The legendary Planar 3 turntable has taken up a fair amount of the Rega engineering team’s attention recently. In 2023, an upgraded, limited-edition version of the mid-range deck was announced as part of the company’s 50th-anniversary celebrations. Then last year, the deck’s original cartridge partner changed from the long-running Elys 2 to the new Nd3 moving-magnet (at no extra cost), enhancing the performance enough to win back the turntable ‘Product of the Year’ title from the Pro-Ject deck that took it the year prior. And finally, following that feat, Rega announced it was upgrading the Planar 3 design to produce an RS (Rega Special) Edition, imbued with technology and elements taken from the company’s higher-end models and fittingly plugging the significant price gap between the ‘standard’ Planar 3 and the next-model-up Planar 6 in the lineup.
The Planar 3 is a What Hi-Fi? Award winner at its price level, but now that we have reviewed the pricier Planar 3 RS Edition, can we say that its upgrades justify the premium? Here we compare their price, design and performance to ascertain which is the better-value spinner.
