Nice detail without being overly analytical. Really cool loading mechanism.

REALLY needs to be matched to the right equipment.

I understand where a lot of the reviewers think the Planet is a bit too laid back and/or lacks detail. When I first bought my Planet (dealer demo) I had the same impression. Then I started thinking about the rest of my equipment, and realized I was listening through some old and pretty worn out cr*p (Acurus LS-11, Hafler). So I packed up the old stuff, dusted off the CC, and headed down to the dealer to upgrade the rest of my system.

I ended up with a second-hand Naim Nait 3 going through 15 year old Kef 103.2's, and that particular combination seems good enough for my old ears. The Naim energizes the sound coming out of the Planet, and uncovers all the detail that should be there. It may not be a $2,000 CDP, but for the price, when matched to the right equipment, it is an absolutely great player, and built like a tank.

Before you write the Planet off, consider every component in your system. There really is something to this component matching thing.

Similar Products Used:

Rotel RCD-971, Roksan Kandy

very cool design, free of digital nasties

sounds dull and lifeless

If you are interested in getting a Planet check out the review at audiophilia.com and check the archive section for the review on the Rega Planet. It is a very informative review and will be well worth your effort.

Similar Products Used:

parasound CDP-1000 (similarily dull)

cool looking, a definite step up from a basic transport/player, colors sound in a way that many like

colors the sound of the CDs; outclassed by the latest generation of products in its price range

Well, with all the positive reviews, I thought it might be useful for someone with a negative opinion about this player to chime in. Overall, I think the Planet is a good product and is a definite step up from entry-level CD players. That said, it is outclassed in its price range by many newer products. The design of the Planet is very quirky...it may appeal to some, but not to others. Reading the reviews below, if you read between the lines, you see that many people are apologizing for their Planet...e.g, it doesn't resolve detail well, but its very musical, etc. I can see how the design of the Planet can win a lot of admirers. Owners who come to love their quirky Planet may not want to admit its faults, which include an over-emphasis of the bass, some "tube-like" smoothing of the sound to remove the digital grain that doesn't work as advertised, a clam shell drawer which is a little noisy (see posts below), and a general coloring of music. This is by no means a neutral player. Many people do like this coloration; I will admit the Planet has many positive reviews from listeners and professionals (I also note one negative review about sonics: http://www.audiophilia.com/hardware/regaplnt.htm). When I performed an A/B comparison of the Rega with my CAL Audio Labs Sigma II DAC (which has an analog (tube) output stage), the Rega was clearly outclassed and fails to produce tube-like sound. Compared to a similarly priced Rotel and Pioneer, the Rega is outperformed. The Rotel and Pioneer resolve more detail and sound good, honest...not perfect, but their limitations do not annoy. Really, the Rega is old technology...when it debuted, it was a unique design and represented a new approach to digital...it won a lot of admirers in the audio press for trying to sound like tubes and vinyl. But it was only an early attempt, does not perform well. Its been outclassed by later developments (say, 1997 on from Theta, CAL, and then mass market folks). Rega has just shipped the Planet 2000...I wonder if they will address its shortcomings. The Rega is clearly a step up from entry players; for those making the transition, be impressed by it but continue to shop. For those who purchase more expensive gear, well, I invite you to compare as well.

Associated equipment when reviewing the Planet:
-Integrated ampss from Denon, Arcam, Creek (the Creek was the more sypathetic pairing with the Rega, but it has its own faults...they tend to cancel each other out).
-Solilquy 5.0 monitors, Mirage OM-8 full range
-Pioneer DV525 (transport), CAL Sigma II 24/96, Pioneer ELite DV-37 (replaced the excellent 05), Rotel 975
-at dealer, Theta Basic Pro, Cary pre-amp & monoblocks

Similar Products Used:

Rotel 975, CAL Audio Labs Sigma II DAC w/Pioneer DVD 525 transport, Pioneer Elite DVD-37, Theta Basic Pro

