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Marantz CD5400 Review (CD Player)

NTTY

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Hello Everyone,

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Marantz CD5400 stereo CD player.


Marantz CD5400_001.jpg



Even though I love testing older CD players, this one test is peculiar because I'm currently abroad and it's the only CD player I was able to find near me (being in the middle of nowhere) :)

That said, it's also an opportunity for me to use the latest version of my test CD which has been largely influenced by @restorer-john and @AnalogSteph. The work continues to update it with more test files, but I thought it'd be cool not only to test the CD but to show you how this player behaves.


Marantz CD5400 - Presentation

This CD player was released around 2004 and was a low cost unit. The DAC is a CS4392 and the laser/pick-up mechanism is a KS213C from Sony.
You can see that despite being low cost, we still get a phones out, and as part of the functionalities, we find a funny pitch-control. Since I did not have the remote, I could not play with it, though.

On the back, we find the essentials (RCA analog and digital coax and optical):

Marantz CD5400_002.jpg


Let's have a quick view at the inside:

Marantz CD5400_003.jpg


The drive is fast to read TOC and skipping back and forth one or several tracks, which I always appreciate.

Note that there was a "Special Edition" of the same player, and so let's see first how this one performs.


Marantz CD5400 - Measurements (Analog Out)

From now on, I will be consistent with my measurements as I described them on the Onkyo C-733 review. So over time, this will help comparing the devices I reviewed.

The Marantz CD5400 outputs a 1dB less than the standard 2Vrsm from its RCA outputs. There was a slight channel imbalance 0.04dB (this is good). The RCA outputs invert absolute polarity.

Here you go with the less-standard 999.91Hz sine @0dBFS (undithered) from the test CD (RCA out):

Marantz CD5400_1kHz_0dBFS.jpg


The reason to use 999.91Hz is described by @AnalogSteph here and I performed pre-tests and reviewed them here. Basically, this signal self-dithers which allows more precise measurement, up to the limit of CD Audio. So the SINAD is not reduced by the presence of dither.

Both channels are represented but only one gets evaluated in that window. The THD is the same between the two channels but you can see higher level of power supply related noise from the right channel.

THD is at roughly -96dB and so will still clear CD Audio content. SINAD and ENOB are limited by the presence of noise, and for once in my tests, I can't say it's because of dithered noise of the test CD. The side bands around the fundamental are clearly power supply related.

Let's have a look at -6dBFS:

Marantz CD5400_1kHz_-6dBFS.jpg


THD improves a little, which is good, but power supply noise remains and mainly in right channel. This is too bad, as the Marantz would have shown good performances otherwise. Zooming 20Hz to 1kHz reveals more of the issue:

Marantz CD5400_PowerSupply.jpg


Let's have a look at the bandwidth:

Marantz CD5400_BW02.jpg


This is good, with small roll off at both ends and less than 0.4dB.

We continue with the oversampling filter (Overlay of periodic White Noise and 18k+20Hz dual tones):

Marantz CD5400_Filter.jpg


The attenuation, out of band, is around -80dBr and we see it's a fast filter. The CS4392 has a choice of multiple filters, and so we are in the specs (-80/90dB attenuation says the datasheet for the fast roll-off filter).

The AES 18k+20kHz in this overlay shows random noise at the bottom of the tones, not of real concern, but higher than what I'm used to see.

No funny DSD oversampling for this older player, even if the DAC allows it, and as opposed to what we saw here with newer Marantz players.

Multitone test is disappointing for a CD Player:

Marantz CD5400_MT.jpg


I think we see (again) power supply related issues here. CD Audio data are barely saved.

Jitter is nasty, the worst I've seen so far:

Marantz CD5400_Jitter.jpg


Red trace is what is on the Test CD from digital output. The blue trace is from the analog outputs of the Marantz. Lots of jitter and noise components. This is not good for a CD player.

