Another contender that you might want to consider, at $1000, is the Marantz SA-8004, which is quite good and offers SACD capability as well (no top-loading, though...lol). See the Audio Advisor website for detailed info on it.

The Cambridge Audio 650C is definitely good-sounding also, at $800; oops...Audio Advisor just dropped the price to $500 (a close-out, perhaps?).

I think you would be quite satisfied with either of these.

Another one (which I have not heard) that is getting a lot of attention, is the Emotiva ERC-2 CD player. Steven Guttenberg reviewed it and said it compares to $1500 players (at under $500!), which is pretty amazing, if true. I guess it is only sold factory-direct, but they apparently give people a 30-day return privilege...easy enough to get one and try it, I suppose. The review is at cnet.com.

ProAc2.5 wrote:

Hi All

I've been thinking of buying this player. I'm familiar with Rega products and have read(3 times)the review in Stereophile. My present player took a crap so I need a new one asap. The review was ery favorable and I like the top loading format. Is there something else that is comparable price wise, or should I take the plunge?

Comments, suggestions and opinions will be greatly appreciated.

 

Thank you

Bob

I have the first gen Rega Apollo, so there might be some differnces I don't know about, but here's my take. It's been a very good CDP though I have two complaints: my biggest is it has no digital inputs. Today, for me, that's kind of an annoying oversight. It seems utterly stupid to have to put another DAC in my system to service an iPod or networked music when I have a nice DAC sitting right there in the player, but alas reserved for the spinning disc only. Maybe that's not an issue for you, but if I were to do it again, I'd make sure my player was more versatile.

The other thing is that the Apollo can be on the warm side sometimes, so depending on your system that may be a factor. I often feel like I want some more inner detail from the player, whereas my TT, (granted four times more expensive), is very warm sounding but much more resolving.

I have been a big fan of Marantz since I got my surround receiver from them- huge value for the money so I might give them a listen.

May be worth noting that Apollo are just about to release their Apollo-R player too, this could be a contender at about $700-$800 expected. It features the Wolfson DAC found in their Rega DAC.