Hi Guys,

I hope this will be of help to anyone who is considering this question but don't want to ditch their CDs or get into ripping them to a network drive.

So having sold my old Denon CD player and getting musical (for clarification!) withdrawal symptoms and not being sure what to get I decided to speak to HiFi Dave and my friend DSJR and get some advice on a new CD player...well they probably thought it was more like extended counselling but there you go.

To start off with I considered 2nd hand Linn Genki's and Naim CD5s but was worried about the lack of support and non availability of replacement transport mechanisms and laser assemblies for decks that were over 10 years old. I also considered streamers but was put off by some stories of less than brilliant control Apps and software bugs etc and good ones it seems are not cheap.

So in this post CD world what to get? Seemed little point in spending a lot on a medium that is being steadily supplanted by downloads and streaming and in any case I hadn't got a lot to spend. Well HiFi Dave and DSJR both recommended the Rega Apollo R to me with HiFi Dave saying that although it has been out since 2011 there was still nothing to beat it this side of a Rega Saturn R or unless you spent 3-4 times as much.

So although there is expected to be a new Apollo out later this year to match the new Brio and being an impatient chap and not having to visually match it with any of my gear I couldn't wait and pulled the trigger and I am delighted with its sound. I am using it with Klotz MC5000 ICs I got from Brian a while back through an NVA P50 pre-amp with Crown D60 power amp and Rega RS3s and it boogies/rocks which my last CD player didn't so I just wanted to say thanks to Hifi Dave and DSJR for their patience and advice and to HiFi Dave for a great deal and service.

I should add that I am just a happy customer and that this is a shill free zone!

cheers

Chris