Rega Apollo Vs Saturn ...Is the Extra 400Stgs.worth it?

[admin_exported]

Hi,

Do you think that the saturn is worth the extra 400? Also, is it a good match in combination with a Rotel RSP1069 Pre amp, Rotel power amp, and Proac response d two`s?

Thanks.

 

[aliahk]

Most say it is not really worth the extra 400.

I have a rega brio 3 myself and i'm thinking of buying the maching cd player myself.

In my hifi store they told me it just isn't worth the 400 +

Probably you can better invest the 400 in a decent Dac

 

[Frank Harvey]

We've been running our Saturn through the ATC CA2/P1 pre/power amplifier with SCM19's, and it's certainly worth the extra in that system.

 

[MUSICRAFT]

daspaceman:

Hi,

Do you think that the saturn is worth the extra 400? Also, is it a good match in combination with a Rotel RSP1069 Pre amp, Rotel power amp, and Proac response d two`s?

Thanks.

Hi daspaceman

The Apollo cd player is excellent and although the Saturn is better however i don't believe the superior performance warrants the £400 premium (irrespective associated components used).

I have not heard either the Apollo or Saturn with your Rotel amplification however i have previously heard a Planet 2000 with Rotel pre/powers and on that experience the match was not quite right as it sounded rather flat.

Btw, as you have paid for the facility have you tried using the RSP-1069 as a DAC? I have previously used the RSP-1066 as a DAC for cd playback and i thought it to be as good as any cd player that i heard at that time up to £500 and also pretty close to some £1k players. I would be surprised if the Apollo cdp was worth £500 better in performance than with the RSP-1069 doing the d-a-conversion. Using the RSP-1069 as a DAC is also likely to settle any doubt as to tonal matching.

All the best

Rick @ Musicraft

 

[MUSICRAFT]

MUSICRAFT:daspaceman:

Hi,

Do you think that the saturn is worth the extra 400? Also, is it a good match in combination with a Rotel RSP1069 Pre amp, Rotel power amp, and Proac response d two`s?

Thanks.

Hi daspaceman

The Apollo cd player is excellent and although the Saturn is better however i don't believe the superior performance warrants the £400 premium (irrespective associated components used).

I have not heard either the Apollo or Saturn with your Rotel amplification however i have previously heard a Planet 2000 with Rotel pre/powers and on that experience the match was not quite right as it sounded rather flat.

Btw, as you have paid for the facility have you tried using the RSP-1069 as a DAC? I have previously used the RSP-1066 as a DAC for cd playback and i thought it to be as good as any cd player that i heard at that time up to £500 and also pretty close to some £1k players. I would be surprised if the Apollo cdp was worth £500 better in performance than with the RSP-1069 doing the d-a-conversion. Using the RSP-1069 as a DAC would also likely to settle any doubt as to tonal matching.

All the best

Rick @ Musicraft

 

[drummerman]

As I just gave my opinion on another rega thread I may just as well give my 2pc worth here;

The more expensive player is more refined/less burly with better soundstage and punchier, delineated bass. That was the first thing I've noticed when listening to Keb Mo. Easiest way to describe it is everything moves a little further back yet the music is both larger/deeper. Better focus/separation etc etc.

I think rega products look lovely and you're buying both something that is nicely engineered (still exclusively in the UK I believe though I'm sure someone will point out shortly that some part or another has arrived from the far east) and has some innovative thinking behind it. I think it's worth the cash just for how the thing looks ...

CA's better players have a similar tonal balance and the added advantage of digital in's for use with other sources but have neither the looks or quirky nature of the Regas.

 

[True Blue]

When demoing my kit, I had pretty much settled on the Nain Nait CD5i after listening to the Apollo. There was a Saturn on the shelf (£1300 at the time) and I asked for that to be hooked up to see why on earth you would want to spend that much on a CDP.

Initially the build and wieght compared to the CD5i and Apollo was significantly greater. Still was not expecting much sonically though.

Once hooked up I was literally gobsmaked at the difference. The additional bass weight that this player punched out was incredible. Everything seemed more powerful, yet at the same time more detailed, more "space" between the instruments, it somehow injects emotion back into the performances, that the Apollo simply did not. This I presume is to do with the two DACS and clocking. But whatever it is, the level of detail extracted from exactly the same cd is incredible.

