Major upgrade from Rega Apollo: Which one?

NOTE: NOT INTERESTED IN COMPUTER AUDIO, OR BUYING $1000 PLUS DAC WHICH I HAVE BEEN INFORMED WILL offer LITTLE TO NO IMPROVEMENT in sound OVER THE APOLLO'S INBOARDed DAC.

I think I would question this. What, exactly, do you think you'll be getting in a Cambridge, Sony, Arcam or Ayre that is better than the Rega? I would say at least half of the improvement would come from the DAC, no?

So someone told you that an outboard DAC would provide little or no improvement, and you are prepared to just believe them? Why? I disagree. Just for starters, why not check out an Eastern Electric or a entry level used Audio Note. I think you might change your mind.

You were given very poor information.

I went from a Rega Saturn to a Sony 5400 and was very pleased. I recently sold the Sony to finance a computer/DAC project, but I *really* miss the Sony and may end up buying another one. All of that said, as always, you would have to hear it in your own system to determine if the changes are "major," or to find out if it achieves your goals of improving bass, eliminating midrange glare, and getting smoother, cleaner highs. (For whatever it's worth, I never found the Rega Saturn to have any of the problems you mentioned--perhaps some other part of your set up is contributing to these issues?)

I own a Rega Apollo, and I added an outboard DAC (Hegel HD11). It made a big positive difference. More open sound, more precise, more details. I have since moved to computer audio, but adding the DAC was not even subtle.