Just compared the Planet to the Marantz KI Sig and the Arcam Alpha 8. All 3 were good. The Arcam was tuneful and laid back. The Marantz was very detailed, forward, slightly artificial, but nevertheless dramatic. The Planet gave a lovely natural musical sound. Real instruments and voices! Good detail, but unforced. Good bass and treble extremes. I'm gonna buy it because unlike the other 2 I know I won't tire of its sound or focus on what it doesn't do. BTW, it sounds unbeleivable with a Naim Nait amplifier - the rhythms are incredible, and the dynamics are excellent. Music sounds a bit better today...

I wanted to add a comment to my earlier review (and to spell Mr. Piazzolla's name correctly). I had severe RF interference between my old CD set-up (see previous posting) and my NAD tuner. The CD player had to be turned off to allow AM reception (which follows the "rule" of keeping only one source component on at a time, but disobeys the "rule" of keeping digital equipment on all the time. Oy!) Anyway, this interference does not occur with the Planet, further indicating its excellent build and design.

I first heard the Planet in a store in Cambridge MA: Johnny Cash singing "Delia's gone, one more time, Delia's gone." The Man was in my lap with his guitar. I was stunned. I then auditioned an Arcam Alpha 7 back home, and found this to be a true upgrade over my Phillips 920 transport/AA DDE 1.0/DTI, and was ready to buy it. But I came across a used Planet on the web, and am I happy I did. I couldn't directly A/B with the Arcam (although the dealer in Cambridge had, and preferred the Planet), but the Planet is outstanding. Some disks that were unlistenable before (Astor Piazolla, the history of the tango, part 1, was very harsh on my old system) now sound highly musical. Delia and Johnny haunt my living room. Jazz (small group) and the Dvorak Cello Concerto hold me transfixed. My wife hears a clear improvement. The boys get up and dance to Los Lobos (Kiko). Rest of system: Spica TC50's on Target HJ24 stands, Genesis Servo 10 sub, Golden Tube SEP-1 preamp, Acurus A250 amp, Rega Planar 3/RB300, NAD tuner, Yamaha KX500 Tape deck.

the planet is the only cd player i can listen to. all others sound too etched and hi-fi, which leads one to realize he/she's listening to digital, and nowher near analog.

It amuses me to hear people describe the Rega Planet as a bargain sub US$1000 CD player. Why? Because I bought mine for UK£350 (about US$550) at a hi-fi show and that was with a remote! In my system I've been very pleased with the sound, it's dynamic, creates true 3-dimensional images, and is well extended in both the bass and treble. Compared with a decent vinyl source (Lingo LP12) it lacks a degree of naturalness, but most of the time I can sit back and enjoy the music, which is a great result for the money!

Firstly an observation :This gear needs a long and long burn in, no hours,but days( I almost spent one month!!) before being evaluated seriously.Initially it was hard and plan, without good definition or dynamics (I thought that could be deficiency of the interconnect),but  I was wrong.  It really needed it was of a long break in.Only after this, I began a careful audition.  The structure:This gear is well built, robust.The finish is very good, causing a good initial impression.
The sound:It's very good for who paid only $700 with remote included.
This is a good gear for the price. The great quality of this  is in the fatigue absence: you can be listening music hours and hours without fatigue,it's smooth and unagressive.
This should not be confused with lack detail and resolution. 
Very nice Detail.The transient response is appropriate. 
In Cafe Blue-Patrícia Barber(Too Rich for my blood ) there is a drums solo  that demonstrates very well this quality. The texture and timbre of each instrument is well characterized and reproduced , being this best evaluated mainly in the recordings with piano and sax,like in Loved Ones-Ellis &Branford Marsalis, Ran Blake-Unmarked Van, Miles Davis-Kind of Blue,Porgy and Bess, John Coltrane-Ballads and Paul Desmond-Pure desmond (all tracks).
But there is a deficiency-of course, it is not perfect: with great orchestral masses,the sound becomes congested,shuffling ,losing in detail -easily perceived with any good recording of the Ravel's Bolero. For the price, this detail is forgivable!
In summary, this gear is relaxing, It has  the quality to provide  a long-term musical satisfaction,  it isn't bright,analytical or agressive.
If you're looking for a good cd player without spending a lot,give a chance to yourself: stop, relax and listen the Rega Planet!
I'm pleased.
 
