Audio Note: Perfect instrument timbre, yet a collapsed soundstage. Great for background music, but pretty unexciting sound to my ear.
Opus 21: Perfectly balanced, has every aspect nailed down in spades, except the most significant one...emotional involvement. Our AA Prima is not as detailed or dynamic as the Opus 21, but I find it to be considerably more engaging. If you really like the sound of the Planet, you will probably find that the Opus 21 is wonderful, even perhaps at the peak of that type of sound. Personally, however, I've decided that I could not again own a non-tubed player. Perhaps I'll be surprised one day, but I've yet to hear one that plays with the fleshy, palpable body that the tubed players do. Without that, I have only a cerebral connection with the music, and that's just not enough for me to take the player home...into my bedroom...under the covers...with the lights down low...the candles burning...and...oh forget it!
Howard