Marantz SA8005 Super Audio CD Player Black

Completely unimpressed. I was going to give this 2 stars but out of compassion gave it 3 stars. To be fair I am not comparing apples to apples. I previously had a T+A DAC 8 DSD ($4k) imported from Germany. It was quite phenomenal. The only reason I returned it was that to fully enjoy the amazing DSD sound stage (very 3 dimensional and CLEAR) I had to increase the volume to more than medium. My music room is in the basement and the sound would resonate to the 2nd floor where my wife was watching TV. Otherwise I loved it. Also, a DSD DAC meant I had to spend the time to rip all my SACD's (65+) to digital file (very time consuming). I decided tho purchase this based upon the reviews, hoping it would be 'adequate' and and more efficient. Boy was I wrong. For those that believe a digital signal is a digital signal and most expensive audiophile equipment is just snake oil, I challenge you to do a direct audition. Don't believe the bogus Myer / Moran article if you have only read secondary sources (i.e. other people summarizing it). Read the article yourself. If you have any training in biostatistics and research design you will recognize the study design was flawed. Besides, even the authors conceded that there was an appreciable difference at higher volumes (concert level). Which has been my contention all along. At low levels I could not appreciate any difference in my T+A DAC 8 DSD from my Parasound Halo P5 PreAmp's built-in DAC. At medium levels I could begin to discern a difference. But at higher levels there was an obvious difference in sound stage and clarity. Furthermore, there is less listener fatigue and a more calming experience when listening to music for longer periods.With that background aside, let me just share my immediate experience with the Marantz SA-8005. Immediately I heard something lacking in clarity and definitely a more narrow (front-to-back) sound stage. But the sound was not as 'wow' when listing to SACD's. It was only marginally better than the CD version. Then I pressed pause and put my ear next to my speakers. OMG horrible. There is a baseline hiss and buzz (2 distinct sounds). When I turn the unit off there is a buzz. When I turn it on, there is an additional hiss. If I change my input selection on my PreAmp to another quieter source unit, both sounds disappear. This hiss and buzz continues when playing music which results in a most unpleasant experience. I should have known. The power cord does not have a ground and the unit only has unbalanced analogue outputs. I knew these technical details when I bought it, but decided to take a chance based upon other reviews (and I gave benefit of the doubt to the engineers who kept arguing that higher end HiFi equipment was mostly snake oil and propaganda). In conclusion, the sound quality is noticeably impacted (much lower baseline noise) by the power supply / cord and having balanced XLR connections. The digital signal may be the same regardless of source, but the RF interference form poor quality components makes an appreciable difference. $1200 for obvious noise when the unit is not even playing music is $1200 wasted. The building-in PreAmp on my Parasound Halo P5 is not the most modern (doesn't do DSD and only accepts up to 96/24). But the balanced connection to the Amp and the better power isolation make it actually a better sounding unit.Day 2: Still awaiting my Sennheiser HD 650's. Listened to my B&W P7's on the Marantz SA-8005. More disappointment. Even at full volume the headphone amp is unable to push the P7's. It would almost be better to leave out a headphone amp than to throw one in that can barely drive P7's. My FiiO Headphone Amp delivers much better volume and robustness in sound.

