[moodyrn]

I agree that the usb isn't as good as the other inputs. In fact, optical straight from my pc's motherboard sounds better. But I don't think it's bad. It's just not up to par with the other inputs. I personally think both optical and coaxial inputs sounds a little better than the cd transport( not sacds though). So that says a lot about the dac and to me proves that playing discs from a hard drive is better than from discs(since the transport is very good). But one positive about the usb is that it will play 96/24 files from a pc. There's still a lot of dacs out there that won't do that. Optical from my motherboard sounds so good, I hadn't even botherd to get a usb converter yet. I will one day because I'm sure it will be an improvement over optical straight from the motherboard. In my experience with gear in the past, optical from the motherboard has always sounded a lot worst than optical or coaxial from a decent transport. But I will say this, even usb from my pc sounded better than transport+optical/coaxial combo from a digital link III I use to have. And I thought that combo sounded very good.

 

[moodyrn]

Tonight I will find out just how good the marantz is. Myself and a fellow headfier is having a two person meet. He's bringing his bryston bda-1 which is twice the price of the marantz. Of course I'm expecting the bryston to be better, but I will get to hear how close the marantz can come to it at half the price. It's going to be a fun night!!

 

[MorbidToaster]

Definitely keep us up to date. The 1k point seems like the sweet spot for an intro to SACD players. Oppo 95, SA8004, etc.
 
Quote:

Tonight I will find out just how good the marantz is. Myself and a fellow headfier is having a two person meet. He's bringing his bryston bda-1 which is twice the price of the marantz. Of course I'm expecting the bryston to be better, but I will get to hear how close the marantz can come to it at half the price. It's going to be a fun night!!

 
 

 

[obzilla]

Quote:

I've had the SA-8004 for almost a year and just tried the LCD-2 on the headphone out. I don't listen loud so for me it gets to listening level at about half way on the volume pot and all the way up is outside my  comfort zone. To me the sound quality isn't bad for a built in headphone socket but a decent external amp will definitely improve on it.  Since I have other amps, I never use the built in headphone output but it's probably serviceable to get started with. 
Unfortunately the USB input on this thing is a convenience feature at best and I personally think it sounds awful. The other digital inputs sound much better but you need to use an external USB/Firewire converter of some type and better quality converters will make a difference here. 
 
Given your stated goal this is likely a very good option to build around. The fact it serves as a SACD/CD player and external DAC for the price is a great value even if the built in USB is a throw away. You might find the USB passable as a starting point but I'd look quickly at getting a different interface. Even something relatively inexpensive like a Firestone Bravo is a substantial improvement over the built in USB.
 
 
 

My experience reflects yours for the most part. I find it drives the LCD2s as loud as you need without breaking a sweat, but a dedicated amp is certainly better.
I can use the SA8004's headphone out if I like, but I prefer the Lyr by quite a bit.
Like you, I think by about 2 o'clock it becomes uncomfortably loud. So no problem in terms of juice. It's just not going to have the refinement of a headphone amp... nor could it be expected really. Plenty of headphone amps alone cost 2,3 or 4 times what this whole unit does.
 
If you just need something to get you up and running, this will pretty much do it all. But with that come compromises.
I'm not as hot on it's USB connection either, though for the price, again, you can't complain much. However with iDevices and optical in, the DAC sounds quite nice, and it really is a great performing redbook and SACD player. There are better for sure, but they are much dearer.
 
I use it as a standalone set up with the Lyr. Just my iPod or a stack of discs and it serves that purpose very, *very* well. I would say upgrade wise the Lyr would be the weakest link, the first to go, out of that simple chain, and really, I have no complaints about Lyr.
 
Grab one, MorbidToaster. You'll be glad you did, it's a really nice unit, made in Japan as opposed to their lower end products in China.
 

 

[MorbidToaster]

My father has been a long time Marantz fan...as have I. I own a 2238 that I'm trying to get restored right now so I can toss this 255R to the curb and use the 2238 for my speakers.
 
