primare i30 vs roksan caspian m series

admin_exported

New member
Aug 10, 2019
2,556
5
0
hi , im looking to upgrade my kandy L3 in the near future with either the caspian or the primare ,does any one know wich is the better of the two and why? . i know the caspian won the award for best amp up to £1500 in the what hi fi awards last year, and the primare is getting on a bit so wich is better ? will my atc11s be good enough for the primare ? thanks .
 
fowler:hi , im looking to upgrade my kandy L3 in the near future with either the caspian or the primare ,does any one know wich is the better of the two and why? . i know the caspian won the award for best amp up to £1500 in the what hi fi awards last year, and the primare is getting on a bit so wich is better ? will my atc11s be good enough for the primare ? thanks .

I demoed the Caspian against the Kandy and decided it was better all round. The Primare was on my list but as I got the Caspian for under £1000 I never got to hear the Primare.
I heard a rumour the Roksan may be going up 20% again so you may need to move quick. If it does go up the Primare would be definitely worth listening to then.
 
This is where a certain Mr John Duncan should come in, methinks.
emotion-5.gif
 
i tried a i30 to replace my kandy L.lll amp, i found it didn't go at all well with the kandy cdp. bass was too lean and the treble could pierce your ear drums. this was with dynaudio focus 110 speakers. i think it would be even more pronounced with your scm's. the caspian cdp sounded good with it though. i haven't heard the caspian amp.
 
RodhasGibson:This is where a certain Mr John Duncan should come in, methinks.
emotion-5.gif


Soz, I haven't heard a Caspian amp for years, so the i30 is still my amp of choice at 1500 quid (the knobs! the knobs!).
 
JohnDuncan:RodhasGibson:This is where a certain Mr John Duncan should come in, methinks.
emotion-5.gif


Soz, I haven't heard a Caspian amp for years, so the i30 is still my amp of choice at 1500 quid (the knobs! the knobs!).

maybe, but you wouldn't want to partner one with a kandy cdp. i had 4 sets of ears (on friends heads!) round mine when i demoed the pairing, all said the same thing - waaay too bright. and that was through dark sounding dyn's. the knobs are nice though...
 
Big Chris:http://audioaffair.co.uk/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=1627

I dunno. You could do a lot with that £380 saving. If/when I have the funds to upgrade my A65, I'm gonna make sure the Caspian is on my demo list.

Oh so would I. And then I'd buy an i30
emotion-2.gif


You're right, that's a big difference financially, I thought they were closer (but then have looked elsewhere and the Caspian is 1500 quid and the Primare is ohmagosh - £1800...)
 
I've auditioned the Primare I30 for a month before ending up with the Roksan Kandy K2.

The Primare is a very capable machine in a neat package. It's a faultless kind of sound that will not bother you.

For me, it was too laid back and very flat, whereas the Roksan is more tactile and full.

I don't know about the Caspian, but I prefer the house sound of Roksan in general.
 
JohnDuncan:Big Chris:http://audioaffair.co.uk/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=1627 I dunno. You could do a lot with that £380 saving. If/when I have the funds to upgrade my A65, I'm gonna make sure the Caspian is on my demo list. Oh so would I. And then I'd buy an i30
emotion-2.gif
You're right, that's a big difference financially, I thought they were closer (but then have looked elsewhere and the Caspian is 1500 quid and the Primare is ohmagosh - £1800...)

If the Caspian is £1500 then it's gone up 20% already. I only bought mine in March and am glad I didn't wait.
 
RodhasGibson:Yeah but if an Aston Martin was only 300 quid more than a Lambo, I know what I"d go for.
emotion-5.gif


Yeah but I saved over £500 and that's a long way towards a power amp if I want to Bi-amp.
 
thanks for the replys fellas. i plan on upgrading my cd player to match the amp i choose, but can only afford to do it one step at a time.thanks for the link big chris cool site,thats the cheapest iv seen the caspian for, and you get a mains conditioner and interconnects free.
 
It is a superb amp and the What Hi-Fi review is spot on regarding the performance. I used my Caspian when demoing new speakers and found it worked well with most of them but with the A6's it was exceptional so I plumped for them. It has jumped quite a bit in price since I bought mine but that seems to have unfortunately happened across the board. Sorry,I haven't heard the Primare so can't comment on how they would compare.

It is such a big investment that I would suggest taking your time and hear as many different amps a possible and take along your Kandy CDP to try them out with, it may turn out you don't need to upgrade your CDP.
 
thanks bert puttocks and spacehopper ,iv just been offered a pre owned primare i30 in mint condition for £750, what do you think should i bite his hand off?
 
fowler:thanks bert puttocks and spacehopper ,iv just been offered a pre owned primare i30 in mint condition for £750, what do you think should i bite his hand off?

JD Where are you.
 
fowler:thanks bert puttocks and spacehopper ,iv just been offered a pre owned primare i30 in mint condition for £750, what do you think should i bite his hand off?

That's a tough call - you may kick yourself if you don't go for it as it is some saving over a new one by the looks of it. I suppose on the up sidde if you don't like the sound then you'll at least get your money back on it. You'll need to keep us posted.
 
fowler:thanks bert puttocks and spacehopper ,iv just been offered a pre owned primare i30 in mint condition for £750, what do you think should i bite his hand off?

yes, thats a pretty good price. could probably sell on if for some reason you aren't keen without loss. although i still reckon you will want to change the cdp pretty sharpish.
 
hi guys , well i pick the primare up on saturday afternoon, so i shall let you no how i find it. (cant wait ha ha) im just wondering what would be a fair price to sell my kandy L3 for ? any ideas ?
 
Hope it sounds good. Thinking about it, if a Primare had been on sale for £750 when I was looking I would have gambled and bought it having never heard one, and if it did not suit my system then alter my system to suit or sell the Primare on.
 

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts