[bcwang]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DarkAngel /img/forum/go_quote.gif BC Give your Saturn a week of 24/7 repeat playing before making any conclusions, you will be very impressed. You need to adjust pyshologically to new sound as well as mechanical break-in issues. Also give yourself some time to learn how to use controls/remote, the items you mention below may just be confusion of how to operate Saturn. Almost all UK gear has closely spaced output RCAs.......few people use those monsterous RCA cables like Cardas over in UK. As far as CDRs I have played a couple so far with no issues, not sure what speed you burn your audio CDRs but I would go with slower 8-12x max for best audio performance and not use 48-52x high speed burning.

So did you feel a tremendous change after a week of non stop playing? Or maybe I should say, did you feel it sounded quite bad fresh out of the box like I felt? The original lack of detail was not a problem of getting used to the sound, it simply lacked detail that I heard before on my other CD player. Though luckily that came back after almost 8 hours of use.

The strange thing is the CDR problem occurs more frequently at the beginning of the disc, like track 1 or 2, in which the burning speed would have been low anyway because of CAV burning. It might just not like the memorex media some of my CDRs use.

 

[DarkAngel]

If I go back in this thread to find my posts I believe I said Saturn sounded soft and polite initially then after week of 24/7 details came into sharper focus with more pace and rythmic edge.......don't worry keep playing you will be pleasantly surprised and will notice a change for the better.

 

[chesebert]

damn DA - 3 replies and 0 mention of G08!!

let's hear some impressions!!

 

[tourmaline]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bifcake /img/forum/go_quote.gif I was never impressed with any of the Meridian players. They sound very dry and lifeless to me. I'm surprised that Meridians developed such a following on head-fi. I suspect that the difference between the Meridian and the Saturn will be that of dryness vs liquidity. The Rega sound seems to be diametrically opposite of the Meridian sound.

Depends wich cables and wich amp you use. If going up the ladder with cables, you get more body and musicallity in cables and a good amp has also good body. Some transistor amps can sound thin though. With tube amps you can change the tubes to your liking. nd match the body you'll need or like.

 

[Blitzula]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chesebert /img/forum/go_quote.gif damn DA - 3 replies and 0 mention of G08!! let's hear some impressions!!

Ditto!

I'm familiar with the G08 and could use a comparison point for the Saturn.

 

[bifcake]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tourmaline /img/forum/go_quote.gif Depends wich cables and wich amp you use. If going up the ladder with cables, you get more body and musicallity in cables and a good amp has also good body. Some transistor amps can sound thin though. With tube amps you can change the tubes to your liking. nd match the body you'll need or like.

I sampled different systems with meridian players ranging from inexpensive, to quite expensive, tube amps, solid state, etc. I've yet to encounter a Meridian player in any combo that sings to me. Very bleh.

 

[Blainethepain]

Hi Everyone.

I took delivery of a Rega Saturn this afternoon!

Going to start putting my favourite CDs in now

Cheers,

Pete.

 

[NMyTree]

I ordered my Rega Saturn last week. it will be a few weeks before it arrives.


Still love my Rega Apollo and it will remain in one of my systems.

I'm excited to hear the Saturn.

 

[HumanMedia]

Hey BCWang how is your Saturn going?
Has the sound changed after burning in for a while?
Very interested in your impressions now.

 

[tourmaline]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bifcake /img/forum/go_quote.gif I sampled different systems with meridian players ranging from inexpensive, to quite expensive, tube amps, solid state, etc. I've yet to encounter a Meridian player in any combo that sings to me. Very bleh.

A Singer would though, bleh.

In general i experienced that if a an amp or source is tuned for max. detail it sounds a bit thinner and when set for max. musicality it lacks a bit in detail. it's apperntly quite hard to find the right mix!

 

[NMyTree]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bcwang /img/forum/go_quote.gif Well, I got the Saturn today. My first listen was 2 hours after it was powered on and spinning a disc to warm up. Surprisingly, I thought it sounded quite bad. Using some familiar songs, it had less detail and very weak and almost distorted sounding bass. It sounded worse than my D500se. However, now about 7 hours since first power-up, it already sounds slightly better than the D500se, with it gaining bass quantity and quality, and the detail retrieval is slightly above the D500se where at first it had been worse. I don't know how some of you thought the Saturn sounded great out of the box, unless some units have better broken in components. How much more change should I expect as more hours get put on it? Right now, the amount of change in such a short time is amazing, but it's not performing at the level I expected yet, the improvement over my D500se is not much right now. Do you guys see extreme amounts of improvement with hundreds of hours of use? It was definitely worrisome to know some of you thought it sounded great out of the box, because if what I heard out of the box was what the Saturn was supposed to sound like, then I thought I made a big mistake. -This player is a bit picky about some of my CDR discs, skipping on some of them quite a bit. -The initialisation thing is pretty fast, not much of a difference from loading a CD on my DVD players, nothing to complain about -The RCA jacks are really close together, and shallow too. My connectors are actually touching each other, hope this isn't causing a performance issue. -I've already got the player to glitch in multiple ways. I'm surprised because I thought they fixed all the software glitches in the Saturn after the discovery of them in the Apollo. 1. Once tried to play track 6, but it gave up after a while and started at track1 2. Once, the numeric track display on the right showed I was on track 4 but the left track number showed 1, and it was playing track 1. 3. Got it so the display was off and would not turn on when there was no disc loaded.

Odd. I haven't run into anyone else who has had any problems or glitches with the Saturn.

