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

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 chesebert ( A ) on January 05, 2007 at 08:03:59
IP Address: 67.101.190.143

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IMPRESSION/REVIEW

Equipment Used
Rega Saturn (no isolation)
Eastsound E3 (isolated with Cardas Myrtle Block)
Ayre Ax-7e
VR-1 with VR stand
Blue Jeans spkr cable 10 gauge
Blue Jeans RCA (both players)
Volex Power Cords (both players)
APC SmartUPS 1400 (line interactive)
Dedicated 20amp circuit

Equipment Note
The Saturn was well broken in (over 400hrs according to the dealer). All other equipments are all well broken in. I used the most neutral cables I can find so I am comparing CDP on euqal footings.

CD/Track Used
Diana Krell - Girl In the Other Room
1. Stop this world
3. Temptation

Tuti Orchestral Sampler
1. Dance of the Tumblers
2. Intermezzo e Humoreske

Overall Impression
Saturn is warm, intimate, musical, detailed, life-like. Voice are upfront and instruments are well layered, separated. Sound is room-filling, imaging is precise and stable. High notes are well extended, not harsh, and with all the harmonics intact. The player is able to preserve even the most delicate notes, its timber, the harmonic structure, timing, attack and decay.

Subjectively, the sound divorce itself from any digital heritage that of the CD format and takes the music presentation back to the day of the LP. The presence is breathtaking. I was able to get room filling sound that is life-like, and with the kind of ease I have never heard before. The sweet post is no more just in the middle of the speakers, I was able to enjoy music from any angle in the room (although center is still the best ). The music is so life-like I often find myself lost in the music.

I was surprised at how the player is able to make me sit up and listen to all my CD, not just the well-recorded material. I am now re listening to all my old CDs, something I have not done in a while and they sound almost as real life as the best recording.

Saturn took a digital (imperfect) input, and output a real life-like musical performance. This is something I still find jaw-dropping and must be alluded for.

Comparison
Saturn is great in the absolute sense, but how well does it stack up against my "cheap" Chinese-made Eastsound E3, the player that was noted to have LPish sound in the HK publication, the player that was pitted against Creek CD50 MkII and walked all over the Creek, the player that inspired the E5 (which IMO is not as musical as E3).

1st up is Diana Krell's Stop This World. During the opening notes, I noted Saturn is able to portray the piano with weight and authority. The attack and decay is almost perfect, I did notice the attack could be a little quicker, but considering I listened to this track on other CDP including the Ayre CX-5e, and got similar result, I can only conclude the original recording was a bit lacking in absolute detail. Like Saturn, E3 portrayed the piano notes faithfully, but unlike Saturn, the piano does not have same amount of weight and same amount of speed. The attack is even slower and decayed a little too quick, which give the impression of not full sounding. I find piano on E3 sounds is light and fragile compared to Saturn. Since piano is a percussion instrument I was looking for that property and I was able to get that feeling with Saturn and not with E3. (this is long comparison just for piano oh well I play piano so I like to rant about piano performance

How does cymbal sound? Saturn is able to preserve the timber and harmonics of every hit, they are all distinct and different sounding. I can hear the the resonate frequency clearly. Unlike Saturn, E3 does not have the kind of resonated sound. It is more simple sounding, does not allow me to hear the richness of every hit.

How about the soundstage? Diana is in the room! and she is really singing and playing. That's what I felt like as I was listening to the Saturn. I felt the kind of presence and room swelling sound I have not experienced before on my system. All the instruments are layered so well such I can almost tell their distance from one another. All this imaging is not at the expense of the musicality, which continue to amaze me. Unlike Saturn, E3 is a little more flat-sounding. It certainly does not have the kind of separation and layering that of the Saturn. Like Saturn, I can still feel Diana is in the room but she seems a little further away, and the band is not quite in the room.

Next up is Diana's Temptation (how appropriate). Much of the difference between Saturn and E3 is same as the 1st track. Unlike track 1, I find the difference between Saturn and E3 is not as wide. Saturn is once again, more natural, life-like, and musical. I feel I can touch Diana easier on the Saturn.

Ok. so Saturn did well on some easy listening jazz recording. Jazz is easy to sound good on not so good player unlike the big symphonies. So lets comparing some big sounding recordings

1st up on the symphony list is Tuti's Dance of the Tumblers. I wrote down in my notes "wow this actually sound like the real stuff" ....oh you actually want the details. Here we go: Timber of every instrument is preserved down to the most delicate violin solo far far away. I can tell the position of the mic, overall width and depth of the stage, and height of the music hall. The dynamics are all there, from the quietest passages to the crescendos, to the climax. Saturn produced some of the most amazing dynamics I have experienced on a pair of book-shelf speaker, while preserve all the property of real instruments. The music flowed and all the the sound is coherent. The imaging is so good, I can hear so far into my walls its jaw-dropping. Speaker disappeared the second the music started playing. Unlike Saturn, E3 glossed over much of the notes, the sound stage clapped right in front of me. I was only able to hear maybe 4-6 ft into the wall. The music did not flow as well, and I had some hard time picking out certain instruments (concentrate on one instrument). E3 was able to preserve the fundamental frequencies of instruments and some harmonics, but nothing like what Saturn can do. My speaker did not quite disappear as quick, I had to listen for few seconds before my speaker would allow itself to disappear, and the speaker came back few times during certain passages The 2nd track, Intermezzo e Humoreske, echoed much of my impression from the 1st.

If you think E3 did bad against Saturn, you are wrong. Saturn is just a better player. E3 gets you almost there, you can sort of imaging what real-life performance sounds like, and Saturn takes you there in person, and I think that is really the ultimate goal of music reproduction. If Saturn is a $2500 player, E3 should be around $1500 to do it justice. On the stereophile rating, I would give Saturn a solid A and Eastsound a solid B.

Product Weakness: leading edge of piano could be a little quicker (more like a quibble rather than weakness)
Product Strengths: Saturn is warm, intimate, musical, detailed, life-like.

Associated Equipment for this Review:
Amplifier: Ayre Ax-7e
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated): N/A
Sources (CDP/Turntable): Rega Saturn and Eastsound E3
Speakers: VR-1 with VR stand
Cables/Interconnects: Blue Jean 10-white
Music Used (Genre/Selections): Jazz, and Classical
Type of Audition/Review: Product Owner

Product Weakness:	leading edge of piano could be a little quicker (more like a quibble rather than weakness)
Product Strengths:	Saturn is warm, intimate, musical, detailed, life-like.

Associated Equipment for this Review:
Amplifier:	Ayre Ax-7e
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated):	N/A
Sources (CDP/Turntable):	Rega Saturn and Eastsound E3
Speakers:	VR-1 with VR stand
Cables/Interconnects:	Blue Jean 10-white
Music Used (Genre/Selections):	Jazz, and Classical
Type of Audition/Review:	Product Owner