On your request and support (more information here), I am adding an "intersample-overs" test. It intends to identify if the oversampling filter has sufficient headroom to process near clipping signals. Indeed, and because of the oversampling, there might be interpolated data that go above 0dBFS and would saturate (clip) the DAC and therefore the output. This effect is highlighted with the measurements below, and revealed through THD+N measurements up to 96kHz:


Intersample-overs tests
Bandwidth of the THD+N measurements is 20Hz - 96kHz
5512.5 Hz sine,
Peak = +0.69dBFS
7350 Hz sine,
Peak = +1.25dBFS
11025 Hz sine,
Peak = +3.0dBFS
Yamaha CD-1-79.6dB-35.3dB-78.1dB
Denon DCD-900NE-34.2dB-30.4dB-19.1dB
Denon DCD-SA1-33.6dB-27.6dB-18.3dB
Onkyo C-733-79.8dB-29.4dB-21.2dB
Marantz CD5400-78.1dB-32dB-29.5dB

I left several other references for you to compare with. The oversampling filter to the Marantz CD5400 has roughly 1dB headroom (better than many).

Here are some other measurements:
  • Crosstalk : -140dB (@1kHz)
  • IMD AES : -79.5dB (18kHz+20kHz 1:1 @-5dBFS)
And to finalize this review of analog outputs, this is below THD vs Frequency at -12dBFS:

Marantz CD5400_THDvsFreq.jpg


We can see that the level of distortion is relatively high at low frequency, but it becomes near best in class as soon as 300Hz.


Marantz CD5400 - Measurements (Digital Out)

I tested both Optical and Coaxial digital outputs. They showed no issue to output a correct digital signal:

Marantz CD5400_1kHz_0dBFF_Digital.jpg


This is a more standard 1kHz test tone with dither and you can see that there are no distorsion components nor noise, as we shall expect.

And when representing the smallest possible 16bits signal, we get the perfect 3DC representation, indicating no digital transformation:

Marantz CD5400_1kHz_-90.31dBFS_Coax.jpg


The ripples are due to the Gibbs phenomenon, of course.

For fun, I add a view of an overlay of a 997Hz test tone with triangular and shaped dither:

Marantz CD5400_997Hz_0dBFS_Dither.jpg


You can see that the noise floor goes down by a lot of dB up to 6kHz with the shaped dither, which is the expected benefit. So if an external DAC would be used with a higher resolution, you'd get a lot more from the digital outputs of the player.

The Marantz CD5400 can therefore act as a perfect transport.


Conclusions

I'm disappointed by this little player because it could have been a very good one. Is it due to an aging power supply, or bad design?

Some measurements are really good, like the THD or decent resistance to intersample-overs, but in so many places we see this Marantz suffering from power supply related noise.

At the end, and even if this player does not shine when measured, it’s still unlikely that its flaws would be detected when listening to music. Even the high level of jitter would remain largely masked, at least to me. But I certainly prefer seeing better measurements.

As I mentioned at the beginning of this review, there was a "Special Edition" of this player and maybe it was a fix to the flaws I’ve seen here?

Anyways, it can be used as a transport with an external DAC, in which case you benefit from a fast drive, and that's cool.
 
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Just curious, have you tested the Marantz CD 63 Mark II in the past? It's one of my favorite CD decks.
 
Do you have any tools with you? There is a service bulletin pertaining to this model up to serial number range MZxx0448xxxxxx (MZ04-082) that may be relevant.
Model: CD5400
Subject: A sound jump sometimes occurs during CD Playback.
Symptom: When playing back a CD, the sound can sometimes jump. This
occurs because Capacitor C156 connected to the CLOCK line of DSP alters the
signal, and the microprocessor cannot recognize the correct data.
Solution: Remove C156 (Ceramic Capacitor 47pF).
Serial Number Range:
This problem applies to the following week code.
CD5400 applies to MZxx0448xxxxxx
This improvement has been done in production from week code
MZxx0449xxxxxx and later.
C156 is one of the 6 small through-hole NP0 ceramic caps in a row next to the two cable connectors, in line with the yellow sticker. They should go 155 - 156 - 153 - 152 - 151 - 154 top to bottom.

