[El_Doug]

Yup, got some Quad 2805's - I think suggesting the 20.1s first shocked my wife into thinking the 2805s are of perfectly reasonable size  
 
Looking forward to demoing the SA-11s3 or NA-11s1

 

[AppleheadMay]

Quote:

Yup, got some Quad 2805's - I think suggesting the 20.1s first shocked my wife into thinking the 2805s are of perfectly reasonable size  
 
Looking forward to demoing the SA-11s3 or NA-11s1

 
Nice strategy!  
 
The SA should be available from August on, the NA October.
I'll be going for the black ones.

 

[maia]

Any info on updated (S3) 15 series?

 

[Guss2]

Quote:

Yep, same as reference line.
Main differences:
The pprice

NA11 is also a network player, has AirPlay and internet radio
SA8004 is 96/24, not async and has only one output
Two outputs might be useful for people who want two use two headphone amps (like tube ans SS) or a headphone amp + speaker amp.
Reference series have higher quality components overall than the normal range.
Go listen to a PM8004, PM KI Pearl LIte, PM15, PM KI Pearl and PM11 and you will hear the increase in SQ step by step each time. I did exactly that with various pairs of B&W speakers on different occasions. I could blindfolded tell you if it's an 8004/Pearl-Lite, 15, Pearl or 11 if it's on the same speakers and thwy are speakers I know. The difference between the 8004 and Pearl-Lite I would have trouble with though.
I have been auditioning Marantz and B&W for years since the dealer is a friend of mine, so that could have something to do with it as well.
But still, the 8004 is one hell of a player for it's price, as was the 8400 I had before, the first SACD player they made if I'm right but it was too high priced at the time.

The SA-1 was released in 2000, a full 3 years before the 8400. It was the second SACD player released behind the Sony SCD-1 which was released in 1999. Hard to believe this format is 13 years old already, Gary.

 

[estreeter]

Quote:

The SA-1 was released in 2000, a full 3 years before the 8400. It was the second SACD player released behind the Sony SCD-1 which was released in 1999. Hard to believe this format is 13 years old already, Gary.

 
Based on market share, if SACD was a  horse I expect they would have shot it 5 or so years back.  Im not completely sold on the whole hi-rez downloads hoopla, but if it means ensuring the longevity of something beyond 256K iTunes downloads, I had better start coughing up some cash. 

 

[DaveBSC]

I don't know of any American company that uses Pin 3+, at least not anything made in the last 20 years. The only companies I still see using that are Japanese, usually Accuphase as most of their stuff is balanced.

 

[Guss2]

Quote:

 
Based on market share, if SACD was a  horse I expect they would have shot it 5 or so years back.  Im not completely sold on the whole hi-rez downloads hoopla, but if it means ensuring the longevity of something beyond 256K iTunes downloads, I had better start coughing up some cash. 

Thankfully I love Classical and Jazz and those genres are keeping this format alive, although barely. I'm not a download guy, never will be and with Blu-ray doing so well I don't think physical media is going anywhere anytime soon. Gary

 

[estreeter]

DVD-A ?
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD-Audio
 
HDCD ?
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDCD
 
Always scary when individual corporations try to dictate a new 'standard',  I'm still upset that Betamax didnt win the format wars.  

 

[Guss2]

So long as the better format prevails; Betamax notwithstanding. Audio only formats are always a tougher sell, just not tangible enough for the average consumer. Gary

 

[orkney]

Quote:

Yup, got some Quad 2805's - I think suggesting the 20.1s first shocked my wife into thinking the 2805s are of perfectly reasonable size  
 
Looking forward to demoing the SA-11s3 or NA-11s1

 
Congrats -- those 2805s are stunning speakers! I had Martin-Logans until our first kid a few years back meant they had to make way for something smaller and less lethal. My cat was obsessed with them. Always interested in the new high-end Marantz.
 
o

 

[tme110]

Quote:

But if you mean via network (wired or wireless) and you're using ALAC then you're out of luck because I haven't found any dac that does that at full resoultion.
Airplay, sure, but that downsamples everything to 16/44 Alac.
Which Is why I bought my third mac and use it via USB.
Good strategy from Apple, it keeps their stocks going up. Luckily I bought me a bunch of those so I don't mind spending another 1K for a Mac Mini.  

OPPO will play streamed music at 24/192 though you obviously need something besides airplay to stream the music

 

[AppleheadMay]

Quote:

OPPO will play streamed music at 24/192 though you obviously need something besides airplay to stream the music

So do a lot of network players, but does it stream ALAC?
 
Quote:

Any info on updated (S3) 15 series?

Nope. New PM-11S3 and SA-11S3 (with dac and USB input) and NA-11S1 (will have FM Tuner built in and they'll stop making the ST-15S1) all in black or gold. NA-11S1 was still an empty box with working display on the dealer event in Valencia last week though. Release is said to be later this year but I doubt that.

 

[AppleheadMay]

The NA-11S1 is out, finally. Info in this LINK.
 
Things of note:
DSD via USB.
192/24 async.
ALAC support via network ... finally a Dac tha has this!
Spotify.
Discrete headphone amp and as I read somewhere it uses Marantz HDAM modules, also used in their amps and CD players.
Now I'm not making any predicitons about this Dac being good as headphone amp, I tried many Marantz players for that purpose and a dedicated amp will surely be better. But one never knows.
 
And a question:
What's all the DSD via USB fuss about?
DSD is the audio stream used for SACD right?
But how does one copy an SACD audio stream without altering it to harddisk so it can be played back via USB?
I know there was a complicated method using a first generation PS3 but has anything changed meanwhile? Some dedicated software maybe? Available for Mac as well?

 

[Currawong]

There are DSD downloads available. Check the Wiki section as I just put up an article with links to hi-res download sites, including those that have DSD downloads available. 

 

[AppleheadMay]

Thanks for the Wiki article Currwong, saved to DevonThink!
I'll see if I can find some of my SACD's as a DSD download.
Still, I might have to find a way to rip some I can't find.
 
But the article raised another question for me:
Can iTunes handle the DSD format and send it unchanged to the Dac via USB? Or what player on a Mac can? Or should the Dac read the file directly from the HDD?