Digital Drive: REVIEW: Rega Saturn CD Player/Recorder by Awacs

Model:	Saturn
Category:	CD Player/Recorder
Suggested Retail Price:	US$2400
Description:	Single Disc w. MP3 and WMA media capability
Manufacturer URL:	Rega
Model Picture:	View

Review by Awacs ( A ) on February 24, 2007 at 15:41:48
IP Address: 75.32.144.142

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for the Saturn

Itâ€™s a rainy Saturday in California. I am listening to Shelby Lynne. She is finally fully present in my room. She is playing through a Rega Saturn. Originally, this was going to be shootout between the Saturn and a Benchmark DAC-1. After three tracks, it simply became a one-player listening session. I will buy the Saturn on Tuesday.
My system is a Plinius 8200 mkII int, Dynaudio 1.3 SE with Dyn stands (waited for years to be able to afford this!), with Speltz ICs and cables. These are recent acquisitions, initially paired up with a Classe CDP-10. Well, the Classe was smooth â€“ too smooth for me in too many instances. I want musicality, detail, and involvement. You know that feeling where you want to make it louder, as if more volume will correct the sonic deficiency that keeps you from really getting into the music? This was true particularly of rock and symphonic stuff. The Classe also gave a very recessed presentation, which really bugged me on a lot of recordings. (When you want to invite the singer in from the other room, you want to tweak your system!) Iâ€™m not an imaging or soundstage freak, but I expect at least decent performance there. Iâ€™m also not an audiophile, just an enthusiast. I canâ€™t tell glare from hardness, nor can I tell you what frequencies are under-represented. So please excuse the amateurish way I describe my listening session. I can tell you if the bass is slow and muddy, if the presentation lacks detail, or if the music is flat and uninvolving. And I can tell you those things are bad.
The Saturn had blown away the Ayre CX-7e in the store. I was stunned. For fun, I also listened back to back against the wonderful Apollo. How much extra does $1400 get you? Well â€“ if you value musicality and involvement, the answer is, a lot. By the way, I was not then prepared to spend this much money. I am now.
Following house rules, first CD up was Little Featâ€™s great Waiting for Columbus. (Please note the Billy Payne theme going here!) One of my big beefs with the Classe was that rock music â€“ didnâ€™t. Well, friends, the Saturn does. I got that rock concert feeling again, and I ainâ€™t going back. By the way, the bass is terrific. (This is double praise, since it says a lot about the Dyns). Listening to Marley or Earle, the bass notes are not only deep and identifiable, but immensely musical.
Iâ€™d always had a little trouble with clarinet â€“ just a little stridency unlike the real instrument. I attributed this to my crappy room â€“ and still do, to a large extent â€“ but the Saturn really cleaned it up a lot. Piano? I guess bad recordings are bad recordings, but well recorded piano sounds damn good. The Stereophile recordings gave that close up, concert Grand sound without haze or blur. I canâ€™t comment on attack, decay, speed, etc due to lack of experience. Sorry. I play a little piano, though, and it sounds very good.
Vocals are done well by my system. Joni, Shelby, Rickie, Steve, and guy are all back in the room, sounding like real people. I couldnâ€™t detect any of the sibilance or false nasality you sometimes get. Instead, I simply had a singer in my room, pure and honestly voiced. The imaging was very good (I didnâ€™t do anything special to set up my speakers), and soundstage wider than Iâ€™ve heard it, and the third dimension (thatâ€™s vertical) much better separated than anything Iâ€™ve listened to. You can tell if theyâ€™re sitting or standing. Should be a given, no?
I could go on, but you get the idea. Sure, I heard things I never knew were on my CDs â€“ but you know that stuff already. Chamber music sounds sweet, without being artificially lush. With symphonies, I donâ€™t have the ultimate in image, or separation, or soundstage (could be speaker position, or room acoustics, though), but otherwise, the instruments are accurate and articulate, and the whole experience isâ€¦ well, an experience, at long last.
OK, itâ€™s not a perfect stereo. Or room, or listener. But itâ€™s one Iâ€™ll listen to, because I canâ€™t stop listening. I like it a lot.
Test CDs (some with specific tracks listed):
Little Feat, Waiting for Columbus (Fat Man and Oh Atlanta)
Shelby Lynne, Identity Crisis
Pink Floyd, DSOTM, Time (of course!)
Joni, Court and Spark
Jayhawks, Tomorrow the Green Grass
Wilco, YHF
Massive Attack, Mezzanine (Angel)
Rickie Lee Jones, Ep. (Dannyâ€™s All-Star Joint)
Steve Earle, Transcendental Blues (title track)
Guy Clark, Essential
Yello, Flag (The Race)
Marley, Exodus
Madonna, Ray of Light (title track)
Brad Mehldau, Songs (Art of Trio 3), Exit Music for a Film
Gershwin, Rhapsody in Blue (Bernstein)
Mingus, Ah Um (Better Git It In Your Soul)
Beethoven Archduke, Ashkenazy, Perlman, and Harrell
Mozart, Serenade KV361 (Marriner)
Mendelssohn, violin Concerto (Hahn)
Brahms, Cello Sonatas (Isserlis and Hough)
Mendelssohn, Italian (Karajan)
Stereophile test discs

Product Weakness: Slow to read CDs
Product Strengths: Detail, midrange/musicality, bass, involvement, pretty much everything

Associated Equipment for this Review:
Amplifier:	Plinius 8200mkII integrated
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated):	None
Sources (CDP/Turntable):	Saturn
Speakers:	Dynaudio 1.3se
Cables/Interconnects:	Speltz anti
Music Used (Genre/Selections):	See review
Room Size (LxWxH):	12 x 15 x 10
Room Comments/Treatments:	None yet
Time Period/Length of Audition:	1 day, so far
Type of Audition/Review:	Home Audition

Product Weakness:	Slow to read CDs
Product Strengths:	Detail, midrange/musicality, bass, involvement, pretty much everything