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Sony XA777ES or Rega Apollo for Redbook CD's

I currently own the original Rega Planet which I purchased eight or nine years ago. For the price a fantastic CD player. A few months back I purchased a Sony XA777ES which is a fine Redbook player in it's own right. I find it outclasses the Rega Planet in all regards except one, musicality. bAs my wife told me ( she will only listen to the Planet ) "The Sony is excellent, I just don't want to hear all nuances in my music that may detract from the performance". Simply said, The Rega will cover the mistakes, the Sony will present the truth. My question is......if given the opportunity, would you trade up the Sony for a Rega Apollo which is getting rave reviews. I haven't been able to audition one yet and I appreciate any comments you might have on this subject.
aogozeja
robm321
932 posts
 
I have the XA777ES. I understand what you mean about the musicality part. It isn't sterile but is a bit analytical. The options filter helps that if you haven't tried that yet.

I enjoy listening to the Redbook of the Sony - it is far more detailed, but it is not as engaging as my Cary 308T. I use the XA777ES mainly for SACD which it does a fantastic job on.
jansenli2006
1 posts
 
I like the Sony unit too for SACDs but agree about the CD playback. Music just doesn't seem to have "soul" or "heart".
the_kid's avatar
the_kid
465 posts
 
Very good recomendations from Robm321 and Janseni2006. I owned a XA777Es for quite some time. The Redbook playback is definitely on the more accurate and analytical side of the fence and can come across as cold sounding.

I personally have not heard the new Rega Apollo but from everything I have read, I would definitely give one a try.

Good Luck..

Chris
larryrosen
83 posts
 
I use the sony for sacd playback, very nice, but I use a musical fidelity 21 tri-vista dac with the sony as a transport, and the upgrade was outstanding.
sogood51
2,157 posts
 
I had an XA-777es for around a year..."extreamly good" SACD player and only a "pretty good" CD player. Now that I'm getting back into SACD's....mostly classical and jazz, I wish I still had it.

My little Pioneer 563A SACD player falls very short of the Sony in that department.

Dave
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