The Saturn IMO is as close sound wise to the organic nature of Vinyl that any CDP that I have listened to.

I was willing to save the extra £400 over the CD5i. So when they dropped the price to £898 I snapped one straight up and have never looked back.

If you buy the Apollo you will always wonder what the Saturn would have been like.

Ps listen to one after it has been on for at least 6 hours, it just gets better and better.

Yes, you are probably paying a slight premium for the fact it is made in the UK, but, on the other hand Rega's service department is second to none I am led to believe.

 

[Frank Harvey]

Nice to hear you're enjoying your Saturn True Blue, it is a cracking machine isn't it? I've lost count of how many we've sold since the price drop - getting back to it's old price has certainly helped it's popularity. As I mentioned earlier, it's sounding great on the end of our ATC pre/power/SCM19 system in the demo room.

 

[El Hefe]

When I tested Saturn vs Apollo in a local shop here, using a complete Rega set up amp and speakers, I could hear that Saturn gave a more crisp and detailed sound. Bass was much more abundant than the Apollo. However, when hooked up to my MF amps and EPOS speakers, I could not hear much difference between them. Didnt plunge into Apollo immediately. Settled with a Marantz + MF X-DAC combo first. Only a year later when the price dropped for Apollo here in Malaysia, that I purchased the unit. Now, I am running the the APollo directly hooked up to the amp, no longer via MF X-DAC.

So, to answer the thread question, I guess it depends on which system you are comparing the Apollo and Saturn with. With my set up, not much different. But with the Rega set up, there was a significant difference.

 

[Anonymous]

Hello, thank you all for your diverse answers.

MUSICRAFT:daspaceman:

Btw, as you have paid for the facility have you tried using the RSP-1069 as a DAC? I have previously used the RSP-1066 as a DAC for cd playback and i thought it to be as good as any cd player that i heard at that time up to £500 and also pretty close to some £1k players. I would be surprised if the Apollo cdp was worth £500 better in performance than with the RSP-1069 doing the d-a-conversion. Using the RSP-1069 as a DAC is also likely to settle any doubt as to tonal matching.

All the best

Rick @ Musicraft

Rick,I`m currently using a new budget sony DVD player for Cd playback and I was thinking that my system would sound better with a dedicated cd player (as this week I will be receiving a pair of proac response d2 instead of the b&w602). My current sony DVD player is connected with both Digital (coaxial) and analog into the Rotel rsp1069, and to my ears it sounds pretty good with both connections.

I cannot understand this.. If i use any Cd player brand will it do a difference since I am using the cd player through the rotel`s preamp DAC ? What I mean is.. if I use brand X and brand Y will it sound differently since it will be using rotel`s DAC (if connected in coaxial mode I assume??)?

Thanks

 

[Anonymous]

i have the rega saturn cd player and has class A sound staging 100% right through it i am not aware of the appollo having that i run it through sugden pure class A amplifier and bw 803s speakers and the sound is amazing.

 

[Frank Harvey]

daspaceman: I cannot understand this.. If i use any Cd player brand will it do a difference since I am using the cd player through the rotel`s preamp DAC ? What I mean is.. if I use brand X and brand Y will it sound differently since it will be using rotel`s DAC (if connected in coaxial mode I assume??)?

They will sound different, but it's a subtle difference. A dedicated CD transport will usually outperform a CD player acting as a transport.

A DAC will generally make a bigger difference to the sound than the transport.

 

[Anonymous]

FrankHarveyHiFi:

daspaceman: I cannot understand this.. If i use any Cd player brand will it do a difference since I am using the cd player through the rotel`s preamp DAC ? What I mean is.. if I use brand X and brand Y will it sound differently since it will be using rotel`s DAC (if connected in coaxial mode I assume??)?

They will sound different, but it's a subtle difference. A dedicated CD transport will usually outperform a CD player acting as a transport.

A DAC will generally make a bigger difference to the sound than the transport.

So David... I will not see much difference between the Saturn and apollo if connected to the Rotel`s DAC, using the saturns or apollos coaxial connection. But.. It`s a different story if the apollo or saturn is connectied to the rotels analog in.

In your experience, will a saturn or apollo sound better when connected in analoge mode with a rotel , and therefore bypassing the rotels DAC vs using the rotel as a DAC?

