• WANTED: Happy members who like to discuss audio and other topics related to our interest. Desire to learn and share knowledge of science required. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!

Marantz AV7705 Review (AV Processor)

amirm

Founder/Admin
Staff Member
CFO (Chief Fun Officer)
Joined
Feb 13, 2016
Messages
44,368
Likes
234,393
Location
Seattle Area
This is a review and detailed measurements of the Marantz AV7705 Audio/Video Processor (AVP). It was kindly purchased as a refurbished unit by a member and drop shipped to me. Normal price on Amazon is US $2,399.

I continue to not be a fan of Marantz design with the port hole requiring opening the panel below to see real information:

Marantz 7705 Review Dolby Atmos Balanced HDMI AV Processor.jpg


Back panel has the silly inputs no one uses these days such as composite and component video inputs, in gold plated no less:
Marantz 7705 Review Dolby Atmos back panel HDMI Balanced HDMI AV Processor.jpg


I powered the unit and let it go through a firmware update which took an eternity. But all was well when it restarted.

I focused my testing on the front left and right balanced outputs. For inputs I tested HDMI and Toslink.

Marantz AV7705 Measurements
As usual we start with our dashboard using HDMI although Toslink performance was identical. I adjusted the volume until I got 4 volts which is the nominal output of most stand-alone DACs:

Marantz 7705 Measurements Balanced HDMI AV Processor.png


Well, this is not good! There is a ton of distortion and it is 3rd harmonic dominated so can't hide behind "it is good distortion" line. I played with various "pure" modes and it didn't make a difference. The SINAD of 75 dB is one of the worst in any AV receiver or processor I have tested:

Best measuring AV Processor Tested.png


You might say that 4 volt output is high so let's test different outputs:

Marantz 7705 Output vs distortion Measurements Balanced HDMI AV Processor.png


Best performance is at 2.5 volt but even then, SINAD doesn't improve beyond the red ("poor") range of AV products we have tested.

I was hoping dynamic range was better but it is not:

Marantz 7705 DNR Measurements Balanced HDMI AV Processor.png


Jitter performance was poor indicating a number of interference sources:

Marantz 7705 Jitter Measurements Balanced HDMI AV Processor.png


Could linearity be better? Of course not:

Marantz 7705 Linearity Measurements Balanced HDMI AV Processor.png


Intermodulation vs level shows the high noise floor, not being better than a freebie phone headphone dongle:

Marantz 7705 IMD Measurements Balanced HDMI AV Processor.png


The DAC reconstruction filter is the typical very slow and wrong type:

Marantz 7705 DAC Filter Measurements Balanced HDMI AV Processor.png


This exerts a penalty on our THD+N vs frequency test due its wide bandwidth:

Marantz 7705 THD+N vs Frequency Measurements Balanced HDMI AV Processor.png


But there is more that is wrong here as changing the sample rate to 192 kHz would eliminate that factor. We see a bit of reduction at the top end but performance is still quite poor. We can see why if we look at the spectrum at 1 kHz:

Marantz 7705 FFT spectrum Measurements Balanced HDMI AV Processor.png


The spray of distortion seems to go on forever so adds up to high THD+N with 90 kHz bandwidth (dashboard is at 22.4 kHz).

Multitone produces subpar performance as well:

Marantz 7705 Multitone Measurements Balanced HDMI AV Processor.png


Conclusion
It is simple: Marantz group takes perfectly good platform uses in its sister Denon division and screws it up across the board. Everything is degraded no matter what we test. It really is time for Marantz to go back to producing well engineered products rather than chasing subjective aspects they can't demonstrate. And poor notions like the slow reconstruction filter. It is depressing to test an AV product in 2021 with such poor performance. :(

Needless to say, I can't recommend the Marantz AV7705. Get a Denon AVR, shut off its amps and use it as a processor instead.

----------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
 
OP
amirm

amirm

Founder/Admin
Staff Member
CFO (Chief Fun Officer)
Joined
Feb 13, 2016
Messages
44,368
Likes
234,393
Location
Seattle Area
OK, this is embarrassing. I had reviewed this unit before! The owner said it would be 7706 and I did not pay attention to the model number as I did the review just now.

Good news is that it performs very similarly to the first sample.....
 

AdamG

Proving your point makes it “Science”.
Moderator
Forum Donor
Joined
Jan 3, 2021
Messages
4,636
Likes
14,918
Location
Reality
Multiple sample testing has value. So not time wasted and proves consistently with your testing process/procedures. Might want to include Sample 2 in title.
 

enricoclaudio

Major Contributor
Audio Company
Joined
Jan 7, 2021
Messages
1,105
Likes
2,145
Location
Houston, TX - USA
I was like… Hmmmm didn’t Amir test this thing before? Dejavú? No, I was right Lol. Thanks @amirm for the second try ;) This one proved that the AP 555 is still well calibrated :D
 

Dzhaughn

Active Member
Joined
Mar 12, 2020
Messages
139
Likes
390
OK, this is embarrassing. I had reviewed this unit before! The owner said it would be 7706 and I did not pay attention to the model number as I did the review just now.

Good news is that it performs very similarly to the first sample.....

That's so adorable. I appreciate your courage in running this website! Good news indeed that the results are similar.

Is there any data on the variation in performance of audio equipment, as far as variation between individual units? I mean, we could test 20 SMSL DACS and look for differences. How do manufacturers test individual units? It can't be the same story between SMSL, Schitt, Denon, and Naim, can it? And what about speakers?
 

