Blimey its big

True Blue

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Its arrived [:D]

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True Blue

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Not going to comment on the sound as yet..................
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Sure there will be subtle changes in the next few weeks.

Instantly better than the Saturn though
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, when using Saturn as transport:

Sonos sounds mighty fine as well.

Build quality : Its like a tank, bloody heavy as well

Not played with the "filters" yet.

One thing I dont understand is why a DAC is fitted with digital optical and coax "outs"??????
 

True Blue

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plastic penguin:I always prefer portrait rather than landscape...
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. Looks the biz, TB...

Thankyou
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Its just running on very low volume at the moment, ready for some serious listening later
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True Blue

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Right "first" appraisal of sound unit been on powered up and running for 15hrs:-

First things first this is NOT a perceived difference, this is a real one, I am now hearing extra detail / notes / background melodies

There seems to be a lot lot more air and space around everything, very good details.

Has gone from edging slightly towards the upper frequencies to the more traditional "analogue" rega sound.

The difference it makes to the Saturns internal DAC is very noticable at the moment - cant quite describe it well though - transparency and depth (better control of bass lines) have increased.

The difference it has made over my Caiman with the sonos is literally the same sort of jump as going from say an apollo to a saturn.

All this and only just over half a day in!!!

Very pleased as it was a blind purchase!!
 
A

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Good stuff TB, very surprised that you can instantly hear a sonic change, sounds like a good purchase.
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True Blue

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Was surprised by that too.

Having said that even a stone cold Saturn sounds better than an Apollo. The DAC is instantly better than the run in Caiman and indeed the Saturns DAC
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.

Currently running a Chord Prodac (loaner) from CDP to DAC, Signature digital on order, think it deserves that cannot wait.

Absolutely amazinging
 
A

Anonymous

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Thats a nice bit of kit TB!!!

look's mighty fine!!!!.

I got delivery of my Donizetti power amp a few days ago, so been testing system on the dining room table, running my rega rs1's off of it!, loving it so far.

Think im guna re-install the rega's and try and sell the dali's.Read something worrying on an AA webpage other nite suggesting "AA kit" didnt really want, to drive 4 ohm speaker's...

Which i need to look into, but the rega's are sounding great!!!!
 

jockey.wilson

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TB,

Have you listened to a Naim nDAC in the context of your system? Very interested to hear of the Rega compares. Got a 202 coming very soon so need a DAC for the Cyrus Xt SE+.
 

True Blue

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reggaedave:

Thats a nice bit of kit TB!!!

look's mighty fine!!!!.

I got delivery of my Donizetti power amp a few days ago, so been testing system on the dining room table, running my rega rs1's off of it!, loving it so far.

Think im guna re-install the rega's and try and sell the dali's.Read something worrying on an AA webpage other nite suggesting "AA kit" didnt really want, to drive 4 ohm speaker's...

Which i need to look into, but the rega's are sounding great!!!!

Thanks Dave, looks and sounds (most importantly) mighty fine indded.

Beautiful amplifier by the way
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bet it sounds fantastic with those Rega's
 

mitch65

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True Blue:
Not going to comment on the sound as yet..................
emotion-2.gif


Sure there will be subtle changes in the next few weeks.

Instantly better than the Saturn though
emotion-2.gif
, when using Saturn as transport:

Sonos sounds mighty fine as well.

Build quality : Its like a tank, bloody heavy as well

Not played with the "filters" yet.

One thing I dont understand is why a DAC is fitted with digital optical and coax "outs"??????

I think we are at about the same stage, you comments are mirroring my own at the moment. Build quality is superb and initial thoughts on sound are bigger, deeper soundstage, more detail......oh happy me!. It certainly betters my Rotel RCD-991 which is a great CD player in it's own right, although using the Rotel as a transport does bring interesting gains but to be honest that's defeating the reason for buying the Rega in the first place.
 

True Blue

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jockey.wilson:

TB,

Have you listened to a Naim nDAC in the context of your system? Very interested to hear of the Rega compares. Got a 202 coming very soon so need a DAC for the Cyrus Xt SE+.

Yes I have but unfortunately not back to back and my Rega DAC is still running in.

Heard the NDAC connected with HILINE at my dealers through a 202/200/HC combo. Sound was very revealing. Truely astonishing bit of kit. But 2.5K with the lead is an aweful lot of money. Have you heard a CDX2 against a CDS3? They are both very good CDP's but the CDX2's sound is slightly more analytical and revealing whilst the CDS3 sounds like a really good TT. The NDAC has the same sonic signature as the CDX2. Another reason that I did not buy the Naim, is I know Iwould be tempted by the offboard power supplies, could end up getting very expensive.