Thanks

 

[Frank Harvey]

Daspaceman

Plugging the Apollo and Saturn in digitally into your Rotel, you mas still hear a difference, but it'll be subtle at best. I would assume the transport in each are very similar. Using them via analogue connections will obviously show the difference between the two players, but whether this will be better than using them digitally into the amplifier will depend how good the DAC is in the Rotel. I've not tried them side by side so can't comment on which would be better. I've usually had very good results plugging CD players digitally in to quality AV amps.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks David. Now I fully understood.

This week a pair of proacs response d2 will replace, my trusty old dm602s. I hope it will improve the overall sound, and will continue the upgrade from there 🙂

 

[MUSICRAFT]

daspaceman:

Hello, thank you all for your diverse answers.

MUSICRAFT:daspaceman:

Btw, as you have paid for the facility have you tried using the RSP-1069 as a DAC? I have previously used the RSP-1066 as a DAC for cd playback and i thought it to be as good as any cd player that i heard at that time up to £500 and also pretty close to some £1k players. I would be surprised if the Apollo cdp was worth £500 better in performance than with the RSP-1069 doing the d-a-conversion. Using the RSP-1069 as a DAC is also likely to settle any doubt as to tonal matching.

All the best

Rick @ Musicraft

Rick,I`m currently using a new budget sony DVD player for Cd playback and I was thinking that my system would sound better with a dedicated cd player (as this week I will be receiving a pair of proac response d2 instead of the b&w602). My current sony DVD player is connected with both Digital (coaxial) and analog into the Rotel rsp1069, and to my ears it sounds pretty good with both connections.

I cannot understand this.. If i use any Cd player brand will it do a difference since I am using the cd player through the rotel`s preamp DAC ? What I mean is.. if I use brand X and brand Y will it sound differently since it will be using rotel`s DAC (if connected in coaxial mode I assume??)?

Thanks

Hi daspaceman

As you are already doing so i would suggest that you carry on using your Sony dvd as a transport for your cd's and as i originally said let the RSP-1069 do the d-a-conversion. In this way i can't see either of the Rega cd players justifying the premium involved (even if better) over the RSP-1069 be it as a transport or using their analogue outputs and into the RSP-1069.

All the best

Rick @ Musicraft

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks Rick. I will spend the money on something else :O)

 

[Anonymous]

I can understand that there is probably little difference between the two Rega players if they are used as transports only. Is there any advantage in using something like a Cyrus CD Xt SE transport (much more expensive / advanced?) with an external DAC?

Would be nice to hear from people who have actually heard different transports with external DAC's rather that those who just have an "opinion".

 

[Frank Harvey]

daspaceman: Thanks David. Now I fully understood.

This week a pair of proacs response d2 will replace, my trusty old dm602s. I hope it will improve the overall sound, and will continue the upgrade from there 🙂

A big improvement!

 

[Frank Harvey]

zekezebra: I can understand that there is probably little difference between the two Rega players if they are used as transports only. Is there any advantage in using something like a Cyrus CD Xt SE transport (much more expensive / advanced?) with an external DAC?

A dedicated CD transport will sound better than a CD player being used as a transport. Sometimes the differences will be subtle, other times not so subtle - it'll depend on how well the two work together.

 

[MUSICRAFT]

daspaceman:Thanks Rick. I will spend the money on something else :O)

Hi daspaceman

Fair play.

All the best

Rick @ Musicraft

 

[El Hefe]

zekezebra:

I can understand that there is probably little difference between the two Rega players if they are used as transports only. Is there any advantage in using something like a Cyrus CD Xt SE transport (much more expensive / advanced?) with an external DAC?

Would be nice to hear from people who have actually heard different transports with external DAC's rather that those who just have an "opinion".

I have always believe in using transport and DAC separately but it still needs to be put into perspective. What I mean is, no point in using a GBP 5000 CD player/transport with a GBP 300 DAC. Before using the Rega, I was using various Marantz and Sony CDP with sub GBP 300 price tag. Coupling it with a GBP 300 MF X-DAC did wonders to the players. However, hooking up my Rega Apollo to the MF X-DAC did not really make any improvement to the Rega. Hence, now I hook up my Rega Apollo directly to the amp using a decent interconnect.