The Rega Saturn-R CD player is a combination of two devices from the company that are very popular among fans of the British brand – the Isis CD player and the DAC digital-to-analog converter. The creation of this device required the hard work of Rega designers and engineers over a long period of time, who implemented many proprietary developments and design solutions in the Saturn-R.
The Rega Saturn-R player consists of two devices made on a common chassis – a top-loading CD transport and a digital-to-analog converter. Both of these units have full remote control from the Solaris remote control. The device is equipped with a large number of inputs and outputs, and all of its digital interfaces support transmission and reception of audio streams with parameters up to 24 bit / 192 kHz. The Rega Saturn-R has two optical and two coaxial inputs, an asynchronous USB input and direct digital output from a CD transport. All this allows the player to be used effectively in any audio system and makes it an excellent partner for the Rega Elict-R integrated amplifier.
Digital-to-analog conversion in the Rega Saturn-R player is entrusted to two Wolfson WM8742 DACs connected in parallel. Also in the description of the model is noted the presence of a highly stable quartz oscillator with a low jitter level, high-precision phase-locked loop circuits set by this generator for synchronization signals when processing data coming from digital inputs, as well as high-speed Nichicon Fine Gold diodes and high-capacity capacitors in the power supply.
As mentioned above, the appearance of the Rega Saturn-R player shows pleasant changes compared to the previous version without the letter R. The body is made of 1.5 mm metal sheet, painted black. The front panel has a tinted plastic insert with a small information display in the middle; The color scheme of the displayed symbols is red. The legs under the body end with soft spacer rings so as not to scratch the installation surface. The traditional top-loading disk with a “manual drive” has been preserved here, the hard plastic tray has an almost cosmic outline (a little like the alien bagel ship from the movie “Prometheus”). There is a pseudo-button on top – a convex protrusion for the finger so that it can be hooked, leaning on it, and not slip when pushing the lid. There is no need to manually close the tray; it is smoothly pulled up by a leisurely automatic closer.
The Rega Saturn-R is generally somewhat thoughtful; after inserting a disk into the slot, some time passes from the initiation of reading to recognition. The response to commands from the remote control is clear, but also very slow. The remote control itself is convenient, large gray buttons on a black background are clearly visible, everything you need is present, including a track calendar. The disc loader bed is molded plastic, the media itself is fixed on the table with metal ball-clamps, and for easy removal there is a recess for your finger in the front part. On the rear wall of the case there is one unbalanced analog output on RCA connectors and five digital DAC inputs, including a USB port with galvanic isolation and asynchronous data transfer mode, two optical and two coaxial inputs with a normalized impedance of 75 Ohms. There are also two pairs of digital outputs, separately from the transport and from the DAC.
To eliminate jitter, the Rega Saturn-R player uses a highly stable master oscillator and high-power power supply for the CD section, a phase-locked loop (PLL) input receiver, isolated digital circuits and minimal-length signal circuits in the CD transport. Switching between CD player/DAC operating modes is carried out in a digital-to-analog conversion circuit. The player’s USB DAC is capable of working with digital stream parameters up to 24 bit/192 kHz and has the same galvanic isolation from the source as in the Rega DAC. The asynchronous USB connection supports ASIO mode, for which special drivers must be installed on the connected computer, which must be downloaded from the Rega website.
Characteristics of Rega Saturn-R
Type CD player and DAC in one housing
Playback CD-Audio, MP3
Frequency range CD player: 17 Hz – 20.5 kHz (-0.02 dB), DAC: 10 Hz – 41 kHz (- 1 dB)
Harmonic distortion 0.005% (CD player), 0.006% (DAC)
Signal to noise ratio – 109 dB (CD player, DAC)
DAC 2 x Wolfson WM8742
Stream support 16 – 24 bit / 32 (optical / coaxial) , 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96, 176.4, 192 kHz
ASIO support yes
Inputs USB, 2 optical, 2 coaxial
Outputs optical, coaxial, analog
Output voltage 2.18 V (minimum load impedance 10 kOhm)
Consumption power 15.5 W
Dimensions (WxHxD) 430 x 95 x 325 mm
Weight 9.7 kg
