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This CD player sounds great. We have to say that. Anyone playing a CD on the Rega Saturn MK3 will be delighted. Regardless of the quality of the recording. This is one of those players that gets the best out of every silver disc and simply ignores the lesser things.
The first thing you notice is the amazing bass. We didn’t know there was sub-bass on albums by Björk, Massive Attack and Portishead, among others. Bands that don’t shy away from beats anyway but the Saturn MK3 pours out an extra portion of sub-bass. Extra definition and information where we didn’t hear it before. Ideal to enjoy at lower volume.
The midrange is sparkling but never analytical or overly fresh. This player is not colored but gives color to the music. An important nuance. It gives music a heart and a soul. The timbre or timbre of the instruments so to say, instruments have color, is glowing. Music never sounds bare, cold or sterile. This is not the most insightful player on the market but nevertheless, intelligibility is high and detail is fine. You are not distracted from the core of the music but carried along and touched. Everything is also in the right place in the stereo image. The interaction between the CD player and dac is nicely balanced. Musical and analog you sometimes read but we stick to compelling, characterful and with a touch of drama
Listen
The nice thing about CD players is that it makes you want to expand your collection again. Especially for this review, we acquired four new discs. Each with its own qualities and shortcomings. “Aja” by Steely Dan because of its great production. Ryan Adams “Live at Carnegie Hall” for its intimate recording in a top-notch venue. Lana del Rey with “Norman Fucking Rockwell” because of the close-mic recording. And “Folklore” by Taylor Swift because of its rock-solid songs. On these four albums, we could hear perfectly what the Rega Saturn Mk3 is capable of.
We begin with Steely Dan and the title track “Aja. Steely Dan sounds good on a crackling Philips transistor radio from the early 1980s but only really comes into its own on a balanced audio system. And balanced it certainly is. Wayne Shorter’s alto sax comes through beautifully without sounding overly shrill but it is Steve Gadd’s drum section that runs with all the attention. It comes through crystal clear and entrancing.
“Folklore” by Taylor Swift sounds completely balanced. Nothing disturbs. Nothing distracts. Favorites like “Betty” and “August” sound convincing and the whole album is over before we know it. Nough said!
Time for “Live at Carnegie Hall” by Ryan Adams. The stream on Qobuz is good and has been used as a reference for some time but the compact disc, on the Saturn, goes a little further. Adams’ voice is sometimes on the edge on the Musical Fidelity but on the Rega the s-sounds are not overly present. The acoustics of the room, the little coughs, the shuffling, come through even better on our Revels. Crackling Fresh. This maligned musician is working hard on his rehabilitation and is now making beautiful music again and this performance is and will remain a milestone in his illustrious career.
Bizarrely, the brand new Lana Del Rey CD does not want to play on the Rega Saturn MK3. On several other players it does but not here. A bit of a disappointment on the revelry but hey… it happens. No idea what the problem is. Maybe one day we will find out.
In addition to CDs, we also streamed new work by Julia Jacklin, Stella Donnelly, Jack White, Anna Tivel, Hot Chip, Kokoroko, Cass McCombs, Danger Mouse, Florist, Julien Baker, Damien Jurado, Momma, John Moreland and Nina Nastasia, among others, via the built-in dac.