The REGA Dac is still very much running in. Glad I bought it over the Ndac though. The sonic signature is similar to that of the Saturn, IE warm inviting and revealing. Personally now I feel my Saturn + DAC sounds better than a CDS3, a player at three times the price.

The timing, imaging and clarity have improved massively than just with my saturn. The music is very tight. Velvetty warm and inviting and incredibly detailed.

The REGA dac does go through a period around 15hrs in where the sound tends very much towards the higher frequencies, however this was short lived on my setup.

The final piece of my jigsaw arrived yesterday in the form of a Chord Signature Digital Coax cable. Not had a chance to install and listen yet (currently using a Prodac). Going to fit it today
emotion-2.gif
.

I think I will give it a good month after that to then all settle out so that I can report fully on the sound.

Very pleased I went for the REGA dac over the NDac. Its an absolute steal at the price. Managed to get mine in the Audio T sale as well before the VAT went up.
 

True Blue

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mitch65:

I think we are at about the same stage, you comments are mirroring my own at the moment. Build quality is superb and initial thoughts on sound are bigger, deeper soundstage, more detail......oh happy me!. It certainly betters my Rotel RCD-991 which is a great CD player in it's own right, although using the Rotel as a transport does bring interesting gains but to be honest that's defeating the reason for buying the Rega in the first place.

Mitch, I agree, I honestly thought I was going to be relying on my SONOS as source. The SATURN was going to be sold....................

However when hooking it up and feeding it to the DAC I havent put my SONOS on yet!!!

The SONOS sounds fantastic now. Very happy.

Have you any idea why there are digital outputs fitted to the DAC?

A money saving thought which is going through my head though is to sell the Saturn and buy an Apollo instead, as I think they use the same transport mech. The only difference being in their internal DAC's. Will see if I can get a loaner from my dealer to check that one out..................possibly.
 
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Anonymous

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I would love to know how you get on with that, i was going to get a saturn a while ago but when i heard about the rega dac i held off and was going to use my apollo as a transport and feed it to the rega dac.

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its a big beast isnt it! i thought it was going to be the same sort of size as a MF M1 DAC...
 

True Blue

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THESTIG08:

I would love to know how you get on with that, i was going to get a saturn a while ago but when i heard about the rega dac i held off and was going to use my apollo as a transport and feed it to the rega dac.

emotion-3.gif
its a big beast isnt it! i thought it was going to be the same sort of size as a MF M1 DAC...

Its blooming heavey as well. Just been doing a quick bit of research the power supplies are different on the saturn as well and it has the rather nice aluminium faceplate. The appolo has a plastic one :-(

Will be sticking with what I have got I think
 

mitch65

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There lies the problem, I was due to sell the Rotel to help fund the Rega but the Rega has given it a boot up the backside and I was even considering buying a cheaper CD player to use as a transport but now I really do not know. All I do know is that the DacMagic is going on fleabay tomorrow to recoup some of the cost and then we will see how things go. As to the digital outs?, I will have to look into that as the box is now in the loft!

EDIT - Well, the manual doesn't give a lot away about the digital outs......
 

True Blue

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Six days in and things are starting to stablise.

Not quite worked out as I hoped. The plan was to sell my Saturn and just go streaming through Nas - > Sonos as well as vinyl playback.

Plan failed
emotion-6.gif


I have not stopped listening to my Saturn through the Rega DAC, the sound is open, detailed, the proverbial "viel" being well and truely lifted. The sound is tight and the depth (staging wise) is phenominal. The DAC has just taken on the strengths of the Saturn and improved everything
emotion-2.gif


Sonos sounds damn good as well, but only listened very occasionally.
 

chebby

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True Blue:I have not stopped listening to my Saturn through the Rega DAC, the sound is open, detailed, the proverbial "viel" being well and truely lifted.

The day that someone finally makes the perfect hifi I think they should call it the. . . 'No More Veils'.

It might be worth checking to see if the Rega Saturn transport is the same as that used in the Apollo. If it is then you could get an ex-demo Apollo, sell the Saturn and make a bit of money back. (It's not as if you are using anything else in the Saturn now.)
 
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Anonymous

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True Blue:
Six days in and things are starting to stablise.

Not quite worked out as I hoped. The plan was to sell my Saturn and just go streaming through Nas - > Sonos as well as vinyl playback.

Plan failed
emotion-6.gif


I have not stopped listening to my Saturn through the Rega DAC, the sound is open, detailed, the proverbial "viel" being well and truely lifted. The sound is tight and the depth (staging wise) is phenominal. The DAC has just taken on the strengths of the Saturn and improved everything
emotion-2.gif


Sonos sounds damn good as well, but only listened very occasionally.

I am waiting for my delivery of a Naim nait5i and rega dac, ordered two weeks ago, and I am planing on using a sonos or similar as my source, feeding flacs or wav files, my questions is, how much difference in sould and what differences are there between using a sonos or your saturn? As i like you, wanted to go completely over to Sonos, but not sure now.

