Inca Katana CD player

Anyone heard one ? Saw one for sale 2nd hand.

Just wondered what people's opinions of them are ?

It seems to use the same DACs as in the Rotel 1070. Now the Katana says its Upsampling - but I think the DACs are upsampling as standard internally anyway ? So why don't the Rotels advertise as Upsampling ?

Thanks, Mark.

 

You can use an upsampling DAC in a non upsampling context- Cambridge do in the 5 & 640C CD players.

The Inca is built like a truck and is certainly posessed of an interesting appearence, my listening time with it was brief but it seemed to be full sounding with good bass but fractionally sharp at the top. If you can have a listen to it, then do.

 

I have the newer SACD version of it (it's black) and it is a stunning CD player and very very good value IMO. I have not heard the standard one but believe the transports and other components are the same. I don't know how much it is second hand but I got mine new from http://www.chinese-hifi.co.uk The build quality is also faultless.

 

Which section is it under in that link neek ?

Guy wants 375 for it - 18 months old, bought from local hifi store, has remainder of 3 year warranty left on it.

Good buy or expensive ?

How would one of these players compare to say an Arcam CD92, Meridian 206 , that sort of quality of player ? Or would they be much better ?

Thanks, Mark.

 

Mine cost £450 new and it is the SACD version.
http://www.chinese-hifi.co.uk/jungson.htm
Its called a Jungson Moon player on here. They do a standard and a improved version of the normal player. Mine was slightly cheaper as it had been returned as the remote did not work, a replacement is on it's way.
I can only suggest give it a listen, I was actually considering buying the Shanling T-200 player and had both for an audition. The Inca / Jungson outclassed the Shanling which came as a huge shock. It was so much happier playing music, everything we put through it sounded so natural and it seemed to relish playing everything. It sang at you where as the Shanling really did struggle with some things. I have to point out that the Shanling was pretty much straight out of the box and I am sure would have settled down once ran in, but I could not see it improving enough to warrant the difference in price.
£375 does seem very expensive for a second hand player, I am guessing he is working on the official UK price which is double the Chinese hifi price. If it was me then I would buy either of the ones from Chinese hifi or the SACD version, depending on budget. Looking at the site they have just dropped the price for the SACD player and added 2 new versions with tube output stages! Typical!! Only had it a month.. Grrr. Oh well, it's an even better player for the price now!!!

 

Neek,

I e-mailed Ben about this earlier in the week (just to clear up confusion about it, because cattylink had the deluxe version and ben didn't)and will be putting in an order for the deluxe tube sacd version at the end of October.

Looks like a bargain for £490 delivered. I can't help thinking that a UK/EU player with the same build & spec as this would cost around £2k.

Also tempted by the Consonance M100S 300B integrated - £700 delivered

DT

 

It might also be worth noting that the tube output is only available on the unbalanced RCA outputs, afaik.

 

Just more examples of the quality coming out of china these days.

 

I agree, its very scary. God knows how UK hi-fi companies are going to survive without manufacturing their products in Manchuria?

Marketing & xenophobia only go so far......

 

Did you manage to get more info about it from him? Does it have tubed and solid state outputs? A want one now!!! Ahhh well, you shall have to let us all know what you think I did think the Solid state output was better on the Shanling player but again, it was not fully run in. Nice choice.

 

I forgot to mention he does some lovely cables.

 

Neek, I am commiting a cardinal hi-fi sin and buying this blind. There is very little info from the manufacturer on this player (they change their line-up with alarming frequency). I don't fancy going all the way to sheffield to listen to a cd player tbh.

Whilst the SCD-T200 looks a lot nicer, it is more than double the price £1200, which pushes it waaaaaay out of my budget.

And the end of the day, if it sounds similar to the 900V, I'll sell it on and buy another 900V instead. Given how new it is, the financial hit shouldn't be too harsh (famous last words ).

It has valve & SS output. Tube output is not available on the XLR's for some reason.

Yeah, those Xindak cables are pretty meaty, but I'm a bit of an interconnect cynic tbh.

 

Well my and a more musical friends opinion of the T-200 was it was poor. Even if it was the same price as the Inca that I bought I still would have chosen the Inca. As you say, I don't think you will have a problem selling it but I don't think you will be disapointed anyway!

 

Heard something over the wkend about increasing the value of the Chinese currency in order to bring it more inline with the other major currencies, might be an idea to buy now before the bubble bursts.

 

The chinese gvt increased the renminbi trading band for non-dollar currencies by about 2%, afaik. Should have a minimal impact on pricing, if any.

 

OK -I'm really struggling here in choosing.

How important is the transport in a DAC/transport combo.

IE How would say a Inca Katana cd player compare to me buying an A324 Music Fidelity DAC, added onto my relatively cheap Sony 530 player ? Both would cost me the same price.

Thanks, Mark.

 

in my experience transp[orts do play a big(ish) part - when I upgraded my cd player from a 200 quid yammy to my nad (same price!) - there was a big difference despite it going through a dac...

 

Thanks Mr Cat - what do you think of the A324 DAC? There is one on Ebay for 389 - is that the going rate ?

cheers, Mark.

 

yeah, I paid 347 for mine a short while back...it's great, tho, it wasn't night and day difference between that and my old modded x-act...

you could try this one too -
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/TDA1543-Non-O...5812733780QQcategoryZ3272QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

seems that most Dacs hold up their value well if yopu decide to sell it on..

 

RSand's lounge is for sale

RSand,

Is that your lounge for sale?

I didn't know it could be imported direct from Hong Kong