1 star Saxon CD300

[Anonymous]

In the end I bought an apollo cd player, a mira3 amplifier and a p2 record deck. It all seemed to sound good to my ears, as did many other combinations at around about the same price. My short list ended up at Rega or Arcam or Primare.

I did have some missgivings over the top loading cd though - still do, some days I really love the look, others I wonder why I did it. The sound to my mind is phenomenal though, even with some 15 year old JVC speakers from a mini system. This was not the intention when buying (wanted to save for speakers), so auditioned with my old trusty Monitor Audio R252's - probably 20 years old - which despite their age and boxy appearance still sound ok. They just don't do the decor justise and as we are trying to sell the house the small jvc are easier to 'hide'.

I understand what you say about the cd clamp hificrazy - think you are probaly right. But this coupled with the top loading lid does have one major advantage to my mind, it limits the number of moving parts (no drawer mechanism or method of securing the cd for play).

Thanks for the indication over selection of products for test - it makes the Saxon result all the more alarming.

Finally i look forard to the Rega reviews, despite it being a bit late for me but others thoughts are always interesting.

 

[hifikrazy]

I too prefer the top loaders for the reason you stated. But I think I prefer the previous Rega players which secure the CD with a magnetic puck placed on top of the CD, much like the Naim players. Somehow I just don't like the ball clamp of the new players.

But from a performance perspective, the Apollo was very impressive so congrats on your purchase.