Quote:

My experience reflects yours for the most part. I find it drives the LCD2s as loud as you need without breaking a sweat, but a dedicated amp is certainly better.
I can use the SA8004's headphone out if I like, but I prefer the Lyr by quite a bit.
Like you, I think by about 2 o'clock it becomes uncomfortably loud. So no problem in terms of juice. It's just not going to have the refinement of a headphone amp... nor could it be expected really. Plenty of headphone amps alone cost 2,3 or 4 times what this whole unit does.
 
If you just need something to get you up and running, this will pretty much do it all. But with that come compromises.
I'm not as hot on it's USB connection either, though for the price, again, you can't complain much. However with iDevices and optical in, the DAC sounds quite nice, and it really is a great performing redbook and SACD player. There are better for sure, but they are much dearer.
 
I use it as a standalone set up with the Lyr. Just my iPod or a stack of discs and it serves that purpose very, *very* well. I would say upgrade wise the Lyr would be the weakest link, the first to go, out of that simple chain, and really, I have no complaints about Lyr.
 
Grab one, MorbidToaster. You'll be glad you did, it's a really nice unit, made in Japan as opposed to their lower end products in China.
 

 
 

 

[WNBC]

I have no plans to upgrade based on my wallet, my minty 8003 and the last couple pages of comments that you guys think the USB DAC isn't great on the 8004.  Based on all of the responses sounds like they really increased the output on the headphone out as well in the 8004.  Possibly leading to more distortion because headphone out of my 8003 sounds great just not loud enough to get across the dynamics of say my Lyr.  

 

[kstaken]

I agree that the DAC section sounds better fed from a good quality external source than it does from the internal CD mechanism.
 
I now just use the SA 8004 as an SACD player and as a transport feeding a Metric Halo ULN-2 for those times when I want to play an actual CD. For computer based audio the ULN-2 really shines thanks to the firewire interface but the Marantz is limited by the CD transport so feeding an external DAC as a transport doesn't really extract that much more from it. I've also tried the Benchmark DAC 1 HDR and Rega DAC in this setup with similar results so the DAC in the Marantz is definitely better than the CD transport reveals. Not that the CD transport sounds bad by any means. 


I also used to own a PS Audio DLIII and sold it immediately after getting the SA 8004 as the Marantz was clearly better to me.

 
Quote:

I agree that the usb isn't as good as the other inputs. In fact, optical straight from my pc's motherboard sounds better. But I don't think it's bad. It's just not up to par with the other inputs. I personally think both optical and coaxial inputs sounds a little better than the cd transport( not sacds though). So that says a lot about the dac and to me proves that playing discs from a hard drive is better than from discs(since the transport is very good). But one positive about the usb is that it will play 96/24 files from a pc. There's still a lot of dacs out there that won't do that. Optical from my motherboard sounds so good, I hadn't even botherd to get a usb converter yet. I will one day because I'm sure it will be an improvement over optical straight from the motherboard. In my experience with gear in the past, optical from the motherboard has always sounded a lot worst than optical or coaxial from a decent transport. But I will say this, even usb from my pc sounded better than transport+optical/coaxial combo from a digital link III I use to have. And I thought that combo sounded very good.

 

 

[kstaken]

Just to be clear the DAC section it self is quite good and I think it's competitive with the other DACs I've heard at the $1000 price point. It's only the USB input that isn't very good. If you were to judge the sound of the unit based on that input alone it will not sound like it's worth the price at all. But if you consider the unit is also a CD player/ SACD player/ Ipod dock and then a price competitive toslink/coax DAC it's a pretty great unit at the price point. 
 
Quote:

I have no plans to upgrade based on my wallet, my minty 8003 and the last couple pages of comments that you guys think the USB DAC isn't great on the 8004.  Based on all of the responses sounds like they really increased the output on the headphone out as well in the 8004.  Possibly leading to more distortion because headphone out of my 8003 sounds great just not loud enough to get across the dynamics of say my Lyr.  

 

 

[WNBC]

Gotcha, makes sense.  These units are built to last and eventually I may be moving away from CDs so the 8003 may be the last SACD/CD player I ever own.  But never say never............the reviews for the 8004 say it is less warm, more musical, balanced, with more attack which is very appealing....
 
Quote:

Just to be clear the DAC section it self is quite good and I think it's competitive with the other DACs I've heard at the $1000 price point. It's only the USB input that isn't very good. If you were to judge the sound of the unit based on that input alone it will not sound like it's worth the price at all. But if you consider the unit is also a CD player/ SACD player/ Ipod dock and then a price competitive toslink/coax DAC it's a pretty great unit at the price point.

