Superb in every aspect. Wonderful treble, ample bass and a great mid-range.

Not the best amp for heavy metal!

I auditioned the Caspian against the Arcam A85 and the Musical Fidelity A3. I found the Arcam a little laid back for my taste whilst the MF was too brash. The Caspian has the good points of both with none of the bad. It is wonderfully smooth with a crisp, but not in any way harsh, treble. I can't imagine anyone being disappointed with the sound other than thrash metal merchants!

Similar Products Used:

Arcam A85

The first thing that struck me about the Roksan Caspian CD player was it's good looks. The front plate is entirely chrome whilst the rest of the box is in elegant black. I just had to hear this box perform, and perform it did. The sound that the Caspian delivered was sweet, controlled, and very, very nice to listen to. It delivered the goods on all types of music I like and although a little more of a raw edge would be nice on some tracks this was a dream. I have yet to find a CD player which excels in every category and this is why I reserve my 5 rating for that day, in the meantime I fall in love again and again with the sound of my Caspian.

I stumbled upon this integrated while at an audio shop looking for a CD player. The sales rep recommended I give it a listen, based on my musical taste (lots of JAZZ, I prefer a VERY neutral sound). Well, I know own this great piece of equipment. I wish there were more reviews on this amazing integrated - it seems these things are quite rare, though.
Anyway, as for the sound: very warm and inviting [inviting you to keep turning that volume up!] because the midrange and imaging are oh so good. This is definitely warm, but not too warm and rounded like some british integrateds. There is absolutely no distortion in the upper volume levels. This amp is clean, and very musical in being so. Wide soundstage and again, a very sweet midrange. Bass is definitely present and quite tight, never boomy. The highs are open - highhats chink and clank like they're supposed to.

The power is rated at 70w continuous - which should be quite enough for most speakers out there, no matter the size. For those of you that have seen this piece, you know how elegant and solid it looks. Damn heavy too.

I have not had any problems with this amp. I'm sorry for the unlucky person below...

Fill all five slots for this one!

Bought the amplifier after having to wait for 4 months before new stocks came.Built quality is good and the set feels heavy. Trouble starts after 3 months of usage. It produces cracking sound to the left speakers and a loud thud when turning off the power switch. Bought it back to the agent for warranty repairs.
A month has gone by and I am still without my set. Seems that they are not able to determine the cause of the problem and am refering the matter to the manufacturer in England. Looks like it's gonna be a long wait before I see my amplifier again. Anyway, it is a warm sounding amp. and comes with a remote.
I give it 3 stars for reliability and 4 stars for sound quality.

After having the Caspian for more than 4 months, i feel ready to give my two cent's worth.I bought the Caspian at S$1200.00, a steal here in singapore considering the unit sells for more than BP$800+ in UK. This is a warm amp that matches well with forward sounding (or is bright the correct term?) speakers. The 70w rating is powerful enough to drive tricky speakers. It needs a full week of break-in to see its capability. Soundstage is deep and midrange wonderful although i don't know if its because of the speakers, or the result of perfect synergy between the amp and the speakers, or only the amp's quality. Musically, its so involving that i always listen to it until 2am every night (i'm not kiddin, ok?)! Try it with Van Morrison's Back On Top album especially track 2 'Philosopher's Stone', it's so involving your head will automatically move as if you we're the one singing.
In my place, it gives its best sound at night or do i need a noise filter? Like the other comments here, bass is tight and generous. What more can i say? build quiality is A1. It looks slim but take a closer look and you'll see that it's built like a tank, and is very heavy relative to its size. Shortcomings? yes, there is one, you may need to set the volume at 12 o'clock to give out a loud sound as compared to others of similar power whose dial needs to be set only at 9 o'clock to get the same volume.
As for the ratings i'll give it 4.3 stars (5 being the best which is for really good amps costing 5 to 7 times more). I'll round it up to 5 stars since it's affordable here in singapore.

Other components:
Speaker - Sonus Faber Concertino
CD Player - Ultech UCD 100
Interconnect - Van Den Hul (forgot the model but its a 1998 best buy in What Hi-Fi?)
Speaker cable - Supra Ply 3/4
Active Subwoofer - REL Quake

I'm using an original pair of Dahlquist DQ 20 speakers, and even though they're a bit older, they are still incredibly revealing. The Roksan is as close to flawless as I have heard, on up into the thousands of dollars. Warm? Perhaps, but to my ears, more neutral and "flat" (as in no excessive anything) than anything else even close to twice the price.
The musical "holy grail" to me is twofold: One, instruments and music must sound real, and two, and much more importantly, what I listen to needs to make me smile. I sit, fire up a disc, and start grinning. Simple. The Roksan allows me to listen as closely and carefully as I like, while never forcing itself on me. (Help, I've been shagged by my amp!)

On to some more or less concrete details: The imaging is truly excellent, with just about the best centering I have heard. The speakers tend to dissapear, and everyone that has heard the system says something like "Wow, it sounds as if I was there!" Very realistic sonically. The amp almost sounds like a tube setup, because it is so very smooth, but without any of the tube drawbacks. Music just flows nicely. Nice to have a spare set of pre outs if and when I biamp the system. (A 70 watt amp only version is available for around 1000.00) Build quality is way strong, beefy. I threw on a Monarchy Audio power cord, (80.00, cheap!) and the midrange got even better, increased definition and separation between notes and instruments.

For 1500.00 total, I think the Caspian is The Rig To Beat.

