Rega Apollo Vs. Saturn?

So far I prefer the Saturn and CD's. It's close. Frustrating thing is, that to get hi-res out of the Mac I have to use a good quality Toslink cable because USB will not play in hi-res in the Rega Dac. I've had a Naim CD5X in the past and an Audio Aero Prima and feel the Saturn is comparable. I like that it evaluates a disc to optimize it before playing.

I once had the loan of a Wavelength Brick for a few weeks and that was incredible. I would have gone that way but I thought the Rega Dac would take care of CD & Computer, whereas the Brick can only do USB. Had I known I would be buying a stand alone CDP anyway, I would have bought a Brick for the Computer side. I still may wiggle back that direction yet.

Back on the CDP.... you can still get a new Saturn for $1800. The "trade in a clunker promo" is still in effect though many dealers don't promote it. At $1800, the Saturn was a no brainer. (See Gene Rubin.)

Hi-res out from USB out of a Mac into a Halide Bridge is the way to go with the Rega dac. Unfortunately they cost $400 but it makes the Rega sing with re-res out of a Mac.
Comparing a dedicated $2,400 cd player to a $1,000 dac is not completely fair anyway.

Add up the cost ($1,000 dac, $700 mac mini, Halide $400) and that combo really then competes directly to the Saturn.
Plus you still have 3 more digital inputs for other sources if you need.

The Rega DAC doesn't do high-res through USB. It'll handle it through all other inputs, but not USB. Could be downsampling, but I'm not sure how you're getting it to work.