What gives? CD’s, Solid State?

I don't think you will ever get what you are seeking from the Rega CD player. Digital is too convenient and there's too much content out there to dismiss it(I am a vinyl guy and have a music server but CD's (and SACD's still get alot of playtime for me) all together. It is difficult to get (CD sound)right, but very possible. Tubes or SS just give you a different sound-neither can make a CD player give you the "nirvana" you arer seeking. It's either getting retrieved off the disc, or it isn't. Exceptional CD sound is out there. It's just a question of finding the right player and subsequent system synergy in the music chain.

Back when Stereophile and TAS went from using zip coded address labels to bar coded address labeling, I remember reading Letters to the Editors threatening to cancel subscriptions if the dreaded digital bar code continued to be printed was on the front of their beloved magizines. Well... Stereophile and TAS survived and today we're still trying to figure out what we have to do to enjoy "digital" music. I hope I live long enough to figure this out.

I will bet you anything it is not just because it is solid state or because it is CD. People can argue cd is no good ad-infinitum BUT I have heard CD better than a 10K analog rig and I have heard a 1K turntable sound better than CD.

As a person who owned the Rega plane years ago and have heard the Saturn... whew ...here I go. It is the Regas fault. They look nice and in a budget system I guess they are ok. I could not stand the sound of the Rega units. I used it ONLY as a transport but even as a transport it is nothing to talk about.

It is compressed, cold and lacking any type of musical depth. I remember back in the day the major mags used to rave about the Rega Planet. I could not for the life of me understand what they were talking about.

Try a Consonance CD player but I promise you the Rega CD player is the culprit, don't know anything about there other products, never heard them.

I had a Rega Planet 2000 and it was a bit full sounding and not especialy open or liquid but was pretty good as far as tone and fun factor IMO fwiw...

You are obviously a tube guy trapped in a solid state body.