Rega Planet 3

Third rock from the sun

By Michael Jones

May 2003

Rega Planet 3 CD player. $1500

Rega burst onto the audiophile CD scene a few years back with their first CD player, the well-received Planet. Idiosyncratic as always, the Planet was a top-loading CD player with a unique, double hinged lid.

The Planet 2, which I warmly reviewed back in February 2001 – saw a complete style change for the Rega brand, which continues on with the third variation of their CD player.

So the Planet 3 continues on with the “Star Trek” lid (it looks like an outline of the Enterprise), a very minimalist front panel and – here’s a surprise these days – no remote control!

Rega argue that, as many Planet buyers also buy a Rega amplifier, there’s no point doubling up on remote controls. A full system remote control (the, ahem, Solar System) from Rega is available, costing $110.

So what’s changed? First, there’s been a welcome price drop, with the Planet 3 being $100 cheaper than its predecessor. Like the revised Jupiter, the Planet’s lid is of a slightly different construction, the power supply has been further improved and the DAC improved.

Lovely Day

I’ve been listening a lot lately to Lean on Me: the best of Bill Withers. On this CD the Planet 3 highlighted the bouncy and infectious rhythms of Withers and his various sidemen. Of the four CD players reviewed this month, the Rega was the best on bass guitar.

Rhythms and musical interaction between the musicians is where the Planet excels. On the Cyrus Chestnut CD Revelations the Rega showed the subtle interactions and timing of the three jazz musicians, with the pitch of the bass guitar again best of the four players. The Planet had a sparkling treble, with the cymbal work and brushes on drums being superb.

Like the previous Planet 2, I found the 3 a touch lean in the midrange compared to the other players. Be careful if your system is already on the lean side.

Alison Krauss + Union Station’s Live CD really showed the strengths of the Planet 3 in reproducing the interactions between musicians and the overall musical flow. Music just seemed to flow more freely with the Rega than the other CD players under test. Perhaps part of the reason for this is that the Planet portrayed musical dynamics superbly.

On Steely Dan’s Rikki Don’t Lose That Number again a slight lack of body to the sound was noticeable. But this was more than made up by the pacey, musical momentum that made tracks on this CD so enjoyable to listen to.

Odious comparisons

With a revised CD player there’s always the temptation to compare the new model directly to its predecessor. Giving in to temptation, I waltzed into Auckland’s Rega dealer, Shore Hi-Fi, to compare.

The Planet 2 was a good CD player, but there’s no doubt that the Planet 3 is better. I don’t think that owners of the Planet 2 will need to replace their models, but the upgrades definitely help keep the 3 as a very competitive model on the marketplace.

The 3 has a more relaxed quality to it which, in comparison, makes the earlier 2 sound a little forced and hard. Voices, for example, sounded more natural and flowed better.

Musical dynamics were wider with the 3, while the bass “breathes” better with the newer model and is more liquidly rhythmic – quite an achievement as the Planet 2 was already a class leader in this regard.

Conclusion

Rega have done it again. The company has built upon the considerable strengths of the Planet 2 and further improved their entry CD player. Forget “finger lickin’ good” – the Rega Planet 3 is foot tappingly musical.

For your nearest Rega dealer