[estreeter]

I know - no guarantee that it would do for headphones what their integrateds do for reasonably-priced speakers, but dreams are free right ?
 
While we might dream of high-end, being able to audition *anything* in my little corner of Oz is a novelty. I auditioned the highly regarded CD6003/PM6003 combination and a CA 650C into a Marantz receiver which seems to get very little online coverage, the SR5023. Whilst I consider the Oz asking prices for each of these to be highway robbery at a time when our dollar is at parity with the greenback, I can appreciate that the distributor has a few costs that massive US chains dont have to bear. That said, I dont want to hand over 900 dollars for a stereo receiver which may have $10 invested in the headphone stage : really happy to hear otherwise.
 
My cheapskate ways aside, the warmth, power and musicality of all 3 components was very impressive through the Dali Lektor speakers (I think they were Lektors - large floorstanders, at any rate) they were connected to - I didn't have any headphones with me, just a Redbook CD I had taken into the showroom, but I came away wishing I could get that same sound into my Grados from a hard drive,  without the need for such large boxes.
 
Consider what Marantz have achieved here - solid-state kit, made in China, reasonably priced (in the US, at any rate, and comparatively priced alongside Denon etc here), quality finishes and sensational sound quality (to my ears). I look at so many of the DACs that come through Head-Fi and there seems to be an obsession with big numbers (24/196 ..) over musicality - really happy to hear otherwise. Continually buying and selling DACs and DAC/amps in search of that Marantz sound just seems like a recipe for financial ruin 

 
Any observations/suggestions most welcome.
 
estreeter

 

[pp312]

Marantz already builds many fine headphone amps; they just aren't designated as such. You'll find them in amps, receivers, even CD players. As for the "$10 invested in the headphone stage", the amount invested in the headphone stage is the same as that invested in the speaker stage, plus 10c for the step-down resistors.
 
I agree Marantz is outrageously priced in Oz. I remember paying $550 for a PM4000 years ago when they had an RRP in England of 150 pounds. However, the sound was easily $550 worth so I guess it was still the right choice.