Rega Research
Saturn R-02 CD/DAC Player
Rega has consistently produced products that stand the test
of time, and which sport the simplest of controls. While most manufacturers use
some kind of motorized drawer to get the CD in and out of the system, and a few
use a motorized slot based mechanism, some have chosen the top loading route,
as Rega has done. I have little patience with most top loaders – they often
require you to add a puck which can easily be forgotten or lost. I’ve always
liked Rega’s no nonsense mechanism, with a hinged lid that incorporates its own
clamping.
In this iteration, Rega has used an articulated design which
requires minimal free space above the top surface. Very neat, although I found
it a little more difficult than earlier Rega CD players to grab hold of the
disc from the platter. But it’s easy to use, quick and reliable and it looks
good. To add to these ergonomic pluses, the front panel is simplicity itself. A
large button for on/off, a large button for play, and three smaller buttons
arrayed vertically for previous, next and stop, with a modestly sized status
display. It’s different, but again it all works very well. This unit is really
two components in one – the Rega DAC, upgraded in a few areas, and a top
loading transport, all housed in a sleek low profile, full-width black chassis,
whose edges are neatly chamfered. The Solaris R system remote control unit is a
very well laid out plastic wand with a total of 45 buttons, four of them
bidirectional (filter, DAC input, preamp input and volume).
Rega Research
Saturn R-02 CD/DAC Player
Rega offers a range of four CD players. This one is in the
middle and sells for $3,299. At the top of the scale sit the Isis and its near
twin, the Isis Valve, three times or more the price of the Saturn-R, while the
entry level Apollo-R is around one third its price. All feature top loading
drive units. Rega is perhaps most famous for its extensive range of high
performance turntables, tonearms and cartridges, but offers a full range of
components including speakers and amplifiers. The box proudly proclaims “Rega –
Made in England”, where the company has been in business since 1973 when Roy
Gandy first introduced the Rega Planet turntable.
When you pop a disc into the recessed well and close the lid
it takes about 8 seconds to read the table of contents, about average for a CD
player. But to my surprise, when you subsequently press play there is a further
four second delay before the music starts, although switching from track to
track is instantaneous. Other than that, I found no operational quirks.
Unusually, you get a choice of five different digital filters, but I found the
differences to be minor, and my preference for filter number 4 (an anodizing
option) may not match yours. Rega suggests starting at number 1 and trying each
in turn. This is not just a CD player, although it certainly works well in that
role. It has a full functioned DAC inside too. Well perhaps not full
functioned, since it does not support the new trend for DSD streaming. Rega
deliberately does not include any upsampling options, since the company does
not believe any real benefit derives from them.
A large button for
on/off, a large button for play, and three smaller buttons
I would also like to see a headphone output, but that would
of course add to the price. But you do get 5 digital inputs – 2 optical, 2
coaxial, and an asynchronous galvanically isolated USB input, all capable of
accepting signals up to 192kHz/24bit, in addition to the direct feed from the
drive unit. The Saturn-R offers unbalanced analog outputs and two sets of
digital outputs, one marked DAC (from the digital inputs) and the other marked
CD (44.1kHz/16bit), available in both optical and coax formats. One curious
omission – there is no ground pin on the mains socket. I guess it is not
needed, and certainly there were no issues with hum.
Twin Wolfson WM8742 DAC chips sit at the heart of the DAC
section, fed by a sophisticated power supply. Twin WM8742 chips also contribute
to the fine sound of the well regarded Cambridge Audio 851C CD player, although
they are not as widely used as the ESS Sabre chips. It is not so much which DAC
chips you choose, but how carefully you implement the circuitry and the quality
of the power supply that really determines performance. Rega uses Wolfson chips
here and in the Apollo-R and the Rega DAC, while the Isis has two Burr-Brown
PCM 1794 chips and the top of the line Isis Valve has a different Wolfson DAC
chip, the WM8741. Go figure.
