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What gives? CD’s, Solid State?

I have recently acquired Rega’s upper-end equipment (Saturn, R-7 speakers, Cursa Pre and Exon Monblocks) and am NOT that impressed with the overall listening experience when playing CDs.

Some years back I had Conrad Johnson Pre and Power and listened to vinyl. How sweet, full and warm that sounded. I realize that was tube equipment and now I’m with solid state, but still…

So, I’m trying to trouble shoot here – Is it the CD medium (I wish I had a turntable to do an A-B comparison) or is it the solid state components that sound a bit edgy, dry and less than full bodied? Would my listening experience improve much if I acquired Rega’s P7 or P9 TT and used that as my source?

Thanks,
Randy
rbschauman
raks
468 posts
 
Back when Stereophile and TAS went from using zip coded address labels to bar coded address labeling, I remember reading Letters to the Editors threatening to cancel subscriptions if the dreaded digital bar code continued to be printed was on the front of their beloved magizines. Well... Stereophile and TAS survived and today we're still trying to figure out what we have to do to enjoy "digital" music. I hope I live long enough to figure this out.
audiofun
669 posts
 
I will bet you anything it is not just because it is solid state or because it is CD. People can argue cd is no good ad-infinitum BUT I have heard CD better than a 10K analog rig and I have heard a 1K turntable sound better than CD.

As a person who owned the Rega plane years ago and have heard the Saturn... whew ...here I go. It is the Regas fault. They look nice and in a budget system I guess they are ok. I could not stand the sound of the Rega units. I used it ONLY as a transport but even as a transport it is nothing to talk about.

It is compressed, cold and lacking any type of musical depth. I remember back in the day the major mags used to rave about the Rega Planet. I could not for the life of me understand what they were talking about.

Try a Consonance CD player but I promise you the Rega CD player is the culprit, don't know anything about there other products, never heard them.
philjolet's avatar
philjolet
2,262 posts
 
I had a Rega Planet 2000 and it was a bit full sounding and not especialy open or liquid but was pretty good as far as tone and fun factor IMO fwiw...
chashmal
605 posts
 
You are obviously a tube guy trapped in a solid state body.
mooglie
64 posts
 
I agree with the others here that state you need some tubes in the mix. Some nice warm cables may also help.

I run a tube rectified Modwright preamp in my otherwise SS system. It certainly helped to inject some warmth, body, and sweetness (once I found my preferred tubes); while retaining excellent resolution. And, I'm running CD with a SS DAC.

I wouldn’t call my system lush, by any means. But, I’ve got enough of that tube sweetness to make for a highly engaging, yet un-fatiguing presentation.
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