At the moment though i would only be using a Denon micro hifi as a transport through optical . so maybe the sonos would better that anyway. ??

Help, lol

tim
 

True Blue

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chebby:

True Blue:I have not stopped listening to my Saturn through the Rega DAC, the sound is open, detailed, the proverbial "viel" being well and truely lifted.

The day that someone finally makes the perfect hifi I think they should call it the. . . 'No More Veils'.

It might be worth checking to see if the Rega Saturn transport is the same as that used in the Apollo. If it is then you could get an ex-demo Apollo, sell the Saturn and make a bit of money back. (It's not as if you are using anything else in the Saturn now.)

Looked into that, the apollo uses a plastic fascia as opposed to the aluminium of the Saturn. The power supplies are upgraded too. Going to stick with the Saturn.
 

True Blue

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tim20:True Blue:

Six days in and things are starting to stablise.

Not quite worked out as I hoped. The plan was to sell my Saturn and just go streaming through Nas - > Sonos as well as vinyl playback.

Plan failed
emotion-6.gif


I have not stopped listening to my Saturn through the Rega DAC, the sound is open, detailed, the proverbial "viel" being well and truely lifted. The sound is tight and the depth (staging wise) is phenominal. The DAC has just taken on the strengths of the Saturn and improved everything
emotion-2.gif


Sonos sounds damn good as well, but only listened very occasionally.

I am waiting for my delivery of a Naim nait5i and rega dac, ordered two weeks ago, and I am planing on using a sonos or similar as my source, feeding flacs or wav files, my questions is, how much difference in sould and what differences are there between using a sonos or your saturn? As i like you, wanted to go completely over to Sonos, but not sure now.

At the moment though i would only be using a Denon micro hifi as a transport through optical . so maybe the sonos would better that anyway. ??

Help, lol

tim

Difficult to tell at the moment, dont get me wrong SONOS fed from my NAS and Apple Lossless sounds amazing, just not quite as good as the Saturn transport.

Not really a fair test neither, without wanting to get into the "there's no difference in digital cables or methods arguement", I am using a Chord Signature Coaxial between CDP and DAC, and using a Chord Optichord between SONOS and DAC.
 
A

Anonymous

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True Blue:tim20:True Blue:
Six days in and things are starting to stablise.

Not quite worked out as I hoped. The plan was to sell my Saturn and just go streaming through Nas - > Sonos as well as vinyl playback.

Plan failed
emotion-6.gif


I have not stopped listening to my Saturn through the Rega DAC, the sound is open, detailed, the proverbial "viel" being well and truely lifted. The sound is tight and the depth (staging wise) is phenominal. The DAC has just taken on the strengths of the Saturn and improved everything
emotion-2.gif


Sonos sounds damn good as well, but only listened very occasionally.

I am waiting for my delivery of a Naim nait5i and rega dac, ordered two weeks ago, and I am planing on using a sonos or similar as my source, feeding flacs or wav files, my questions is, how much difference in sould and what differences are there between using a sonos or your saturn? As i like you, wanted to go completely over to Sonos, but not sure now.

At the moment though i would only be using a Denon micro hifi as a transport through optical . so maybe the sonos would better that anyway. ??

Help, lol

tim

Difficult to tell at the moment, dont get me wrong SONOS fed from my NAS and Apple Lossless sounds amazing, just not quite as good as the Saturn transport.

Not really a fair test neither, without wanting to get into the "there's no difference in digital cables or methods arguement", I am using a Chord Signature Coaxial between CDP and DAC, and using a Chord Optichord between SONOS and DAC.

I guess I will be happy with the Sonos, I haven't bought one yet, i have the NAS drive ready, Kef Q5se speakers, and like i said the Nait5i , Rega Dac on its way, but i think the Denon as a transport will be really rubbish at the side of an apollo or Saturn?

Speakers will be the next upgrade i think, only brought them 2 months ago to please the wife as she didnt want standmounters any more, since then the upgrade bug set in and the denon df101 is going.

Cheers
 

mitch65

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True Blue:
Six days in and things are starting to stablise.

Not quite worked out as I hoped. The plan was to sell my Saturn and just go streaming through Nas - > Sonos as well as vinyl playback.

Plan failed
emotion-6.gif


I have not stopped listening to my Saturn through the Rega DAC, the sound is open, detailed, the proverbial "viel" being well and truely lifted. The sound is tight and the depth (staging wise) is phenominal. The DAC has just taken on the strengths of the Saturn and improved everything
emotion-2.gif


Sonos sounds damn good as well, but only listened very occasionally.

Not surprised, my Rotel is packed away but I am wondering for how long??
 

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