Well, it's been over a year now and my only real complaint is when I turn the volume down to the absolute minimum for playing at night, (I sleep to music) I can hear the disc spinning. This may also have something to do with my head only being a few feet from the player. Other than that, I think the planet is great!
I have a couple tips to get more bang for your bucks:

1:(This is for those audiophiles that tweak their systems to the point that they don't care how it looks) Go to your local pharmacy and pick up what's loosely referred to as a "hemorrhoid cushion" or Ass cushion as I like to call it. That'll set you back a whopping 7 bucks! Inflate it about 70% and rest your planet on top of it. If you’re really anal you can get a little bubble level to ensure it's balanced properly. The most obvious improvement from this is tighter bass. Try it!
2: For those who can handle a soldering iron...I've used Kimber's silver streak, a great cable for the money. I've used KCAG, a little better for twice the money. If you really want to hear what the planet can do try this: Make a four wire braid using 2 of kimber silver wires for signal and 2 of the regular TC wires for ground. Kimber's Hero cable is a 4 wire braid in case you need some help. This beats even the KCAG! The sound stage has opened way out to the walls! Bass is deeper and tighter. In short this is a fantastic DIY interconnect which doesn't really belong in a CD player review but then this will show you what the planet can really do!
I just love reading the negative reviews. These people don't even understand how naive they sound. Ultimately we as humans have different hearing tastes. If the planet doesn't suit yours, so be it. Buy something cheaper or more expensive. I'm happy with mine.

Associated Equipment:
Bryston B-60
B&W CDM-1SE
Kimber 8TC double run
Kimber Powerkords
Kimber/Robz custom silver streak
$7 ass cushion

Good sound and build for the buck.

None for the price.

This is one great looking player that's fun to use. The sound is good for the money. It has a nice neutral sound that lacks somewhat in top end definition. Bass is good and soundstage is fairly wide. You really can't tell what you're missing until you audition players costing 3 to 5 times as much. The player is easy to use and program although the remote is shaped counter intuitive with the larger end at the front. It is a good player for a system costing around $5k.

Similar Products Used:

Arcam Alpha 5 Plus, Wadia 850,

Styling, British heritage

Cheap, noisy mechanism

My Planet hisses. The disc-spinning mechanism (which looks exactly like the one in the $25 boombox we have in our kitchen) makes the noise. It's not the plastic puck/magnet assembly, either. I actually replaced it with a stainless steel puck for a Rega Jupiter transport obtained from Lauerman Audio Imports, the U.S. distributor. If I'm going to pay for an audiophile-quality CD player, I want the damn thing to be silent! What good is a 98 dB dynamic range if the last 10 dB are drowned out by mechanical noise!

Can anyone else hear their Planets, or is mine defective?

Another remark: John (audiophile), in an earlier post, described a blind comparison between the Planet and a Classe CD player. He preferred the Planet in seven out of ten listening tests. My congratulations to him for actually trying to do an unbiased comparison. The results really aren't that impressive, though. Freshman statistics says that a coin flipped ten times will have the same face come up seven or more times with a probability of 34%! That means that John would have had a decent chance of getting the same results if he were flipping a coin instead of listening.

I once auditioned an NAD C340 integrated amplifier. I compared it with a low end Sony that I had found in the trash and fixed. I did a similar blind test, and thought that I might be able to tell the difference. Then I calculated the statistical significance of my results and found them to be squarely in the territory of random guessing. An audiophile friend who owns a Cyrus CD player, Naim amp, B&W speakers and $1000 speaker cable did worse that I did. We're not deaf either (well, maybe he is, after playing in a successful rock band for 5 years) -- I'm a cellist who has played semi-professionally. I took the NAD back the store. The salesman was shocked, asking me if I had found my speakers in the trash, too. "No," I responded, "they're NHT 2.5's."

You can fool yourself into hearing anything.

