Marantz PM7005 or another combo
Feb 5, 2018 at 3:27 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 5

desmortum

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Hey community.

I own Yamaha A-S500 integrated amp and a Schiit stack of Modi 2 Uber/Magni 3. My Mac, my TV and my headphone amp are connected to DAC while Sony PS-HX500 turntable and Monitor Audio Bronze 2 speakers connected to Yamaha. Nothing special there.

Now, what I want is to improve speaker amp quality and a DAC quality while get rid of goddamn cables since there's lot of them when you connect that many components together. Also, I need to preserve functionality. So I need all in one including phono stage.

I figured Marantz PM7005 which has DSD-enabled DAC and supposedly discrete stages. It should be better on speakers and should have more functional DAC but the question is will it's head amp be nearly as good as Magni 3 which is nothing but brilliangt? Is it event a good idea to have an all-in-one? Any other suggestions besides Marantz?

Thanks a lot.
 
Feb 5, 2018 at 4:00 PM Post #2 of 5
If I were you, I would upgrade to Focal Chorus 706 or Focal Aria 906 (slightly warmer) instead of picking a different amp.
Get the stands and place them propely if you want to know what these speakers can do.
(I've owned the Focal 706 in the past - now I own the Focal Aria 906 as well as MA Bronze 2)

Having a Modi 2 Uber you don't have to worry much about your DAC stage at this point, less so for speakers which are typically less revealing than headphones for various reasons, most of them related to the acoustics of the room where the speakers are placed.

I've had the Modi 2 Uber in the past and it's a good sounding DAC. Soundstage is a bit compact but otherwise is lively and precise.
At that time I've replaced it for a Bifrost 4490 which is smoother and bigger sounding, but more relaxed and diffuse some might say.

The PM7005 will sound slightly better than the A-S500 here and there but in my experience you'll get more for your money (at this point) investing in better speakers. Not that the Bronze 2 are bad by any means, don't get me wrong, it's just that they are not as good as the mentioned above.
 
Feb 5, 2018 at 4:09 PM Post #3 of 5
If I were you, I would upgrade to Focal Chorus 706 or Focal Aria 906 (slightly warmer) instead of picking a different amp.
Get the stands and place them propely if you want to know what these speakers can do.
(I've owned the Focal 706 in the past - now I own the Focal Aria 906 as well as MA Bronze 2)

Having a Modi 2 Uber you don't have to worry much about your DAC stage at this point, less so for speakers which are typically less revealing than headphones for various reasons, most of them related to the acoustics of the room where the speakers are placed.

I've had the Modi 2 Uber in the past and it's a good sounding DAC. Soundstage is a bit compact but otherwise is lively and precise.
At that time I've replaced it for a Bifrost 4490 which is smoother and bigger sounding, but more relaxed and diffuse some might say.

The PM7005 will sound slightly better than the A-S500 here and there but in my experience you'll get more for your money (at this point) investing in better speakers. Not that the Bronze 2 are bad by any means, don't get me wrong, it's just that they are not as good as the mentioned above.

I completely got your point. Yet how do you think, will PM7005 or another combo under $1000 built-in headphone amp sound worse than Magni 3?
 
Feb 5, 2018 at 8:07 PM Post #4 of 5
While I think it's not stated at Marantz page for PM7005, it can be found that PM6005 has a discrete headphone amplifier built in, so one might guess that PM7005 has it too.
(unlike the Yamaha A-S500 which has a headphone out that's taken from the speaker path and thus it has high output impedance)

Assuming the PM7005 has a discrete headphone amplifier built in, best chances are you'll get similar performance to the Magni 3 in the big scheme of things.
Subtle differences can be expected and at the end of the day it doesn't matter much which one is supposed to sound better but which one you find more enjoyable or accurate.

The thing is, with the Magni 3 you know exactly where are you plugging your headphones since Schiit give you proper information regarding the amp's performance and specs.
Marantz say nothing about the headphone output on the PM7005, so that's lazy on their part and can lead to think they didn't care much for it.
 
Oct 14, 2020 at 2:28 PM Post #5 of 5
Just in case anyone else is interested, I've got PM7005 over a year ago and it is at least as good as Magni was to me. It indeed has discrete headphone amplifier which has mysterious design it seems but drives my 80 Ohm headphone like a charm and sounds amazing.
 

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