People,

My Karik may be nearing its last throws. It is now on its way to Linn for repair or to be put down.

I am therefore considering what to look at as the machine is 7 years old! Short list goes like this,

CD5X
Linn Ikemi
CDX2

Alternatively I may have to explore the second hand market as the budget is tight and the wife is not ammused!

I know most of you guy's wll say CDX2 but that may push me too far on price. Is there anything else out there to compare them to?

I also have a dual rail SNAPS and other PS. How much better is the CD5 with even a modest PS?

Milan

Correct me if I am wrong but the transport mechanism for the CD5 is now obsolete and a different mech has been employed in the CD5X and CD5i.

I would think Ikemi or CDX2 would be the players of choice based on my experiences. The CD5 is a good player but really cries out for a HiCap. Then your budget is in CDX2 territory.

"Previously-enjoyed" Ikemis are becoming more prevalent as a result of the introduction of the Unidisk SC.

CD5x with a Hi cap is a wonderful player. But having go to around £2400 it really is worth at least having a listen to a bare CDX2. According to my ears it was a lot further than £300 ahead if the 5x/Hi and fully justified the extra outlay.

A CD5 bare is just fine thank you very much at it's price point (if you can still find a new one) but like Dead says it's only after adding a Hi Cap that you realise it's full and ample potential (but the 5x is better).

I understand that the Ikemi is well thought of in Linn circles. Unfortunately, listening to a Genki along side a CD5 pretty much killed Linn CDPs off for me. That and it's cheap and nasty drawer mechanism.

Cheers

Harry

HTK

The Ikemi is night and day different from the Genki. Build quality is superb - you'd love the drawer mech on it !

Sound quality is so much better, detailed, precise, musical. It just works really well !

I suggest you add a Densen Beat 400XS to your shortlist.

Regards
Steve

The kan man is spot on.

Milan, I'm sure you will land your player of choice and never look back. I'm more concerned about your wife not being amused, if only because I know the feeling. Why is it that we spend weeks waiting for the right time to announce our proposed purchase. If we time it right, we march proudly off to our chosen supplier and the whole wonderful experience is tinged with guilt.

What is wrong with our womenfolk? You'd think they would be glad. Once happy with our systems, we disappear from view for long periods in a world of our own....

.... or is it a case of, what is wrong with us?

Roger

To most women, black boxes should only ever contain shoes. They should never be fitted with a plug.

For us, speakers come in pairs and don't fit on feet - that is the problem.

Another option might be a Sonneteer Byron:



Although I'm afraid there aren't that many dealers around.

I'm not sure about the price but I think it's close to the price of a Naim CD5.

Another option might be a s/h CDX, if you can find one.
I have a CDX, it's my 16th(!) CDP since 1987, but it's the first one that stayed for more than 2 years now, and I'm not letting it go!
(till death do us part...preferably his death )

regards,
Alco

Roger,

You may be right on both counts.

Long Time Dead,

My wife agrees with your comment! However if I were to suggest having more than one pair of speakers she may get the Lorina Bobbit biography out from the library.

As for the topic, in the used market what about CD3.5 or CDI?

The Densen and Soneteer look interesting but unfortunately no dealer nearby for either to be found yet.

I did listen to an Electrocompaniet EBS1? earlier this week and that was very interesting when compared to my Karik Numerik! A very pleasant 4 hours. Anyone else heard this machine?

Milan

The CDI is a great machine and great s/h value unless it breaks.

If the Karik is unrepairable I think Linn do a trade in deal against an Ikemi, which may skew the price comparisons. Worth asking about anyway.

Paul

Paul,

Linn do a trade in of £295 against another Linn player. This brings the Ikemi uder £2k!

Budgets may still play a part. I have a SNAPS and another PS that may elevate the CD5.

Milan

hello the Ikemi is quite a good player and works well with many different types of gear 9Tubes,solid state) it is small and well built, a used cd5 is a good buy too.

As a Karik (+ Numerik; which made a huge difference) owner myself, I live in fear of the day it stops working.

Summarising the price points of Linn / Naim CDPs given in this thread gives something like this:

CD5x 1600
Ikemi (with trade in) ca 2000
CD5x+Hi 2400
CDX2 2700

Performance wise, where would a Karik/Numerik fit in ? Especially given the fact it was Linn's top-of-the-line player for many years. Is it comparable with the Ikemi, or would I really need to go CDX2+XPS2 ?

I know I should do a comparison demo, but no doubt other people have already been there.

What do you say ?

/david

David,
I have had the Linn combo and it is really quite another sound than the various Naim options.
A matter of personnal taste and your current set-up matching.
The highest Naim hiearchy I have had was CDX/XPS and I'm not very impressed when looking at the price....imagine how much analog you can buy for this amount !
A serviced CDi is my preferable if you can find one, or the CD2.
This is offcourse MOO and reflects that I won't invest high amount in digital and my vinyl collection is hugely compared to the silver disc here...

The CD5/cap is softer sounding and maybe closer to your Linn sound ?


Per

Hello Milan. May I suggest that if your wife isn't looking too amused then you reconsider the options under a grand:

Soneteer Byron (as above)heard this demoed at Walrus Systems in London against the chinese built Shanling CDP with the valve output stage (can't remember the model but it's exactly twice the price of the Soneteer)and the Byron killed it stone dead! I hope they don't continue to demo these two together (not if it's the Shanling they want to sell)!

Marantz CD17 (Mk1 or 2)available new for £800 or second hand for approx. half this amount. I have one and it's does great PRAT allied to a warmer, richer balance than the older (pre CD5) naim CDP's.

Best I've heard (and my choice if I was in the market right now) would have to be the CD5X though - it rocks!

Then what do I know; my wife is continually nagging me against spending any more money on hi-fi and I've just bought an LP12 and Mana to boot!

Mole Man

I was in the same position 1 year ago

listened to
Ikemi
CDX2
CD5
Meridian 588
Classe
Audionet ART

CDX2 sounded the best overall, very different from CDX (in a good way IMHO), 588 wasn't far behind, the Ikemi I was impressed with, and had the price been right I may have been tempted, classe yawn, audionet broke during demo!

I ended up getting a new 588 from a chap advertising it 2nd hand for 1500, I couldn't justify the extra 1k for the CDX2 at the time

Rest of kit is 82/Hi/180 into B&W P4s

Simon

If the brain were simple enough for us to understand, we would be too simple to understand it

David

In my view the Ikemi is better than the Karik/Numerik combination. It has better pace and rhythm, and has better resolution. It's a very good machine. That said, I haven't done an A/B of the Ikemi against a CD5x. The 5x sounds significantly better than the 5i (which it should given it's twice the price), so this should be in your shortlist.

Regards,
Frank.
All opinions are my own and do not reflect the opinion of any organisations I work for, except where this is stated explicitly.

Well in my opinion the Ikemi is a disappointing player. Very hi-fi, detailed and no nasties - but it's not got the enthusiasm of the cheaper Genki. Also the Genki is better at synchronising the musicians.

The Karik/Numerik is better than a Genki though, so you'll have to see if the Ikemi floats your boat.

When trying a CDX2 vs. CD5x/HiCap vs. Ikemi, you will undoubtedly find the Naim CD players to be better than the Ikemi. However, you really need to find a shop that has a 2nd hand Karik to ensure you are actually buying an improvement on your old CD player.

You may end up preferring the Naim CD players against the Karik IF they've improved on the sync-lock timing.
Andrew

Andrew Randle
The Hi-Fi Doctor

[This message was edited by Andrew Randle on Thu 26 August 2004 at 20:23.]