Rega Planet or Apollo CD Player

I would spend more for the Apollo. Others to consider might be the Cambridge Azur's...highly rated and sound terrific...friend has the 740 and it is sweet from bottom to top. Great looking unit and in your price range if you consider prev owned.

you can get a great deal on the musical fidelity A5 cd player these days. i have owned two of them over the years and i have found it to be a top notch item.

used to sell the planet. You need to match with mellower gear. The Planet is a bit sharp on top - yes, compared to the Apollo, likely.
How about a good transport and dac combo? The Theta's floating around out there are very nice, bel canto's, etc.
Good luck

IMHO the apollo is much better than the planet. It is true that depending on the cd you can wait up to 15 seconds or more for the disk to "initialise" but when you turn the display off and let the unit play for about 15 minutes the apollo has a much smoother expansive sound.

Which Planet? The original or the Planet 2000?

I have owned all three -- original Planet, Planet 2000, and Apollo.

In my opinion, the Apollo offers the best sound--musical, smooth, non-irritating. I found the 2000 model a little rough and ragged. I still have the original Planet in an office system.

I think the original Planet is more user-friendly than the Apollo. The CD well is easier to use. The Apollo has a 14-15 second "initialization" sequence that it goes through when you insert a disc. I didn't like this, but clearly it's not a problem for thousands of happy Apollo users.

The Rega players are all fantastic - you will not find anything remotely close to them in their price range. I love my Apollo, so I would recommend it highly.