 

 

[baka1969]

If you want to use a computer as a server and the USB input isn't that great you can try getting a USB/SPDIF converter like the Musical Fidelity V-Link. That would bypass the Marantz's USB while being able to utilize it's DAC.

 

[obzilla]

Quote:

Just to be clear the DAC section it self is quite good and I think it's competitive with the other DACs I've heard at the $1000 price point. It's only the USB input that isn't very good. If you were to judge the sound of the unit based on that input alone it will not sound like it's worth the price at all. But if you consider the unit is also a CD player/ SACD player/ Ipod dock and then a price competitive toslink/coax DAC it's a pretty great unit at the price point. 
 
 

Agreed. Sorry if my my post came out clumsy. I just find the USB not up to snuff. With optical out it's as good as my DACMagic
 
 
Quote:

If you want to use a computer as a server and the USB input isn't that great you can try getting a USB/SPDIF converter like the Musical Fidelity V-Link. That would bypass the Marantz's USB while being able to utilize it's DAC.

 
Or any computer that has an optical out, like mac mini, or most any decent sound card, and use that in lieu of USB.
 

 

[baka1969]

Agreed. Sorry if my my post came out clumsy. I just find the USB not up to snuff. With optical out it's as good as my DACMagic
 
 
 
Or any computer that has an optical out, like mac mini, or most any decent sound card, and use that in lieu of USB.
 

If that's an option absolutely. If not, the USB/SPDIF route is a solid and not very expensive way to go.

 

[tike71]

Can anyone tell me if the sa8004's analog line out is variable or fixed? From the photos it seems fixed since there's no volume knob. 
I'm looking for a new DAC/hp amp/preamp combo that's significantly better than my nuforce hdp.

 

[kstaken]

The output is fixed. In my opinion the marantz as a DAC is better than the HDP but the HDP is a better headphone amp. Although the HDP I've compared had an upgraded sigma 11 external power supply. The Marantz is great if you need to spin discs but if you just want a DAC/HP amp combo there are certainly going to be better options at the price point.
 
Quote:

Can anyone tell me if the sa8004's analog line out is variable or fixed? From the photos it seems fixed since there's no volume knob. 
I'm looking for a new DAC/hp amp/preamp combo that's significantly better than my nuforce hdp.

 

 

[moodyrn]

The marantz isn't meant to be a dac/hp combo. It isn't meant to be considered a headphone amp at all. The headphone out is ok, and sounds good for what it is. But it's just there to give you something to listen to. It's by no means considered to be a long term solution. Just compared it to a 2200.00 bryston last night. The bryston is the best dac I've listened to, and really an amazing value for it's price. Before I got there, Brent was raving about it's performance and he was right. It's the most analog sound I've ever heard from digital. With that said the marantz wasn't outclassed either. I would say it was about 90% of the bryston. And it was kind of an unfair comparison. He was using a halide bridge usb converter from the pc into the bryston. For a direct comparison we used the same track played on an ipod through usb on the marantz. Sounstaging, tone and timbre was the same. They both sounded very analog. There was a touch of grain  that you could hear with the marantz that wasn't there with the bryston. But I told Brent that this is typical using the ipod as a transport into the marantz. In my experiences, the ipod input, pc usb input, and cd spinner all sounded the same with the marantz. The sound is quiet a bit better from the digital inputs.  So the fact it was an unfair comparison and the marantz sounded about 90% as good as the bryston when the marantz was only using an ipod as a transport is high praise indeed. Now do I think the marantz would have been just as good if we would have used halide bridge with it? Well no. The bryston still had a little more extension in the bass, with just a touch better control. But I think it would have came close to 95% of it. With a little research I found why they sounded similar. They both uses the same dac chip while the bryston does use two of them. One thing we both agree on, you would have to spend at least twice as much to get better performance than the marantz. And since it does come with a cd player, sacd player, digital input from idevices, 24/96 from pc, ability to play lossless from a usb flash drive and even a full portable hard drive, sounds excellent all for 1000.00 is quiet a feat indeed.