The Rega Planet seems to be a decent sounding unit for the money ($795).
But after listening to the Rega and the Dynaco CDV-PRO the Dynaco sounds better for the same money. I do admit the Rega is very stylish and fun to use than the Dynaco.

The Planet is a very good player but I (as well as many other people) don't see how it can be a Stereophile Class B product. Meaningless/subjective magazine ratings aside, the player can hold it's own in $1000 to $1500 company.
I demo'd it alongside an Arcam Alpha 8 CD player ($200 more expensive)-- both were pleasing and each had it's own sound. I seemed to get the impression that the Alpha was truer to the recording but the Planet was truer to the *music*.

I especially liked the Planet's reproduction of midrange-- voices sound wonderful. The Arcam had better bass extension and spatial cues were clearer. It was only when they swapped in the Naim 3.5 cd player that the other two players started to pale. The 3.5 is the best digital I've heard and at 2 grand, it better be!

If you have a neutral system and want to inject some life into it, the Planet might be right for you. My system: Bryston B-60 integrated amp, Snell E-IV speakers, AudioQuest Ruby/Kimber PBJ interconnects, AQ Type 4 speaker cable, Thorens TD-316 turntable, Benz Micro Gold MC cartridge, Rotel RQ-970BX MM/MC phono preamp, Sony ES cassette player.

I've auditioned the Planet against an Arcam Alpha 7 using the Arcam 9 integrated for power, B&W CDM7 speakers and high end Transparent wire and interconnect. Yes the Planet has the look with the swing open loader and Arcam does look a little cheap with its plastic front panel but I was never into the cool looks thing. Remember what we're here for. The Planet was far too laid back and just was not crisp. Especially for the money this machine didn't have the detail one would being looking for. The Arcam Alpha 7 was everything the Planet was not at $150 less. It was more up front, nice dynamics and clean, though it could use a bit more of a low reach. The overall sound though is what did it. It is that thing everyone knows but can't put into words - the sound was much better with the Arcam which I now own and am burning in I write. For the price against what I heard I can only give the Planet a 2.

The longer I am involved in high fidelity sound (30+ years), the clearer it becomes that the specific combination of acoustical conditions, speakers and electronics determines the nature of the overall sonic experience. I love the planet, it was a great addition to my mid-fi system and when combined with my NHT 2.9s produces a detailed, but not harsh sound. The planet might not be the answer for more laid back speakers, but for the somewhat hot 2.9s it's ideal.

Just bought the Rega Planet last week. This is a tremendous CD player, and is one of the great values in high end audio. I chose the Rega after comparing it to two other more expensive players the Classe, and CAL CL-15. The rega sounded more open and more musical than the others, and at almost half the price I bought it right away. You probably have to spend well over $2000.00 to get something significantly better.

When I bought the Rega Planet, I was looking for a CD player and amplifier combination for around a grand sterling that had the right sound for me. I initially was thinking of choosing the Arcam Alpha 7 amp and Alpha 7 CD player on the basis or reviews in the "Hi-Fi" press. But I listened to what the dealers had to say at Audio-T Reading (England), and it was a revelation!
Explaining that I had built a pair of transmission-line speakers with Morel drive units, and that my tastes in music range from Rachmaninov to The Chemical Brothers, via Eberhard Weber and Jan Garbarek, they brought out a selection of speakers (Dynaudio, Rega, Acoustic Energy etc...) the Arcam 7 system, and a Rega Planet with a Naim Nait 3.

The Arcam system didn't fare too well compared to the Rega-Naim system. The most telling test was Eberhard Weber "Pendulum." Here the difference was so huge I was sold within the first few bars of "Notes After and Evening." The recording quality is not audiophile but despite of this, the Rega just lifted so much more music, feeling and detail from the recording. The Arcam system sounded muffled, muddied, and shut-in in comparison. The Chemical Brothers "Dig Your Own Hole" was just huge! The Nait 3 is just amazing for the huge reserves it can muster from 30 Watts r.m.s. for each channel. Other so-called 30+30 amps just don't compare. This driving power has proven to be very versatile in the home recoring studio that I have built with a friend, analogue synthesisers really demand a lot of deep, low slam to sound their best. Naim delivers!

After living with the system for over a year, I can recommend the Rega-Naim combination for musical emotion, rhythm, and timing. It gets the crowd jumping at parties, yet plays orchestral and chamber music with feeling and finesse. The build quality is streets ahead of the Arcam system too, so you get a solid system for the money. For the price I give five stars to both the Rega Planet and the Naim Nait 3.

I recently heard the Planet, a very good player for the money which won't be embarrassed by players twice its price. Pro's: good tracking, good imaging, tonally smooth, fairly good dynamics, good timber, musical player. Con's: bit lean, bit too reverberent, lack of deep soundstage, lacks resolution, could be just a little tilted in the treble in some systems (mainly cheap solid state), could have more body to the imaging (maybe tube linestage or MF X10D with a Goertz interconnect), sound could turn hard when played at high levels. These criticisms are based on top one box players available today. But definitely do not agree that it is polite, boring and anemic.

When I first bought the Planet, I had misgivings about the compressed quality of the sound. After discussing the problem with my dealer, he suggested trying the Marantz CD67 KI-S at home, together with the Planet. When I heard them both together, there was just no competition, in my opinion. The Rega machine floored the Marantz in terms of naturalness and treble quality. On the whole frequency range, the Planet has a very solid sound. Next day, I returned the Marantz machine, and decided to keep the Planet.The A/B comparison demonstrated to me just what a huge difference there is between the Planet and other CD players in this price range.
The doubts I had about this CD player at the beginning, were simply due to the fact that it was 'straight out of the box'. Over the next month all doubts of this machines quality were banished. At this price, I've never heard another CD player which could portray drums or other accoustic instruments with such realism, and the same goes for vocals. I've since upgraded my system to a valve pre-amp, solid-state monoblocs, and Dynadio Contour 1.1 speakers, and am still satisfied with the source. I've no doubt I would hear large improvements if I were to upgrade to a very expensive CD player, or DAC, but the Planet still sounds superb through this system so for the meantime, I'm more than happy with it.
I've grown very fond of this CD player, and would need to be very convinced by another to make a change. Music is just so very much more enjoyable and involving than with any of my previous machines (one costing twice as much!).

Rega Planet
Audio Note M2 Pre
Musical Fidelity X-A200 monoblocs
Dynaudio Contour 1.1 speakers
Van den Hul Interconnect & speaker cables.

No audio magazine hype their products like the British and like the Musical Fidelity, the Planet is no exception. I tested this player carefully using Caltle Eden, Audiolab 8000 and the AudioQuest Quartz interconnect then going to a higher components like the Clasee Audio 100 wpc integrated with the M&W 805 Matrix. This CD-Player proved to be as bad sounding as it looks a typical British Designn After two hours I decided that I had enough. The sound was lean bright lacking authority. The bass was weak failing to illustrate the quickness of the double bass player on Patricia Barber (Distortion of Love track #9). On Chic Corea Elektrik Band, this player was out of it. Vocals were also poor lacking texture. In short, I find this player to be highly over rated and typical of the CUT CORNER approach of British HI-FI designers.
When it comes to to CD-Player engineering and sound, the British should learn from Marantz and Accuphase though I must admit that the Meridan 508 is an exception.

I give this player one star for its top loading transport.

The Rega CD player is a natural sounding player and offers fatigue free listening, in my book, if a player can deliver that it has done it's job.