(Later, I replaced the Sony with a Musical Fidelity X-A1, but only because it looks cool.)

Performs beyond its class, provided rest of components are synergystic match or...

... It'll sound dead

Mr. Craybrook's solution is great, and the wobbly puck is definately a problem.
However, with my Planet, I was able to pull the puck right off the magnet and carefully reglue them together. Now the puck spins true. Try this perhaps, before pulling out the trusty dremel?

I've used the Planet for 2 years in an all Rega system: Planar3 > Planet > Mira > Jura.

In my system, I felt the Planet compared favorably to the NAD S500 and Rotel 991. That the Rega is half the price is just icing on the cake.
For my tastes, the Naim bettered all these players; at 3x the price of the Rega, however.

In my friend's topline Rotel pre/power system, we agreed the Planet was too smooth and laidback. Still, it was less "mechanical" sounding then his CDP.
After hearing my Planet in his system, I can understand why some people loathe the Rega CDP.

Similar Products Used:

Naim 3.5, NAD S500, Rotel-991

Excellent CD player.

Spindle that wobbles and makes racket.

I'm writing this review for one purpose only. The CD player gets a 5-star rating because of its great value, but there is a flaw with the player. Its in the cheaply designed spindle that spins when a CD is playing. On some units it can cause a knocking sound, or at the least an irritating high pitched scraping sound. To solve this problem, I took a Dremmel tool and cut the magnet off the spindle. That's right, I cut it off. I called Lauerman's, the US distributer, and talked with a tech there. He said, "Go for it. And it doesn't void your warranty. Only on the lid." So I did and it works great now. Just put a cutter on the Dremmel and cut the magnet spindle between the magnet and the top. You have to go all around the perimiter but the spindle is hollow so it's easy. Next, take a grinder on the Dremmel and grind away the excess plastic from the top part and clean up the plastic around the magnet. Next, glue (that's right, glue) the top on with super glue (you have to because it'll fall every time you open the door if you don't). That's it. Solves the problem in a hurry. My dealer even had me do it on another unit he sold someone else and I agreed to do it for him.

I got the idea from looking at a Naim CD player, then, later, the Sony Super CD player. Both players have a seperate mechanism that sits on top the transport mechanism. I did it a few months ago and it's working like a champ now. Noises all gone. You can do it too. It's very easy. The real solution to this problem is Roy Gandy (manufacturer in England) should simply make the top loading door one piece, then supply the unit with a little retainer cap that is magnetic. End of story. For those that need to see a little CD in there spinning its heart out, better you go to the carnival and watch the Merry-go-round. Anybody have any questions about what I've described here, just give me an email and I'll try to be more specific. I've pretty much described how simple it is, however, so don't think anyone would have any questions. You can also call Lauerman's and they will tell you it's okay to do this. You won't void the warranty on the unit. Just make sure you put a rag over everything and keep it covered when using the Dremmel tool. Some bits of plastic do fly around. And use safety glasses; a Dremmel tool spins at 15K rpm, and you don't want a piece of plastic embedded in your eye. Good luck. Oh yeah, if you're listening, Mr. Gandy, my consulting fee for this fix is a mere $25,000. It'll save you far more than that in manufacturing costs. Thanks.

Similar Products Used:

Naim, Linn, Rega.

SOLID BUILD, GREAT SOUND.

BOOKLET DOES NOT BRING TOO MUCH SPECIFICATIONS .BURN IN PERIOD.

I WAS LOOKING FOR A GOOD CD PLAYER FOR MY CLASSE 151AMP AND
MY BW-CDM1 SE SPEAKER.I LISTENED THE ROTEL 991 AND THE ARCAM ALPHA 9,BOTH PLAYERS ERE GOOD,BUT $1500? to much.then
whithout listen I BOUGHT THE REGA PLANET FOR $750(WHAT HI FI GAVE IT 5 STARS,AUDIOPHILE MAGAZINE PUT IT IN CLASS B).
AFTER I BURNING IN FOR THREE DAYS THE SOUND BECAME GREAT.TO
ME IT SOUND BETTER THAN ROTEL AND ARCAM FOR $750 LESS.