Bought one of these to replace a Sony 555es SACD player modified by sacdmod.com that I have used since 2003. It has a solid sound for Red Book not bright or glaring. SACD is clean with that extra element of sound space. The mods made it sound much more detailed probably why I kept it so long. Always did well in head to head shoot outs when friends would bring their players over. Compared against some $4,000 players it would fall a little behind but not bad. I got into servers about 5 years ago and have two I-Merge S-2000 with a total of 600 MB of storage. By todays standards of 1 terabyte I'm behind but I digress. I like to play the servers though external DACs to get the most out of them so these two go through a V-DACii with a Panega P-100 power supply. Its a decent set up sometime stellar sound comes out with the right combination. Came across the Marantz 8005 reports and reviews were so favorable that I decided to try one. If I did not like it I could always send it back. One other feature that intrigued me was it has a very high quality DAC with the deck allowing for digital inputs. My idea was I could eliminate two boxes and plug the two servers directly into the Marantz. Also it has great flexibility with digital coax, opt, usb, async usb inputs and can be adjusted in many ways to suit one preferences. It also has a discrete head phone amp and volume control: fixed or variable. In theory it could be set to variable gain, plugged directly into a power amp using itself as a source of Red Book, SACD, serve, I-pod or computer files directly though the Marantz. Build quality is way more than I thought it would be. This thing has weight and is solid. The Sony in comparison is a toy with its thin sheet metal. The shielded torroidal transformer is a dead give away. I like that the machine can be control from the front panel buttons.The sound:Red Book CDs sound great, even the not so well recorded ones. Jennifer Warnes "Famous Blue Raincoat" on the Sony sound good with excellent sound stage attack and bass. Manhattan has a smoother sound on the Marantz but not lacking attack of bass line. On the Marantz there is just more of it, more depth and a smoothness that would present it self in those $4000 decks I mentioned above. Nora Jones on the Sony the bass was a bit muddled. On the Marantz super clear distinct. Adam Levy neck hand on his guitar sounded a little to prominent on the Sony. On the Marantz not so much more natural. Karen Allison "Ballads" on the server recorded at 44.2kHz always sound very present though the V-DAC. Like she is whispering in your ear. Played though the Marantz she is front and center with the whispers and breathing as she makes her way tough some sultry material. Another favorite is "Shindlers List". Perlman's violin of the main theme is in my opinion one the great film scores of modern times. His playing and mastery of the instrument with the infusion of emotion is something I never get tried of listening to. On the Sony it was there nicely played all the parts are present. On the Marantz it just sounds better. I must admit, I am partial to the violin and viola. I make it a habit of listening to something live at least once or twice a week involving one or the other. One of my daughters friends mothers plays in the LA Phil and I go hear her all the time. I know what a violin is supposed to sound like. The tone, timber, flavor of the instrument is just right with the Marantz.I have a couple of 92kHz cd by MA Recordings. One in particular "Nascer" is just a pleasure to listen to. Its one of those jazzy like I cant seem to hum the melody pieces of music that draws one in and creates this landscape of audio pleasure. The instruments just jump out of the system and hang there in space defying all memory of anything I have ever heard. Very recommended. On the Sony I experience as in the material all there sounding like it should. On the Marantz it transcends.SACD I don't have a lot but standouts are Pink Floyd "Dark Side of the Moon" Money with the coin intro was good one Sony. On the Marantz the coins were just more discernible i.e. the way they dropped, thickness and where they fell one other coins. Speak to Me was spooky with the voices coming in from the sides. On the Sony its all there, on the Marantz just more real with more dimension and that effortless smoothness.One setting I was playing around with was digital off. What it does is shut off digital out like if the Marantz was being used for a transport. It seemed to improve the clarity a little but I could hear it better though a pair of head phones better than amp and speakers.Head phone playing on the Marantz is enjoyable. I can drive a pair of Senn HD650s with no problem. In conclusion, its a great deck with plenty of features that will last me for the next 10 years !The negative:I would like liked a drawer button on the remote.I cant seem to get my Ipod to play though the front USB port. Marantz says some devices are not supported. Mines a 30gig job and I get the un playable or unlicensed error message. Its kind of an oxymoron that I would even play a pod through this but it is there and offered and did not work as designed unless one gets deep into some programing. Not so bad for me as I don't play ipod that much, but I want my moneys worth.Anyway if you need a good deck that can play all the digital stuff plus keep up with the old suff of old Red Book. with the future of built in DACs tempting you then this player is for you.Associated Gear:CARY CPA-1 pre amp (dual mono)I-Merge S-2000 servers x 2 (500gb)Odyssey Stratos dual mono amp 185 watts perVon Sweikert VR-5 speakersAudio Quest Diamond Back interconnects to ampDIY silver cyo interconnects from Marantz 8005 to preampMogami bi-wire 3103 speaker cables.

This will be my first negative review regarding a product I'd purchased via Amazon. But, first, I want to say that Amazon's involvement in this matter was outstanding as usual. To begin with, I contacted Marantz prior to ever ordering this CD player just to confirm what I needed to do to make sure I had everything ready when I connected it to my Onkyo stereo receiver. They told me I did need an optical cable for it to work properly. That couldn't have been further from the truth because when I tried to play an SACD I got no sound. It was only marginally good with a regular CD. I called Marantz customer service and the representative told me the problem is probably my receiver and I needed to contact them for guidance. I did call Onkyo and they said they had no record of any compatibility issues with my receiver and that particular CD player. I called Marantz a third time and this time the representative advised me that the optical cable is only necessary when the CD player is connected to a computer. I simply needed a set of gold-tipped cables for it to work properly. I purchased the cables, connected them and there was marked improvement. However, the quality of sound was far less than I expected for such an expensive piece of equipment. Before anyone thinks that the problem might be with my speakers, let me assure you I have an excellent set of JBL speakers that have always performed beautifully under any circumstances. I can honestly say that my $120, twelve year old, all region Pioneer DVD player (that also plays SACD's) sounded much better than this overpriced, under performing Marantz. I have since returned the Marantz to Amazon.

Pour le prix, c`est probablement le meilleur lecteur CD/SACD disponible sur le marché. Qualité de lecture d`une clarté incroyable avec une superbe séparation des instruments. Très nette différence avec le Marantz SA6006. Excellente machine !

This SACD player has reproduced sounds with superb clarity. Its multiple input for CD, SACD, iPod and Computer has kept pace with the versatile sound technologies.

5 starts to the seller and 5 starts to the product