Lawyrup843

Member
Joined
Apr 17, 2021
Messages
68
Likes
36
@amirm Great review! Is buying a Denon and disconnecting the amps really the only good option for a pre/pro these days? (Without spending more than 10K)
 

beeface

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 5, 2017
Messages
321
Likes
773
@amirm Great review! Is buying a Denon and disconnecting the amps really the only good option for a pre/pro these days? (Without spending more than 10K)
That we know of - I think it would be good to have a bigger sample size before declaring it though. It’s still possible that some models from other brands like Yamaha and Onkyo/Pioneer are decent, too.
 

nagster

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 24, 2021
Messages
361
Likes
593
This is a review and detailed measurements of the Marantz AV7705 Audio/Video Processor (AVP). It was kindly purchased as a refurbished unit by a member and drop shipped to me. Normal price on Amazon is US $2,399.

I continue to not be a fan of Marantz design with the port hole requiring opening the panel below to see real information:

View attachment 148691

Back panel has the silly inputs no one uses these days such as composite and component video inputs, in gold plated no less:
View attachment 148692

I powered the unit and let it go through a firmware update which took an eternity. But all was well when it restarted.

I focused my testing on the front left and right balanced outputs. For inputs I tested HDMI and Toslink.

Marantz AV7705 Measurements
As usual we start with our dashboard using HDMI although Toslink performance was identical. I adjusted the volume until I got 4 volts which is the nominal output of most stand-alone DACs:

View attachment 148693

Well, this is not good! There is a ton of distortion and it is 3rd harmonic dominated so can't hide behind "it is good distortion" line. I played with various "pure" modes and it didn't make a difference. The SINAD of 75 dB is one of the worst in any AV receiver or processor I have tested:

View attachment 148694

You might say that 4 volt output is high so let's test different outputs:

View attachment 148695

Best performance is at 2.5 volt but even then, SINAD doesn't improve beyond the red ("poor") range of AV products we have tested.

I was hoping dynamic range was better but it is not:

View attachment 148696

Jitter performance was poor indicating a number of interference sources:

View attachment 148697

Could linearity be better? Of course not:

View attachment 148698

Intermodulation vs level shows the high noise floor, not being better than a freebie phone headphone dongle:

View attachment 148700

The DAC reconstruction filter is the typical very slow and wrong type:

View attachment 148699

This exerts a penalty on our THD+N vs frequency test due its wide bandwidth:

View attachment 148701

But there is more that is wrong here as changing the sample rate to 192 kHz would eliminate that factor. We see a bit of reduction at the top end but performance is still quite poor. We can see why if we look at the spectrum at 1 kHz:

View attachment 148702

The spray of distortion seems to go on forever so adds up to high THD+N with 90 kHz bandwidth (dashboard is at 22.4 kHz).

Multitone produces subpar performance as well:

View attachment 148703

Conclusion
It is simple: Marantz group takes perfectly good platform uses in its sister Denon division and screws it up across the board. Everything is degraded no matter what we test. It really is time for Marantz to go back to producing well engineered products rather than chasing subjective aspects they can't demonstrate. And poor notions like the slow reconstruction filter. It is depressing to test an AV product in 2021 with such poor performance. :(

Needless to say, I can't recommend the Marantz AV7705. Get a Denon AVR, shut off its amps and use it as a processor instead.

----------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
As soon as you saw the dashboard, you must have wanted to stop the measurement.
However, you did not give up and made a series of measurements.
Bad information is also interesting to me.
Thank you very much.
 

DiscCollector

New Member
Joined
May 15, 2020
Messages
2
Likes
0
What does Sound United have to say when you ask them about this stuff? It's been going on for quite some time now, and with the world being more connected and more people doing their own research, their internally-created marketing hype can only take them so far before word gets around about their actual engineering (and resultant sound quality) and they're viewed as a joke.
 

Dmitri

Senior Member
Forum Donor
Joined
Jul 25, 2020
Messages
432
Likes
1,057
OK, this is embarrassing. I had reviewed this unit before! The owner said it would be 7706 and I did not pay attention to the model number as I did the review just now.

Good news is that it performs very similarly to the first sample.....

I love it...I absolutely love it.
Amirm, you made disorganized and hopelessly A.D.D. me very happy this evening.
Thanks for that!
 

Peternz

Active Member
Joined
Apr 20, 2021
Messages
139
Likes
258
OK, this is embarrassing. I had reviewed this unit before! The owner said it would be 7706 and I did not pay attention to the model number as I did the review just now.

Good news is that it performs very similarly to the first sample.....

Still junk, but what do you expect? I am sure AV enthusiasts will be thrilled with all the stuff that can be connected to it and salesmen of such stuff will be celebrating big bonuses.

Thanks for your great work as usual, your service to the community is massive. You have helped me save money and improve my audio system and I am sure many can say the same.
 
Last edited:

Aperiodic

Active Member
Forum Donor
Joined
May 2, 2019
Messages
295
Likes
441
Aimed at old timers who say 'Marantz is a good name' because their dad had one in 1967
 
OP
amirm

amirm

Founder/Admin
Staff Member
CFO (Chief Fun Officer)
Joined
Feb 13, 2016
Messages
44,368
Likes
234,393
Location
Seattle Area
What does Sound United have to say when you ask them about this stuff?
They say that this is the "tuning" performed by the Marantz "sound engineers." Fortunately there is some sign that the latest stuff is not going in this direction anymore.
 

Remlab

Member
Forum Donor
Joined
May 22, 2021
Messages
74
Likes
186
Location
Oceanside California
Amir, it's easy to lose track when you test such an extraordinary amount of products. This just goes to show you that. Thanks again for all you do.
 
Top Bottom