Rega DAC owners/fans/knowledgeable folks come on in here.... (please).

Ok so here is the deal...

I can't stand listening to many of my CDs anymore. I have a proposed solution, more on that in a minute. Before I go there, I know exactly why I can't stand them.
As of late I have started to listen to vinyl in a major way. More so than ever before. So that's cause #1.
Cause #2... I use a Chord Hugo. It's a fantastic DAC. But one thing it does not do is color a single note. If gives you everything there is on the disc, warts and all. For some discs this is exactly what I'm after. For the majority of CDs it does them no favor..at all.
Cause #3 if I take the Hugo out of the chain and just use the Oppo 105D analog out it makes things worse. I lose the sound quality of the Chord but keep the hard edges. Yikes.

Before I go any further, I realize I am being completely and totally picky. I see this as a challenge though.. to get the sound out of CDs to resemble the sound I hear from vinyl.. at least as close as I can get it. I want warmth, I want detail, I want dynamic. And I want it out of CDs! I know this isn't a new idea.

Ok so my current thinking is a Line Magnetic 515 CD player, that's my current proposed solution. I had an idea given to me in another thread to get the LM DAC instead, but I think the 515 straight up is the better answer.
Before I go that route though, I keep reading on the Rega DAC. I keep hearing that it has that "vinyl" sound to it. So for those of you in the know.. how would you characterize the sound? It is my understanding the DAC-R will sound about the same and that's the one I have my eye on. Let's assume for sake of discussion they sound the same.

To be clear, I'm not trying to compare it to my Hugo. It's a totally different animal. I will front the Rega DAC with a Wyred 4 Sound reclocker to lower the jitter.

And please spare me the CDs are great, there is no issue, it's in your head etc. Even if it is, it's my head and it's not going anywhere anytime soon.

 

Well, Rega digital will not sound like vinyl. It does sound warmer, while retaining the detail. It also does a very nice job with the rhythmic side of things. But the 3-dimensionality of vinyl is not quite there. It was never there on any other CD player I ever tried either. But the Rega Saturn, and now the Rega DAC, allowed me to fully enjoy my CD collection for the first time. Audiophile discs sounded pretty good even on cheap NAD or HK players. But run of the mill CDs were never anything special. Those are the kind of discs that I now really enjoy with the Rega players. Once I got the Saturn, I went and bought up a ton of used early jazz CDs, which were mostly flat transfers. On other players, those discs are kind of boring, but the Saturn, and now the DAC really make these discs very enjoyable to me. A bright CD is still bright, so it won't solve that. But if it is a little lean sounding it can improve the sound, in my experience.

 

Thanks IanL. So you have a Saturn and the Rega DAC combo? What are some of things that you dislike about it, if you don't mind me asking.

 

I have the DAC R which I use with the Appolo R and a Mac mini. Very happy with it. Previously I owned the old model and it was very good also. I think you will need to do a demo with your own equipment to access if the Rega approach is going to be for you. My primary system is all Rega and it is very synergistic. I moved to the "R" for the USB upgrade.

 

From a sound standpoint, nothing. I am very pleased with it. With both, actually. I still have the Saturn sitting in my system, but that is all it is doing... sitting. It is wonderful, but I have all my CDs ripped so I just use a Squeezebox Touch with the Rega DAC for all those files. They sound exactly the same to me.

From a design standpoint, the Rega DAC uses a lousy power cord. So I upgraded to a Shunyata for that. Cost another $75, plus a few bucks for an adapter because the DAC uses a different plug receptacle than the Shunyata. These are minor annoyances overall. The potentially big one on the original DAC was that the USB input was not hi-res. I use an s/pdif connection (Black Cat cable) from my Squeezebox, so it never made a difference for me. The new DAC-R fixes that though. And then there are those filters. I leave it on the default and have never used a single one. So all in all, I really have nothing bad to say about the Rega DAC. The Saturn is a simple, perfect machine. Love the transport. All it does is play CDs. Well. But the original Saturn has no DAC that can be used with additional sources. Just CDs.

 

My Rega DAC sounds great; but not as organic and 'vinyl-like' as my original (mid-'90s) Planet CD player. I've heard the LM 515 CD deck and OMG ... best CD playback I've ever heard; best music playback, maybe. Transcends all those notions of vinyl vs. CD or whatever. Of course, that day it was via a Leben amp and DeVore O/93 speakers, which outclass my rig immensely. But I'll stick my neck out and say that unless you can afford the Naim 555 or (maybe) dCS gear, Line Magnetic make the best CD player(s).

