Esoteric SA-10 or Rega Saturn?

No, that would be the Oracle.

Self promotion personified.

REally??? Would that be the Meridian comment?

A dealer's remarks must be taken with a grain of salt.

Especially this one who has a history of selling his products in the threads.

Once again he indirectly promotes his product without disclosure.

When I compared the 2 the Rega sounded 'dry' (and it took a long time to load a cd). Between the 2 I would take the SA-10 in a heartbeat. That being said the Esoteric had a lot more detail but when demo-ing it in my home I thought my cd's that were not the best recordings sounded pretty bad (too much poorly recorded detail - very fatiguing) . I prefer musical over detail (actually I like both) and settled on the Meridian G08. If used is a possibility check out the Meridian G06 or G08 (G06 is single ended only & G08 has balanced).

Really you have to decide what sounds best to you and what you can afford.

That's very interesting. I wonder where the Ayre CX-7 or CX-7e fit in this picture...somewhere between these two?

Esoteric if you like your music mechanical and lifeless. I have always found the Esoteric players mechanically fantastic but musically okay at best. They usually excel at bass and treble detail.

Use the Saturn with better isolation feet and then decide. The standard feet kill the player and make it sound soft.

I have found a properly set up Saturn to be a fantastic player and it is less expensive to boot. Tremendous sound stage, great detail, and a lush smooth mid- range.

Your best bet is finding a dealer who has both or can lend you one at a time and then decide for yourself.

Esoteric with out question. Saturn is very good but as Wwshull mentioned it's a fact.

i have heard both the sa-10 has much more detail a bigger sound stage better bass, treble, and midrange. overall a much better machine