Hell, I got my Apollo very early in the game and I've had no problems whatsoever. All CDR play perfectly on my Apollo.

Then again, I put a CD or CDR in the player and listen to the music. I switch tracks, put CDs on "Repeat" and that's about it. I really don't muck around or mess with all the functions. Only the one's I actually use on a regular basis. For the most part I put a CD in and listen to the music.

I noticed a while back when visiting a friend and fellow Apollo owner, that he was repeatidly and quickly pressing buttons on his Apollo remote and then getting aggravated because the Apollo would malfunction. From my experience most CD Players will malfunction if one repeatidly and quickly presses different buttons. And the Apollo is even more sensitive to this, than most.

I patiently press a button and wait a few seconds. This approach never results in any malfunctions. I pointed this out to my buddy and he tried being more patient and waiting for the Apollo to process the command and perform the function. Surprisengly, he's had no more "malfunctions" since adopting a patient disposition with the Apollo. Shocking really

It's no surprise different people are getting different results with the Apollo and Saturn. Certainly some will encounter a system mismatch (whether it's the other components or speakers) and lack any type of system synergy between the Apollo and their other gear. This is common occurance in this hobby. Not to mention poor room acoustics (for those not using headphones).


I have found, as detailed in the thread links below, that the Apollo does require a good, long burn-in time (even though I never believed in long burn-in times, before the Apollo). So I wouldn't be surprised if the Saturn also requires some time.


http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=179907

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showth...09#post2286409

I can tell you one thing, the Apollo mates very well with my Vincent SA-T1 Tubed Hybrid Pre Amp, my Butler TDB 2250 Hybrid Power Amp and my Wharfedale Opus 2.

The synergy is spooky at times. Such sweetness.....such musicality........such emotion....with wonderful detail (but not analytical)....gives me goosebumps and chills all the time. Simply beautiful!

It seems tubed or hybrid tubed pre amps and amps really take the Apollo to a different level. Which is odd because Rega makes no tubed gear whatsoever. But there you have it.

Try different gear and different combos.

One thing for sure, I would never match the Apollo or Saturn with any piece of gear that is designed or "voiced" to the brighter side or clinical/analytical side of the spectrum. Neither with gear that is too dark and syrupy.

I find gear which has a little warmth or is neutral; matches well with the Rega Apollo. Anything gear designed for hyper detail and analytical will sound terrible with the Apollo.

 

[HumanMedia]

Re CDRs

I think I remember in this or another thread that the Rega manual recommends playing CDRs that have been burned at 8 speed or slower.

 

[bcwang]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HumanMedia /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hey BCWang how is your Saturn going? Has the sound changed after burning in for a while? Very interested in your impressions now.

The sound seems to have changed a lot with burn-in. It no longer sounds "bad" and actually sounds very good now. The bass has come in, and there is a lot more punch now. I had a short comparison a few days ago with my old player and it seemed to have much more texture to the music and the presentation was very different, more balanced, more dynamic, and smoother overall. I need to wait for it to fully break in (another week or so) before I take dedicated time to listen to both again.

About the glitches, it definitely happens with me, but in many cases it does relate to the speed I press buttons, while other cases it doesn't.
-on one disc, a few times I tried to select track 8, it kept going to track 12.
-a few times on loading a disc in, it would wait a while and then say "empty disc", then by opening and closing the tray it would work fine
-I've had a few times, especially with track 1, where it would have some trouble starting, and if it did start the sound would skip constantly. Going to track 2 and back to 1 would let it work again.
-I've had a few times where I swear I pressed repeat until it said "repeat disc", but when the wording went away the display showed "repeat 1". Doing it again it worked. This might have been trying the repeat right after switching tracks.

So yes, I might use the player too fast since I'm used to my d500se which can take commands as fast as you can give them. But it's not a big deal since I can get it to work without much hassle.

 

[NMyTree]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HumanMedia /img/forum/go_quote.gif Re CDRs I think I remember in this or another thread that the Rega manual recommends playing CDRs that have been burned at 8 speed or slower.

Yes, that's correct.

I mentioned it in the " Rega Apollo vs. Marantz SA-8001 " thread and I believe others may have mentioned it else where.



bcwang,

When you are having these problems with the CDs, are they CD-R discs? Or are they CDs the Record labels manufactored ?

Have you contacted your dealer about these problems and asked him if he has heard about or encountered anyone else having similar problems with the Saturn?

Then here's another odditity which may or may not apply to you, bcwang.

This reviewer discovered an interesting interference with the Saturn's remote controlled operation:

" ...the evidence is beginning to amass that the technical issue is not with the player but likely with my remote lighting system causing RF interference. I have taken the Saturn into a different system without RF lighting and found that indeed the remote control works flawlessly. Coupled with the fact that of the 150 or so units sold to date there have been no other operational deficiencies, I conclude the Saturn is “defect free.” Those who are having operational difficulties with a remotely controlled component in an environment utilizing remote lighting may want to explore the possibility of RF interference and its effects on the component. "


The full review: http://www.dagogo.com/RegaSaturn.html

 

[bcwang]

I think most of my problems stem from cdrs, which I have almost all burned at 48x. I'm glad that it can read them at all, as my DVD player sometimes can't read them and sometimes will hard lock while trying to read a disc. I'll pay more attention to see if this happens with normal CDs or just CDRs. However, the one defect I saw where pushing track 8 results in going to track 12 was a normal CD.

I did not contact the dealer as none are show stoppers since I can easily work around any glitches. I still think it is related to giving many commands in succession. I have no RF lighting, it is not a remote response problem but more just software behavior issues.