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Marantz SA-8001 Super Audio CD Player

post #1 of 18
12/3/06 at 2:15pm
Thread Starter 
Has anybody heard one of these yet? Marantz's marketing copy cleverly hints at trickle-down technology from the Reference lineage... that would be a truly awesome bargain, for a $999 USD player versus the $3499 USD Reference player. I have heard the Reference Series SA15-S1 in a less than ideal listening environment and wasn't too impressed. Hopefully the SA-11S1 and the SA-8001 are an improvement... I shall seek these players out and audition them this month, if possible.





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post #2 of 18
12/3/06 at 3:01pm
Here's my rule for allocating monetary resources:

Don't spend more money on the source component than you have worth of content. In my case, that would be exactly $0 worth of SACD's. So, you can see how enthusiastic I am about buying an SACD player today.
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post #3 of 18
12/24/06 at 6:41am
My SA8001 arrived yesterday and I just had time to set it up about an hour ago. I am loving it.

For frame of reference, I upgraded from a Sony SCD-CE595, which is the only other SACD player I've heard. Curiosity got the better of me when the CE595 was selling for $70 or so last summer, and I ended up with one. I loved the SACD sound and, so far, have bought about 100 discs for it. I decided it was time to move up to a better player.

Tonight, I listened to three of my reference discs in it: Pink Floyd's DSOTM, Depeche Mode's Violator and Dire Straits Brothers in Arms via the RS-1. It sounds cleaner, smoother, more detailed, slightly brighter, and has a darker background than the CE595. It is an improvement in every way.

If you haven't already, take a look at the SA8001. I think it sounds fantastic.
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post #4 of 18
12/24/06 at 6:53am
Good to hear! The noise floor imo on the Sony is absymal, so even with just that gone, I suspect it would be a worthwhile upgrade for many of us CE595 owners. I'm still torn whether to buy this, the Denon, or just a redbook player though.

P.S.-How's the "high quality" headphone out? Is it decent?
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post #5 of 18
12/24/06 at 5:57pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by skyline889 View Post
Good to hear! The noise floor imo on the Sony is absymal, so even with just that gone, I suspect it would be a worthwhile upgrade for many of us CE595 owners. I'm still torn whether to buy this, the Denon, or just a redbook player though.

P.S.-How's the "high quality" headphone out? Is it decent?
If the noise floor bothers you a lot, replace the output caps and the PS caps. I did and the improvement was excellent. More detail and an overall more pleasing sound.
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post #6 of 18
1/14/07 at 5:38am
Erik,

Are you comparing the SA8001 to the CE595 as the latter sounds from the analog out or as a transport through the Presonus? I am interested in how the SA8001 sound compares to the CE595 + Presonus.

Thanks!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Uncle Erik View Post
My SA8001 arrived yesterday and I just had time to set it up about an hour ago. I am loving it.

For frame of reference, I upgraded from a Sony SCD-CE595, which is the only other SACD player I've heard. Curiosity got the better of me when the CE595 was selling for $70 or so last summer, and I ended up with one. I loved the SACD sound and, so far, have bought about 100 discs for it. I decided it was time to move up to a better player.

Tonight, I listened to three of my reference discs in it: Pink Floyd's DSOTM, Depeche Mode's Violator and Dire Straits Brothers in Arms via the RS-1. It sounds cleaner, smoother, more detailed, slightly brighter, and has a darker background than the CE595. It is an improvement in every way.

If you haven't already, take a look at the SA8001. I think it sounds fantastic.
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post #7 of 18
1/14/07 at 6:39am
Quote:
Originally Posted by George Chronis View Post
Erik,

Are you comparing the SA8001 to the CE595 as the latter sounds from the analog out or as a transport through the Presonus? I am interested in how the SA8001 sound compares to the CE595 + Presonus.

Thanks!
I think he's using it for SACD so he can't use it with an external transport as the DSD layer can't be output digitally (Well it can on some players but the only players capable of doing this without resampling it to PCM are very pricey).
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post #8 of 18
1/15/07 at 1:38am
True. I forgot about the damn DRM. Now I'm wondering if the SA8001 redbook sounds better than the Presonus with CE595 as source. I just ordered a Presonus + CE595, but I'd still like to know if I should have gone the SA8001 route. I wish there was a darn store around here where I could listen to these things...
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post #9 of 18
1/15/07 at 1:49am
I'm also interested in this the Marantz sa-8001. I've heard that the redbook quality is really great - someone on audioreview.com said it was just short of his Jolida tube cd player. You can purchase the Marantz at American Theater for under 700 dollars. I'm trying to decide whether to get the Marantz or an Arcam diva cd73 (my cambridge audio cd player is pooping out on me). How does the headphone out sound? It's "supposed" to be audiophile quality. Whatever that means.
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post #10 of 18
1/15/07 at 1:54pm
Please let us know more about your impressions of the SA8001, especially the headphone out.
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post #11 of 18
6/28/07 at 1:35pm
*BUMP*

I'm looking at getting the SA-15S1. Can anyone say how the headphone out compares to a dedicated amp?
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post #12 of 18
6/29/07 at 4:42am
Doing my own reserach I learned that the SA8001 uses the same DAC chip that was in their flagship model 6 years ago. So it takes a little while for the technology to trickle down. I don't know if it is the one from the image you posted.

@Uncle Erik That's good to hear. I have the Japanese version [SA7001] which has slightly less features but the same audio quality (from what I can tell). Great with SACD. I can easily hear the difference. I'm trying to built a complete Japanese system from source to headphones and then I will play some Japanese music on it for the sake of irony.
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post #13 of 18
6/29/07 at 8:24am
Quote:
Originally Posted by HiWire View Post
Marantz's marketing copy cleverly hints at trickle-down technology from the Reference lineage... that would be a truly awesome bargain, for a $999 USD player versus the $3499 USD Reference player.

I have heard the Reference Series SA15-S1 in a less than ideal listening environment and wasn't too impressed.
I have to say that I'm a little confused about that.
Your second sentence states that you weren't too impressed with the reference series, yet in the first sentence, you infer that it's a good thing to get the technology.

Did I miss something?
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post #14 of 18
6/30/07 at 1:58am
Please let us know more about the SA8001 headphone out.

Yes -- several of us are asking this important question!
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post #15 of 18
6/30/07 at 2:16am
The reviews are correct in that the headphone out is of high quality. It is detailed and very smooth... I prefer it to my Rotel Preamp's headphone out by far. The only complaint is that it doesn't drive my K601's loud enough. But the sound is really sweet.

Wower, what's the headphone out like on your 7001?
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