Music Hall CD-25 or original Rega Planet?

Joe, thanks so much for the thoughtful and reasoned guidance. I checked the archives before posting and did have an opportunity to peruse your previous, glowing, posts. I may take a shot at it, after all. The Music Hall sounds just like me, lacking the Nth degree of detail, smoothness and refinement!
Marty

Marty,

I have owned the Original Planet and the CD-25 (purchased based on Trelja’s recommendation, Thanks Joe!). Both are nice players and the comparison Joe makes above with regard to the two players is quite accurate. I found the Original Planet to be a bit too smooth (lacking detail and somewhat “muted”) for my taste and liked the CD-25 better. I found that I kept turning up the volume with the Original Planet “looking for the music” as it were.

To give you more options … I also purchased the Cambridge Audio Azur 640C and the Arcam CD-73T and personally liked them both a little better in my system than the CD-25, but each for different reasons. (I do not believe either of these was available when Joe purchased/owned his CD-25. Is that correct Joe?) I liked the CD-73T because it provides very much detail, perhaps too much causing it to be a bit harsh on the high end on all but the best recorded discs … not good for those with digititus. The CD-73T was great for hearing and enjoying the magic of detail, not so great for enjoying the music as a whole unless the recording was very very good. The CD-73T was a bit tipped up and “dry” or analytical sounding without enough overall “warmth” to the sound for my taste (I was using solid state amplification at the time … could be a better match for tubes??). The 640C lacks the detail of the CD-73T but sounds very musical to me … well balanced … not dry like the CD-73T, but not muted like the Original Planet. To my ear (admittedly untrained compared to Joe) I like the 640C better than the CD-25. I can’t articulate it any better than to say that I found myself tapping my toes a bit more with the 640C than with the CD-25.

And yet one more option … If you are looking in a higher price range, I would also look at the Consonance CD-120. It is what I ended up with after purchasing the above mentioned players (plus the Planet 2000, the AH! Njoe Tjoeb, et.al.). For me, the CD-120 reveals the detail of the CD-73T in the mids/highs without harshness, provides great low end without over powering the rest of the range, and takes me deeper into the music that any of the above mentioned players.

I agree with Joe that the CD-25 is a great player for the money. So are the 640C, CD-73T, and the CD-120. One thing that I found from all of the CD player swapping, and Joe will agree as I believe he has said it many times, you have to listen and decide for yourself. All the recommendations in the world mean nothing unless YOU like the sound and how the player mates to your system. My owning these players really helped me determine what I was looking for from my CD front end and helped me appreciate some of the subtleties of system matching.

Enjoy!
-- Bob

Bob, thanks so much! You have really put the sonic qualities of these players into sharp relief for me as well as helping to fill out my short list of players to audition. Thanks to you and Joe for the great guidance; this is what the hobby is all about. The reason I had considered the Music Hall was that AV123 is selling the identical, except for output op-amp, ONIX 88 for $298.00 for a new unit and $249.00 for open box. In some ways, it seemed like a no brainer. Now, I am not sure. By the way, your user name is a misnomer!
Marty

I own the Rega Planet (original and the 2000) and borrowed a cd-25 to see if I would like it for yet another system. It pretty much performed as stated above. However, with silver Alpha Core Micropurl IC's both Planets top end became more detailed and the sound stage moved forward (the 2000 started out better than the original from the get go). The micropurl IC's gave me listener fatigue on the cd-25. The Planets were the cd players of choice in my system setups. As has been stated here and elsewhere, it will depend on your system and your personal preferences. All the players listed above are good contenders.

Happy listening,
L

L, small world, after surfing through a lot of inexpensive, and moderately priced interconnects, I settled on the Alpha-Core Micro Purl Copper for my original Planet. I want to give the TQ-2 a try though.
Marty