Thread resurrection time.
OK my choice (had to be single box/black/max £4k/future proof) came down to three players in the end and it took me ages to hear them all in my system. The three shortlisted were the Marantz SA-KI Ruby (had some great Marantz players in the past and the attention to detail on this one seemed impressive), the Hegel Mohican (love the design aesthetics and the ethos of the player's creation - spare mechanisms available for the foreseeable future) and the Rega Isis (yes I know I said I hated its aesthetics, but the more I heard about it the more I decided I needed to give it a listen - also matched spare mechanisms stored at the factory). The latter would need to be had secondhand, but I reasoned getting a good one would be relatively easy if I was patient.
The Hegel was easy to get for a home demo, the other two less so, but I acquired them both in the end. The Isis was a pre-owned unit for sale from the dealer and I figured if I liked it I could buy it. However it was my outside choice due to its looks so I was hoping it wouldn't make the grade. As it happened the dealer sold it to someone else while I had it so I was further put off by possibly needing to search for another should I like it that much that I had to have it.
I'm not much good at describing sound so I'll just give a very quick resume of the three players in my system/house and bear in mind that my standard player is a Naim CDS3/XPS (the new player will replace it as long as it is as good or betters it) so some comparisons were in order.
Marantz SA-KI Ruby - beautifully built, easy to use and very detailed. However, overall I felt it was a bit too clinical and characterless for my tastes (a Naim chap remember), but it was certainly right up there with some of the best players I have heard. Compared to the CDS3 and put simply I felt it extracted the same level of detail but didn't present it as nicely.
Hegel Mohican - loved this player, felt solid, was simple to use and I could live with the looks. A slightly more neutral presentation than the Naim, but in a good way. Vocals and mid/treble were fantastically well presented with some dodgy recordings made listenable. Seriously impressed and decided this was the one for me .... until....
Rega Isis - I really wasn't prepared for this player's sound having mentally written it off due to its looks, but from the first moment I put one of my reference discs on I was knocked sideways. The highs/mids are comparable or slightly better than the Naim, but the bass..... wow... controlled yet really deep and the resulting separation of instrumentation is just jaw dropping. Even on some less well recorded discs if you turn up the volume there is no listening fatigue. I must have played over 100 discs (some well recorded, some not so well) on it and loved everything I heard.
So despite its aesthetics the Isis ended up as my choice so now to find one... well
@DARINO of this parish came to my rescue... a two year old player is now mine and sounding fantastic. The Naim CDS3/XPS will soon be for sale and I think (hope) that will be it... my last CD player. I know £3K plus on a player might seem mad to most in these days of streaming but with 12K discs I want to still be able to listen to them in years to come and I still like the physicality of vinyl/CDs.