Hi folks, and welcome to this month’s article from us here at Audio T Brighton. We’re in for a rare treat this month because the compact disc player in question is the “top dog” from Rega, the ISIS. Let’s dive in and have a look and listen!

Rega ISIS - the goddess of healing and magic

The Rega ISIS CD player is a real gem of a compact disc player and sits at the top of the tree when it comes to digital playback. According to historical Egyptian texts, Isis is the Goddess of healing and magic. As we will find out later in this article, the Rega ISIS has musical properties that make this a fitting description of how it sounds.

According to the latest market music sales figures, despite plateauing CD sales, they are still outselling vinyl LPs 2 to 1, clearly demonstrating a need for quality CD players in the hi-fi market. A relative veteran of the Rega range, it still more than holds its own against modern competition in the form of hi-fi streamers. If you’re into the idea of owning your music in a physical format, the Rega ISIS is a good reason to do so.

In the words of a former England manager, Terry Venables, “Form is temporary, class is permanent!” and this certainly comes through in our listening tests.

Rega ISIS features...

The Rega ISIS weighs in at just under 20kg, exhibiting a sound that mirrors this with similar gravitas. We’d recommend the top shelf of a sturdy hi-fi rack, such as one of the designs from Quadraspire’s range, because as one can see from the pictures in this blog, it is a top-loader and not something to be moved around on a regular basis, unless you’re into lifting weights at the gym!

The remote control is something to behold, made from a block of solid metal, with an incredibly weighty feel, that fills you full of confidence when in hand.

Careful choice has been made for every component in the digital and the analogue signal path of the Rega ISIS to ensure the integrity of the signal. Using discrete class A operational amplifiers and filters, the circuit can then be optimised for sonic performance.

Advanced grounding techniques are integral to the design of the Rega ISIS, part of the Holy Grail of hi-fi and an often underused and under appreciated technology in high fidelity design.

Hypervigilant design of the PCBs ensures isolation of not just the digital and analogue sections, but also the motor, display and user interface processor. All sonically critical electrolytic capacitors have been by-passed with polypropylene or polyester film capacitors.

The Rega ISIS uses power supplies that utilise custom Rega K-Power smoothing capacitors, along with fast diodes which have been used throughout in power supply rectification. Rega have also ensured that power supply impedances in the digital to analogue converter are kept very low by the use of solid polymer capacitors. Optimised control code for the control of the CD processor and user display speeds up the initialisation process, by means of a tighter control interface between the user micro and CD processor.

As a final nice touch, along with the weighty remote control, the Rega ISIS ships with a Rega Couple interconnect and the same high quality mains lead as comes with the Rega Aura phono stage.

Rega Isis rear view showing digital input choices

Another string to the Rega ISIS bow is that it can be usefully employed as a DAC input for another source. Although one may frown on the use of a computer to play back music, the Rega ISIS was ahead of its time when they designed it with a USB input, allowing stellar playback form another digital player. It can also be used as a top drawer transport with its digital coaxial output into another DAC, although one can hardly imagine playback at a much higher level than the Rega ISIS can achieve on its own.

Rega for life...

Rega are one of the few companies that offer a Lifetime Warranty on their products, subject to normal wear and tear or user mishap, and this certainly installs some confidence in purchasing their products. In the case of the Rega ISIS they go one better than this (or should I say two better than this) by archiving two matched laser mechanisms at the factory for the original purchaser of a Rega ISIS. Given that one can expect the life of a CD mechanism to be an average of approximately 10 years and this being one of the main reasons for consigning a CD player to the recycling bin at the end of its life. It is nice to know that the additional mechanisms more or less guarantee three decades of quality CD playback for the potential purchaser, and may be the deciding factor when making such a substantial outlay for this CD player. However, when one factors in the potential lifespan of the Rega ISIS and its superb construction & sound, the outlay seems to be very reasonable once the maths has been calculated!

So let’s get to the sound...

Rega Naia, Rega aura and REga aethos system

Our test system at Audio T Brighton consisted of a Rega ISIS CD player, Rega Naia turntable, Rega Aura phono stage into a Rega Aethos integrated amplifier and Rega Aya floor standing speakers.

To be honest, there is a family sound to Rega components and having recently waxed lyrical about the Rega Naia with Aphelion 2 cartridge paired with a Rega Aura phono stage, the Rega ISIS simply carries this on. Both sources have a dynamism, tone and sheer musicality to their sound that engages the listener in such a profound way, trying to do any jobs other than enjoying the music are nigh-on impossible.

To read more about our experiences with the Rega Naia with Aphelion 2 cartridge in partnership with a Rega Aura phono stage, please feel free to read my earlier blog HERE.

I am your father...

Advising someone to listen to the the Rega ISIS is a bit like telling Darth Vader to use the force - it really is a Master of the Universe when it comes to CD playback and we’ve heard nothing like it here at our Brighton Audio T store. It really is an other-worldly experience, so come in and book a demonstration before Luke Skywalker shows up (or our Rega rep takes it back!)

As always, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, so get in touch to book a demonstration.

Thanks for reading.

Ade, John and Paul - Audio T Brighton

If you have any questions about any of the equipment featured in this article, or any other Hi-Fi or home cinema enquiries, be sure to Contact Us.

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