Rega Apollo Vs. Saturn?

Yes, if your speakers are highly resolving.

I agree. Rega just released a DAC for $995 that's supposedly a lot better than the Apollo and better than the Saturn in a lot of ways. Not every single way. A few have compared them on Pink Fish Media.

I pre-ordered one from my dealer and will pick it up tomorrow. If it works out well, it'll stay. If not, I have no committment to keep it. I'll report back when I've got a good understanding of what it's doing. My dealer has a Saturn or two on the floor,so I should be able to A/B them, but it won't be at home with my own gear and room.

Should be very interesting. I've been waiting for them to release a DAC for quite a while. I just recently sold my Apollo.

If you're not interested in DACs, the Saturn is quite a bit better than the Apollo if you have the proper speakers and room to tell the difference. Worth it or not is a personal/financial thing.

Thanks for your replies. The Rega DAC may be the way to go. Might be nice for my DVD player, cable box, etc..

I've had the DAC for 2 weeks now. Far better than my Apollo. Some say it's better than the Saturn, some say it's a bit different but equally good. I haven't lived with a Saturn, so no opinion from me.

If you like Rega, particularly their sources, you should make it a point to hear it before deciding on a Saturn or Apollo.

As a heads up, I've read that Rega is planning on revamping a bit. The Apollo and Brio's replacement will be in a half width chassis that's shared with the DAC. The Mira and Saturn will get a facelift, but remain full width. No word if it's purely cosmetic or internal too.

This came from a Rega rep on Pink Fish Media. They're supposedly due out sometime this year. I'd guess later than sooner.

I have a Saturn + the Rega DAC. I performed extensive A/B comparisons of the Saturn through the Rega DAC against the pure Saturn into my LFD amp and Harbeth Compact 7's. In every instance, the pure Saturn came out ahead. Before buying the Saturn, I was planning to use a Music Hall CD 25.2 through the Rega DAC for CD playing but experienced a lot of jitter issues. So now I am quite satisfied with the Saturn for CD's and the Rega DAC for all the computer based music.

Given my experience, I would say that all the opinions that an Apollo + Rega DAC are better than the Saturn are inaccurate and probably more speculative than actual testing based.