Former Rega Apollo owners, Upgraded to what?

May sound strange, but I....

Bought a 10-year-old Teac VRDS-25X, purchased the transport upgrade package (power supply caps, master clock w/ power supply, digital output board) from ASE-Audiotuning in Germany, had my tech install the parts, and paired the "new" transport with a used Lavry Black DA10.

It was like buying a new stereo!

Of course, it was a lot more of an undertaking than simply buying another CDP.

Expenditures; VRDS-25X: $750; Audiotuning transport upgrade package: $500; Installation and testing: $150; Lavry Black: $800; Belden 1801B AES/EBU digital interconnect: $25.00

Associated equipment: Technics SP-10MKII-P turntable/Jean Nantais plinth/Audio-Technica AT-1100 tonearm/Ortofon Super OM40 cartridge; Sony ST-S555ES tuner w/ Components USA upgrade package; Bryston BP-26MC preamplifier; B.A.T. VK-200 power amplifier; Tannoy System 15 DMT II speakers on custom 16-inch stands; DH Labs Pro Studio balanced and single-ended interconnects; stock Belden 14AWG and 12AWG power cords; dedicated 20-amp AC line with Pass & Seymour specification-grade outlets.

I'm happy with my Apollo. Best CDP for the money, I've heard. regards, David

I am a former apollo owner and Ive upgraded to a musical fidelity a5. When I purchased the apollo they were priced right at a grand. I thought it was good. I also have a denon 3910 universal player. I had a non-audiofile frield comment on how it was crazy to spend a thousand bucks on a cd player. I proceded to give him an a b comparison of the players hoping I could sway his opinion, but I couldn't. As a matter of fact I was surprised how little better it was than the denon universal. About a month ago i found an mf a5 here for 1700 with waranty, and they took my apollo in trade for about what I'd get for it if I tried to sell it myself. Wow!!! What a difference, now this was a huge step up. The same friend who took the a b comparison before came over. He said, "another even more expensive player". I gave him the a b against the denon again. This time he was blown away by how much better the mf was. Ive seen them used here as low as 1400 which is real close to what a new apollo costs. With the few hundred dollar price difference it was a no brainer. I'd like to add that my rega dealer let me demo a saturn, and I found it only marginaly better than the apollo, and nowhere close to the mf a5. I'm not trying to belittle the regas but the mf just blew me away.

I upgraded to Naim CD5i and I fell in love with the Naim.

The Cambridge 840C, which is, at this moment, sited underneath the Rega on the Finite Elemente Spider rack. I don't know what equipment others have, but to hear this on a well set up system -- not neccesarily a super high-cost system, just a very good one, and not like it? You simply must not know what live music sounds like. This baby is, as Robert Harley said, a killer bargain. However, he must have gotten one already broken in, because if you listen to it in fewer than 100 hours, you simply won't "get it." Mine is just now hitting a week, and there is low level detail, now that the noise floor is dropping to "below sea-level" levels (somewhat akin to New Orleans, as a comparison), to now hear the orchestra shifting in their seats at times, that wasn't even there last night. And the thing that is the most outstanding is the timbre of instruments: I know the sound of a flute intimately, and this sounds very, very, very close to a flute in timbre. And so do most of the other orchestral instruments. (Haven't tried rock yet: I'm too dazed: I keep hitting "repeat" on Lt. Kije)
One wonders what the super-mega priced players sound like, but to get THIS level of music and sonics at this price??It is like giving someone an Audi for the price of a Ford.