Digital Drive Upsamplers, DACs, jitter, shakes and analogue withdrawals, this is it.

Register / Login

---

[ Follow Ups ] Thread: [ Display  All  Email ] [ Digital Drive ]

---

[ Alert Moderator ]

---

CD players compared. What to do with Marantz SA11?

Posted by HiFiNutNut (A) on November 6, 2006 at 20:24:48

Hi,

I was looking for a good digital source.

My system consists of all DIY stuff. The digital source is the weakest link in my system. My speakers sound fine (everybody who listened to them said they sound at least $20,000.). My preamp sounds fine (it blew my friend's Audio Research LS8 into the water in an A/B test). It has compared to half a dozen other tube preamps and it won easily every time) and my power amps sound fine (let's assume they are comparable to Krell). My musical taste is in classical, jazz and some contemporary music. I like accurate music reproduction and do not like artificial warmth or coloured sound.

I compared the following at two dealers' show rooms (listed in the order of price):

NAD542 (my own CD player with my own mods)
Shanlin T200
Musical Fidelity A5
Burmester Rondo (entry-level, still AUD$4,000 - AUD$8,000)
Ayre 7e

The result was that my NAD542 bettered the Shanlin and the MF A5. Not sure about the Ayre7e but when comparing the Ayer7e to the Burmester I immediately preferred the Burmester without any questions. This was partially due to the big Wilson Maxx (AUD$80,000+) speakers in a smallish room resulting in the bass being messed up with the Ayer7e. So I borrowed the Burmester and others and listened to them using my system at home (listed in the order of price):

NAD542 (modded)
Audio Note DAC Zero
Aragon DAC (an old second hand DAC borrowed from a friend)
Burmester Rondo (entry-level, still AUD$4,000 - AUD$8,000)
Chord DAC64 with NAD542 as transport
Meridian G08
Chord DAC64 with Chord Blu-Transport

Here are the results (as you know what is good or bad in audio is strongly subject to personal preference).

The Audio Note DAC Zero is a completely different machine. It sounds very nice, very smooth, and very "musical" and I could listen to it forever if I were in the next rooms. It is very sweet. But if I listened to it up close and carefully I have to say I could not stand the colourations / distortions / 2nd order harmonics of the DAC, in any case, I could not live with it. One option for me is to buy the AN 2.1 kit and hopefully it is much better than the DAC 0 but since I can not listen to it first it is a no-go.

The Aragon DAC (NAD542 as transport) has far more resolution and is very musical but the NAD has better transparency, openness and is more dynamic. Overall the Aragon DAC is MUCH better if listening to female voices. When playing classical music the NAD may have a slight edge. I most certainly don't mind buying one but it (very old second hand machine) is hard to get in Australia.

The NAD542 is neck to neck with the Burmester Rondo and the difference is very subtle. The Burmester is more detailed and accurate but the NAD542 is slightly more musical and dynamic. The overall presentation is the same. I would say one can hardly find any difference in an A/B test with most music.

When using the Chord DAC64 with my NAD542 as a transport, it did not sound much difference to the NAD542.

The Chord DAC64 with the Chord Blu-Transport sounded very impressive. Unfortunately, I had to return the Blu-transport so I had no time to compare it to the Meridian G08. I most definitely couldn't afford the Chord DAC with Blu-Transport together (AUD$14,000.00 asking price).

The Meridian G08 is the only one that is in a different league. Its openness, transparency, details are really outstanding. I would love to have this machine but thinking about the very high price comparing to my NAD542, I had better wait and see if I could do better. It was interesting that the G08 sounded cold and digital on my friend's very warm system, but it sounds exceptionally good on my system.

So, I basically listened to most of the stuff in 3 HiFi shops in Sydney but still could not find anything I wanted within my budget (The Meridian G08 is really the only one that I truly like the sound but it is expensive).

Now the Marantz SA11:

After reading numerous reports on the Marantz SA11 I happened to get a bargain price for a brand new one so I bought it without listening to it. It is a SACD player claimed to perform equally well on CDs. I did not like the sound at all at first listen. I got pretty frustrated. For the first a few days, every time I switched to the NAD, there was music. Every time I switched to the Marantz, the sensation was gone. I did not believe much in burn-in. I thought capacitors need burn-in but for at most a few hours. But I was proven to be wrong. After a few days playing, the Marantz sounded a lot better. When the Marantz was straight out of the box, it sounded only 50% as good as the NAD. After 4 days, it was about 70%.

I got a long time audiophile friend to listen to it. He got the same conclusion as mine: "When you listen to the Marantz, everything sounds high-end. The drums are like drums. The voices are like voices. Everything is just right, clear, and clean with no errors. When you listen to the NAD, in comparison everything sounds muddy, not as real, low end. But when everything comes together in a musical presentation, the Marantz does not give you music at all. The NAD gives you good music."

The magic happened on one night all of a sudden it sounded 90% as good as the NAD. But it seems to stay there from then on. The machine has now about 70 hour’s run-in. The Marantz is no longer un-listenable, like what it used to be. But it is still not musical to my taste since I have been used to higher-end sound (everything is comparative, e.g. I am sure the Marantz SA11 will blow away the much loved Shanlin).

Some of you guys may suggest it was my ears adapting to the Marantz sound or a psychological change. That may be. But please bear in mind that I was not just listening to the Marantz, every single time I had the NAD to compare to it just by turning the preamp channel switch. I have had the NAD for 2 years now and I am very familiar with how it sounds.

Well, I must say it is fair. The sound quality is reflected in the price. My NAD is as good as the Chord DAC64 and Burmester Rondo, which are a lot more expensive than the Marantz. So if the Marantz, at much lower price, sounds 90% as good, it is really fair. Indeed, given its price, I think the Marantz is a good deal.

But, a big But, one can only go forward not backward in audio. For me, spending over AUD 3 grams is insane and especially it is no better than the humble NAD I have at a fraction of the costs, at most it only equals the NAD in musical enjoyment (when fully burn-in).

So, I am now considering various options:

1. Sell it and lose a few hundred dollars.
2. Keep it and wait until fully burned in. (I don't have hope on this)
3. Mod it. I was able to turn a humble NAD to be equal to a Burmester while the stock Marantz is 10 times better than the stock NAD, so hopefully the mod Marantz can sound better than most.

Any comments and advice? Is the SA11 good for mod? Are there any machines there (new or 2nd hand) sound very musical but at a lower, reasonable cost? DACs?

I will start another thread to discuss the technical approach to mod the SA11. Please join in if you like.

Regards,
Bill


Regards,
Bill

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:

VH Audio

---

[ Top of Page ] [ Contact Us ] [ Support/Wish List ] [ Copyright © 2025, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ]

---

[ General ] [ Speakers ] [ Tubes ] [ Vinyl ] [ Digital ] [ Hi-Rez ] [ Video Asylum ] [ Cables ] [ Tweaks/DIY ] [ Music ] [ Films ]

---