Sorry for the late response, been busy listening!
Some great posts there guys, thanks for sharing your experiences.
Obviously this is a top level player and as I have read in reviews it only differs from other very good machines in its presentation.
Ultimately it wasn't a keeper for me (not that it was for sale anyway) but it was great to get the opportunity to try out.
I'm loathe to say too much negative about it as I'm very aware that I didn't have the range of equipment on hand to optimise its performance and also I'm not overly experienced so wouldn't want to put anyone off the player without listening to it for themselves or in any way criticise Rega in my ignorance.
Ultimately in spite of its many talents it just didn't grab me. I know you don't want a 'too much too soon' sound that becomes fatiguing after a while but truth is it never 'got' me, even after a long listening session. I think it was a micro-dynamics thing. My big speakers can be lazy brutes and need a punchy player and amp to bring enough life to them to make them engaging. The Isis is too even handed for this which left a feeling of subtle a lack of emotion or life. I want to re-iterate I think this was primarily a system matching thing and not a fault of the player or maybe I just prefer a slightly over the top presentation.
I'll quickly summarise its strengths as I see it; battleship build, handsome bling free looks, great easy read display, faultless operation, natural clarity and detail resolution (not hyped), instrument timbre, easy all day listenability, musical flow.
I don't think you can discuss this machine without mentioning its unique delivery. This is hard to describe but it has a propulsion to the sound, maybe like an idler drive turntable that just drives the song along. It's a relentless thing and un-digital to me. I think is why people say it's more analogue sounding than other CD players. Ironically I found this a bit of a spoiler with more reflective material as it didn't seem to have the poise I would have liked, it just kept motoring on! I'm guessing that's where the valve version would have the upper hand.
Having said all that I can understand how this could be a very satisfying player for a lot of folks, it has something, that steady rolling goodness that makes it hard to turn off but in the end I found myself craving more engagement.