 

Very happy with my Rega DAC/Apollo-R combo. It's "digital done right" to my ears.

 

I've got the DAC-R and it has really improved many of my CD rips. It has brought material out from them that I had no idea was there. Pardon the overused phrase but it "really is like listening to my music collection for the first time all over again"
That said, some CD's sound just as bad or worse. They just sound dead, like everything, the voices and music are all dead center. No life about them, no separation or soundstage and the Rega makes that even more obvious. The longer I hang here the longer I feel the mastering is really what drives the quality of sound. I have a Lionel Richie greatest hits CD that I ripped to my computer. Nothing special, not hi rez, just measly redbook and yet the songs have a life about them that makes it sound like Lionel is right there in the room with me, band and all. Let me be clear that the DAC-R really made this stand out to me. I have some very nice 192/24 downloads that do not sound this good.

As for the vinyl sounding features of the DAC, it definitely has a warm sound to it that favors vinyl rather than harshness associated with CD, but again I personally have found that it is relevant to the material being played. It smooth's out the highs without appearing to remove any of the detail which is a neat trick in my book.

 

Another happy Rega DAC owner here. I find the sound a bit on the warmish side, and non fatiguing. The various filters (on the original) are subtle, but effective. I tried the different filters and settled on #5, which seems popular with many other folks here too.

 

Why don't you just color the music, to your taste, after the Hugo? Cables/amp/cans/speakers. I would rather work with a neutral detailed DAC to color than a not so detailed colored DAC.

 

You have a good thought.. but it's primarily becuase I want a certain sound out of CDs/FLAC rips only. For Vinyl/SACD/DVD-A I'm primarily happy with the rig. For DSD, 24/96, 96/124 I've been happy with the Hugo.

 

Yes, that is an important aspect to the sound that I failed to mention... Non-fatiguing. I think that was the #1 thing I was looking for out of the Saturn when I bought it, and it was the best in that regard that I had ever heard. I am still very pleased with that aspect today with the DAC.

 

Thanks everyone for all the feedback. The more I look the more I think that I may get a used Rega Planet player. It seems to be characterized the closest to what I'm after.

Oh, and a LM 515 at some point. The local dealer is a bit slow to reply.

 

How long do you think an early 90's CD player would last? I was thinking on getting a used Saturn (circa. 2005?) and this question came to my mind. I guess the Rega's are built like a tank. Never owned one.

 

It depends. Some forum members have reported trouble with Rega's CD units. A more fool proof solution may be buying a Rega DAC and using a CD or DVD player as a transport. Another reason to go this way is expansion into computer based playback. I have nearly all of my CDs stored away. I play music from my Mac mini at least 100 times more often then my Appolo R.

 

I loved my Rega planet 2000 by itself, and then even more when I added the Rega DAC. The most profound change came when I upgraded my preamp, however. My tubed Rogue Perseus makes digital sound great...night and day difference. It added space and smoothness to the sound. Even with great digital source gear, your preamp has to be matched properly for your tastes.

 

That should have been Apollo R.

 

It's typically the tray mechanism that goes first on a CD player, best I can tell. Not an issue with the top loader. I'm not really worried about it lasting, if it has made it this long then it will likely last quite awhile longer.

 

I went ahead and grabbed an original Planet as a bit of a science experiment. I'll look to see if the power receptacle is the same as the Rega DAC, but in advance.. what was the adapter you needed to purchase?

 

Original Planet has attached power cord!

 

Let us know how it goes. Thanks

 

Perfect. Thanks.

 

Here is the adapter I use: http://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=PGC5ADP

 

fascinating discussion! I have a rega apollo (with rega elex-r integrated amp and kef lLS50 speakers). at the point of adding the rega dac-r. does it seriously improve the sound of the apollo playing cd's?

 

Interesting OP and thread. I had a Rega DAC and would have loved to trade up to a Hugo but went with a NAd M51 for several reasons. I don't listen to vinyl so have no basis for comparison but can say that the Rega sounds full bodied and non-fatiguing.

At the risk of spending other people's money, I would recommend trying Herbie's Tenderfeet under the DAC and CD player. It helped the sound on my Rega come into focus without adding anything negative.