Ari-Brazil.

I have the planet for 3 months and never regret buying it. It is my first hi-end CDP and love the top load design. The sound is so smooth, and richer than the Japanese mass-market players I used to own which make hollow & shallow vocal reproduction. The planet is much richer and natural, I almost feel like the singer is right there in the room with me. The Planet is worth more than its price, in terms of its build, looks and performance!
Other eqpt: Krell KAV 300i & Thiel CS.5 speakers.

I very much like this player! In the past I have only encountered perhaps a half dozen machines that have the pace ,rhythmic drive,and musical coherrance displayed by the Rega and as most of those were in the $3500 + range were too dear for my limited means (notabley Naim). It is not perfect ,showing congestion on occassion on busy passages . It has , however , a wonderful way with textural details and inner dynamics that I recommend you check out for yourself . I found that familar tunes carried more emotion than I am used to hearing from CD.I didn't know anything of the Rega Planet when I first auditioned it & guessed it sold for $2400 . When told it was less than $800 I just bought it! Note: The Planet took several weeks of playing to break in; is sensitive to interconnect ( I chose Cabletalk Monitor 2 cables for their transparent musicality ),& is critical to the mains polarity. A final thought: The Rega is one of the few CD players that I feel free to critique on Absolute Musical terms rather than in comparison to other CD decks .My feet keep tapping & I caught myself singing to my cat the other night ! Associated equip.: Oracle Alexandria TT, Roksan Tabriz zi arm ,Benz Micro MC 3i cart.,PSE studio SL pre.,PSE studio V amp, Rega ELA spkrs. Cabletalk monitor 2 intercnnects,Linn K400 spkrcble ,shotgunned .Sound Oranization equip.stands(2), Adcom line conditioner (TT.& pre amp only), Greater ranges Enhancer shelves,Misc.Tiptoe cone feet. Definately a well deserved 4 on the quality of sound ,a 5 given the value.

I just purchased the Planet about two weeks ago and have only used it several hours. The retailer told me the player should require about 12 hours break-in time. According to some of the other reviews ,it probably will require more than that! Anyway ,I can tell you that, straight out of the box, the Rega sounded super-smooth. Especially in the midrange! For the first time I listened to six straight hours of music on headphones, with almost no fatigue. I could never do that with the Marantz CD-63, my former player. I also noticed better bass definition, compared to the Marantz. Some reverb in recordings also appeared that I had previously not heard before. Super! This Review is based only on several hours of listening. I am sure things are only going to get better as the break-in period continues.

I had the Planet in my home for 1 week, partnering my McCormack DNA.5/tlc-1 combo and Legacy Sig 3 speakers. interconnects were MIT Terminator3s. The idea was to find a player to replace my aging Rotel 945 as I finish the upgrading of my system (started last summer) I have to say - 'what is all the fuss about?'. The Rega is a fine cd player for the money but it is not so good that you think there is nothing more to be gained by searching longer and spending more. I found it a bit better than my 4 year old $300 rotel - but not so much better that I would be confident in my ability to detect the differences blindfolded. It has more detail, and appears to have a lot more bass than the rotel, but my partner could not hear ANY differences between them and was convinced that spending $800 on the rega was a waste of money that would be better put towards another player. Each time I did AB comparisons I kept expecting more differences than I could really hear but those that were there seemed subtle. I found the bass a bit too warm and bloated on some tracks, the ability to seperate out complex details was a little limited, and the general sense of space and soundstage was not great. I wanted to love the player, have had my trusty Rega 3 turntable for years and generally like the Roy Gandy approach to value-for-money engineering. But it seems to me that the Planet is really the cd equivalent of the Planar 3 ttable - it offers entry level high end sound at a good price, but to compare it to really good vinyl players like the VPI or Linn is just silly. Ditto the Planet - it is a good value component but it is not great, and if this is what Sterephile thinks is class B, then I guess I just have a different sense of what great sound should be like.
I will say the player is a joy to operate, (except for the awful remote) the top loading door is great and watching the disk spin is cute. All in all, a nice player and my number 1 choice at $800, but in absolute terms, it is not a cd player that I feel upgrades my old digital front end enough to keep me happy. So, if interested in this player, be sure to hear it - don't believe that all the great reports mean this is as good as it gets, it really isn't. 4 stars for price/sound...3 stars for sound alone