Similar Products Used:

ROTEL 991, ARCAM ALPHA 9.

Musical involvement, realism, detail

Sometimes a little harsh & light on bass wieght

I recently replace my entire system and purchased the Rega Planet CD player, Rega Mira integrated amp, Energy e:XL 16 speakers, and replace the cartridge in my Rega Planar 2 with a Rega Elys cartridge. My impressions therefore are based on listening to the system as a whole. I have had this equipment in my home for about seven weeks.

It is interesting that there are only a few reviews at this web site on the amps from Rega while the Planet CD player has over 100 reviews. I do not know why people purchase the Planet but overlook the amps from Rega. The Mira integrated amp is as good as the Planet, and since it includes a phono stage, it truly is a bargain. I may not be the most authoritative reviewer on the Planet because I did not spend any time listening to the likely competitors. The only other equipment I auditioned carefully was the Naim Nait 3 with the Naim 3.5 CD. The Naim combination may seem an unfair comparison as this duo is over twice as expensive, but the improvement in overall musical enjoyment was minor to almost none. Based on that, and the many favorable magazine reviews I had read, my decision was easy.

Yes, the sonic qualities of the Planet have been covered plenty by the many previous reviewers. I too will try to add only new thoughts to the discussion. Most significantly, there has been a slight design change recently. The new Planets have larger rubberized push buttons on the faceplate. A square button for stop and rectangular buttons for play, skip forward, and skip back. Gone are the grayish-white painted lines surrounding the buttons, which gives the faceplate a cleaner appearance. Although this is an improvement over the previous tiny round plastic buttons, the new buttons are poorly lined up in their holes and appear crooked. Unfortunately, this lends to a look of sloppy workmanship.

The dealer I purchased my Planet from recommended never turning the machine off. He said that it takes up to 24 hours for the Planet to regain it's best sound after it cools down. After listening to the Planet cold and well warmed up, I cannot confirm this. While I like the design of the top-loading lid, it is made of plastic and not the metal like the rest of the chassis. The round window is also plastic and seems to build up static and attract dust to a part to the player that you do not want dust in. In the short time I've owned the Planet, I have already had to wipe the dust out of the inside of the player being careful, of course, not to touch the lens. Occasionally after putting in a CD and closing the lid, there is an annoyingly long delay before the player starts it's initial spin of the CD to retrieve the number of tracks and playing time. Having said all this however, the overall look and functionality of the Planet is enjoyable. The remote has many functions including turning off the red LED display and the remote can control other Rega components as well.

The sound is suburb. It retrieves an incredible amount of detail and gives a great deal of pure musical enjoyment. As I have re-listened to nearly all my entire collection of CD's, from rock and jazz to chamber and orchestral music, I have heard finer details and levels of realism that I never heard on my old system. At times the bass seems a little light, and at times the highs seem overly bright especially when the volume is turned way up and on brighter recordings. The soundstage at times seems a little shut in too. I cannot determine in the Planet is solely, or at all, to blame for these shortcomings or if it is some of the other component(s). Better system matching may help, as my hunch is that some of these shortcomings can be attributed to the speakers. Some may feel other CD players in this price range are better suited to their listening needs, however the Planet's strengths far outweigh its few minor weaknesses. This machine brings real excitement to the music, and in this price range, I cannot recommend the Planet enough.

Associated equipment:

Energy e:XL 16 speakers (reviewed here)
Rega Panar 2 turntable
Rega RB 300 tone arm
Rega Elys cartridge
Rega Mira integrated amp (reviewed here)
Monster Cable speaker wire
Rega standard interconnects
Linn Kan speaker stands (spikes on floor, BluTack on speakers)

Similar Products Used:

Naim