REGA APOLLO

I just bought a new Apollo a few months ago, and have been very happy with it. I would say that mine only required about 25 hours of break-in to sound really great. I bought it because Rega tries very hard to make their players sound more like analog - less harsh than just about any other player out there, certainly at their price point. I would argue that there is not a better one under $5000, except perhaps the Saturn. But at more than twice the price, go for the Apollo.

I had the Apollo and sold it about nine months ago. It's a nice player but had a stealy quality to some guitars which I could not live with, maybe a system mismatch. To say "that there is not a better one under $5000.00" is a very big stretch although I'm glad you enjoy it.

It is a good machine. It does have a refined sound to it, the treble is clean. I think it was a bargain at the old price (I got one new fo 900), at the new price of $1200, I'd spend a bit more and spring for a cambridge 840C. You ask about them being up for sale- there has been a steady stream of them up for sale for a long while now- there always seems to be at least a few and sometimes a dozen or more up here. Why do new machines with such lauded sound quality appear on the used market so often? It does'nt take a genius to figure out. for your information
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f7/rega-apollo-saturn-buyers-beware-323583/

I bought the latest apollo player adout 18 months ago. Sounds great paired with my elex-r. Eventually got a great deal on a mint dac-r and the sound has improved dramatically. The apollo has a wolfson 8742 dac, where as the dac-r has twin wolfson 8742 dacs in parallel. The sound from a rega saturn (current) is practically identical and cost me a lot less. I now have a complete rega setup and I am really pleased withe functionality and sound quality. Rega products are made to be used together. They have a synergy. Try to find a good dac-r used and don't spend the money on a $3400 cd player dac that isn't any better.

Also- I paid $1095 for mine 18 months ago. They went up this year to $1325! Once announcement was made in July they were discontinued the price went down to $695! This is an amazing time to get a new one before they are all gone. I love everything about mine. People that complain about slow track change and startup are just impatient. I know it was the last cd player I will ever purchase.