First some background. My primary home listening system is my home theater. I use my headphones and associated gear for the office and travel. My preamp-processor is a Marantz AV8003, a nice mid-level unit. I have had it for a couple of years now and have been quite happy with it. Until this week I have always used HDMI for audio inputs.
Five months ago I got tired of disposable Blu-Ray players and decided to invest in a Marantz UD8004, which is on closeout and is one of the last players made in Japan. Until this week I also used it only with HDMI output.
Then I got to thinking. I have always known the the AV8003 uses the Crystal CS4382A 8-channel chip. This is definitely a lower end DAC. Why Marantz uses a cheap DAC in a $2200 list product is a bit of a mystery. The UD8004 uses four (I believe) of the more high highly regarded Burr-Brown PCM1796 DACs. Marantz calls them high-end but considering how much some other silicon costs lets call them mid-range. Both units use Marantz's proprietary discrete amplifier modules called HDAM though the UD uses the higher grade HDAM-SA2.
I am not a "chip head" as I know much of a unit's sound quality depends on implementation, but there is enough difference between the silicon to warrant a comparison so I hooked up 7 cables and matched levels and set up the units so I could switch back and forth between them, stereo only. I didn't have much in the way of expectation one way or another going in.
I was surprised to find that I could easily tell them apart. The initial apparent difference was with the analog feed using the UD's DACs) the frequency balance was different - mids seemed a bit more recessed and highs a bit more prominent. After more extended comparisons, the UD seemed to be more refined, using the much overused word "smoother" with a bit better imaging thrown in. I really liked what I heard and made the change permanent. This has taken my system to a higher level. Interestingly I could not really see the perceived frequency differences with my RTA. Most levels are within 1dB. The measurements are an average of 5 readings using uncorrelated pink noise. The first graph is with HDMI feed, the second is with the UD's DACs feeding analog.
Associated equipment:
Sunfire TGA-7201 7 channel amplifier (center channel is bi-amped)
Bryston 4B-ST THX stereo amplifier (drives subwoofers)
Bag End ELF-1 bass processor
Two Bag End D12-E subwoofers
Two Sunfire CRS-3 speakers for mains
Sunfire CRS-3C center
Three BG Radia R-17i surrounds
Edited by sbradley02 - 10/14/11 at 6:40pm
