be at the cutting edge, at least for its price?

Hmmm, I suspect, however, that its sound is suffering a little bit from brightness, or rather its touch is felt to be "metalic". This feature becomes more evident in comparison with Rotel RCD 955AX which sounds REALLY smooth. (By the way, why can't I post a review for 955AX here at www.audireview.com??? I requested its entry, but it has been ignored for a long time.)

One more note: Kandy's loading mechanism is very well-constructed, I believe. Actually, this unit accepts all the CD's I have. Some of them had more or less problems with other CD players I have and haved owned.

In conclusion, Kandy KC-1 is a fairly good product. I could recommend it to my friends who are pretty rich.

The unit is examined with the following gear:

Speaker: 1) BIC America DV 52si with Ed Frias's modification on cross-overs, 2) Totem Mite, 3) Rega Model 2

Speaker cables: 1) Audioquest Type 2, 2) Type 4, 3) Type 4+, 4) CV4, 5) Slate, 6) QED Silver Anniversary, and 7) MIT Terminator 5.

Amplifier: 1) Nikko Alpha II Amp (2x110w into 8 ohms), 2) Alesis Reference Amp RA-100 (2x75w into 8 ohms)

Preamp: 1, 2) PS Audio 4.0, 4.6 Preamps, 3) Yamaha MVC-1 (purely passive pre!)

Interconnect: 1) Ixos Broze (2m pairs), 2) MIT Terminator 6 (1m pair, 2m pairs)

Strengths:
quality in sound and construction, looks?,

Weaknesses:
expensive?

Similar Products Used:
Rotel RCD 955AX, Yamaha CDX 550, Sony D E-525 (one of those "Discmen")