Rega Apollo-R CD player

I am close to pulling the trigger for the Rega Apollo R CD Player as well. Still debating about it. The Apollo R CD Player is supposedly similar to its partner outboard Rega DAC but there is no digital input on the Apollo R CD Player. So, we are limited to just playing 44.1 files (CD's) with the new Apollo R CD Player. Many outboard DAC's now play files up to 196K. 

Hi phoebefairchild,

In case you are still interested in the Rega Apollo R CD player, here's my recent experience (from the UK).

I demo'd the Rega Apollo R + Rega Brio R amp against the following CD+Amp alternatives: Naim 5i-2; Cyrus 6; Marantz Pearl Lite; Audiolab 8200.

Although the Rega system wasn't originally on my list, the retailer suggested I should listen to it. This was good advice, as I found it to be preferable to the other systems, so I bought it.

To me it just does a great job in giving you the music to enjoy. The sound is quite warm, but with pretty good detailing. Most of all though it keeps everything unified, so I heard the song more than I heard all the separate elements, which is what I wanted.

The Audiolab equipment provided better detailing, but didn't project the music/song itself quite as well as the Rega system.

The thing is not pretty to look at, but I'm at the point where I don't really care about its visual aesthetics, I'm only interested in what gives me the best music and for me the Rega set up was the clear winner.

I would recommend that you listen to the Rega and compare it to other systems, to find the sound that you like the best. Good luck.