Bought the Caspian a week and a half ago after a lengthy deliberation between it and the Audiolab 8000S. In Singapore they are in roughly the same S$1200 – 1300 price range (so’s the Musical Fidelity X-A1!!! that’s a rip off over here), though I heard from the dealer that the Roksan retailed at a ridiculous S$950 when it was first introduced! Go figure. Anyway, I had some friends over yesterday, one of whom had an 8000S, so we had a real good listen to both. Here’s what we found: The Roksan delivers more punch in the bass region, and there’s no loss of detail elsewhere either; it just seems that the Audiolab digs out more, because its drier nature makes it more obvious. I have to admit that the 8000S has the edge when it comes to electronic music, there’s no overhang at all to dampen attack and timing. But throw in more acoustic instruments and voices, and the Caspian comes out tops. Cymbals have a natural decay, guitar plucks sound real, not digitized; the music becomes a whole lot more believable. Dave Mathews Band thru the Roksan sounded awesome, while the Audiolab made everything a little processed.
One of the things that really impresses me about the Caspian is its absolute refusal to harden as the volume goes up, it just sings sweeter and sweeter. The sound is amazingly easy on the ear, without turning into bland mush. It’s so musical, the grins and ‘wow!’s are natural effects of listening to this amp. The 8000S by comparison became quite unlistenable even before reaching similar levels.
In the end, though, the two amplifiers fulfill different roles. They are suited to different components and musical tastes. If I was a hardcore dance junkie and I used a forward cd player like my friend, I might have regretted my purchase. But with my expanding collection of jazz and acoustic recordings and increasing preference for ‘real’ sound, I’m very happy indeed that I opted for the Roksan, which I feel is the better amplifier with most types of music. And this is before you take into account its gorgeous million dollar looks, tingling-to-the-touch rubber feel steel chassis and brilliant build. I just look forward to making full use of the system remote by adding the matching cd player later on…

Equipment:
Amplifier: Roksan Caspian
Cd player: Pioneer PD-S904 (very revealing, better than Marantz CD67SE)
Speakers: Rogers LS88 (not common at all but very accomplished; trashes KEF Q35, I couldn’t believe it myself)
Speaker cables: Nordost Flatline Gold MkII
Interconnects: Nordost Magic I (also tested with Blue Angel – more open and detailed)

I have owned the Roksan for over 6 months now and I agree with most of what's been written about it in particular its built quality which I feel is second-to-none. If there's a quality that I really like about the Roksan, it's the neutrality and balance that's free from distortion especially when driven REALLY loud. I listen mainly to pop and classical music but the 3D imaging and soundstaging is one of the best I've heard for AV-audio on two speakers. Try it with a movie and you'll see exactly what I mean. At 70W per channel, it's rather odd that you really have to turn the volume knob a fair bit for normal listening but I appreciate the greater control on the volume level as a result. I'm not sure if it's warm (can someone please kindly fill me in on the characteristics of 'warm' ?) given that warm and neutral would somewhat contradict each other(?). It's a totally different world compared to the Marantz PM-57 I previously owned and it's lifelike midrange far excels the MF-XA1 or the Audiolab, though the XA1 does thump out more deep bass punch. A deeply satisfying amplifier that invites endless listening. Light up all those stars plaease......

The Roksan Caspian integrated amplifier is an astoundingly musical component.From the beginning,it has shown an amazing ability to play tunes and melodies.It is silky smooth yet articulate and controlled.It has a very broad and deep soundstage but it is presented in such a way as to seem natural and proportioned.The ambience and acoustics of the recording venue as well as the decay of notes is very good esp. at this pricepoint.I find myself better able to understand lyrical content as well as emotion.I find that it conveys textural and timbral inflections(particularly captivating with voice and percussion) in a manner that doesn't detract from the music.The Caspian is exceptionally rhythmic and dynamic and doesn't harden as the volume it turned upwards.My loudspeakers (Rega ELA's) present a fairly easy load but with only 4-1/2 in. woofers in a transmission line arrangement have always presented a problem with producing satifying lower octaves.Their primary attributes are their speed, pace and coherence. The Roksan gives the impression that it digs deeper and wrings out more bass than I have heard from them before.I have read reviews that claimed the Roksan to be warm in tone.I don't believe this statement to be true.I would be at a loss to say what it's sonic signature really is.It's sound is clear and detailed yet not cold, sterile or full of sonic artifice.It can be lush and liquid (for a solid state device) yet not bloated,dark or sluggish. It has bite and slam when called for but isn't splashy nor in-your-face.Interestingly, many of what I had assumed were flaws of my CD front end(Rega Planet),notably congestion on busy or complex passages,have all but dissappeared.Had I spent twice the outlay for this quality of sound,I would have been smuggly satisfied.At the asking price, the Roksan Caspian has to be one of the better values in audio out there.It is well built,versatile, functional and even pretty. A class act from Roksan.I highly recommend you give it an audition.

The Caspian Integrated is a wonderful, well built, transparent, Awhh, justplain musical. My only problem is that at times it is a little harsh in
the high frequencies, which makes it very un-tubelike.. Cables and speakers
will have a big impact on this, but the soundstage and everything else is
wondeful ..Great Slamability when required for most speakers.

Associated Gear:
CD-Micromega Stage 2
Interconnects-Were Kimber PBJ, Now Audioquest-turqoise..(Helped Harshness)
Speakers-AR 310 H.O.
Cassette-Sony KA 1 ES
DVD=JVC XV-1000
VCR-Sony HiFi