Given the apparent jitter problem, anything to do with clock lines is making me take notice.

BTW, how about out-of-band noise on this one? A CS4392 ought to be much the same as the notorious CS4272 DAC, though they seem to have implemented 5th-order lowpass filtering (well, there's a 6th pole at 400 kHz but that's not doing much).

Having a PLL in the clock generation presumably isn't exactly doing things any favors, though at least the xtal is a 16.9344 MHz part. How the heck they managed to end up with 100 Hz spurs is kind of a mystery to me, all the supplies appear to be double regulated. (They certainly don't need the PLL to be running at 100 Hz to get a decent step size.) The DAC +VA setup strikes me as odd, a KA7805 directly followed by a 10 µH inductor and 47 µF. Doesn't that invite peaking?

The difference in 50/150/250 Hz peaks between channels has to be some sort of layout problem. This screams "transformer wiring" to me but I don't see anything obvious.
 
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Just curious, have you tested the Marantz CD 63 Mark II in the past? It's one of my favorite CD decks.
No, but it looks relatively easy to find one. And it would also be fun to compare the standard version and the KI :)
 
Do you have any tools with you? There is a service bulletin pertaining to this model up to serial number range MZxx0448xxxxxx (MZ04-082) that may be relevant.
Unfortunately no, I just brought the interface with me hoping I could find a CD player to have some fun.
C156 is one of the 6 small through-hole NP0 ceramic caps in a row next to the two cable connectors, in line with the yellow sticker. They should go 155 - 156 - 153 - 152 - 151 - 154 top to bottom.

Given the apparent jitter problem, anything to do with clock lines is making me take notice.
Thanks for the feedback, this is interesting. And I was sure you’d be tempted to deep dive into the issue ;) It might be useful to other owners.
BTW, how about out-of-band noise on this one? A CS4392 ought to be much the same as the notorious CS4272 DAC, though they seem to have implemented 5th-order lowpass filtering (well, there's a 6th pole at 400 kHz but that's not doing much).
I measured up to 92kHz only and I can publish tomorrow. I need to add the digital output measurements too.
Having a PLL in the clock generation presumably isn't exactly doing things any favors, though at least the xtal is a 16.9344 MHz part. How the heck they managed to end up with 100 Hz spurs is kind of a mystery to me, all the supplies appear to be double regulated. (They certainly don't need the PLL to be running at 100 Hz to get a decent step size.) The DAC +VA setup strikes me as odd, a KA7805 directly followed by a 10 µH inductor and 47 µF. Doesn't that invite peaking?

The difference in 50/150/250 Hz peaks between channels has to be some sort of layout problem. This screams "transformer wiring" to me but I don't see anything obvious.
I’d be really tempted to test the SE version if I could find one.
 
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Wow. A Marantz CD 6000 OSE was part of my entry hifi-setup. It would be interesting to know how it would fare.
As it was, after the Marantz I "invested" pointless money and time in random RCA cables, SACD players, CD players with tube preamplifiers and other nonsense and even believed in the rankings of hi-fi magazines. How nice it would have been if ASR and these tests had existed here 20 years ago. This makes me feel like a disgraced Scientology dropout. :facepalm:
 
Unfortunately no, I just brought the interface with me hoping I could find a CD player to have some fun.
Bummer. Not even some side-cutters?

A Marantz CD 6000 OSE was part of my entry hifi-setup. It would be interesting to know how it would fare.
Probably decent if unspectacular.... its SM5872 DAC was no longer bleeding edge when it was current.

BTW, this model has a service bulletin for one of the dumbest problems I've seen.
Problem with the emphasis CD play back.
When playback several emphasis CD's continuously.
The second emphasis CD is played back without de-emphasis after the first emphasis CD has
played back.
:facepalm:
 
The difference in 50/150/250 Hz peaks between channels has to be some sort of layout problem. This screams "transformer wiring" to me but I don't see anything obvious.

Have a look at the layout. A sub transformer and main transformer on the right hand side, super close to all the analogue circuitry. Even the headphone output to the H/P amp PCB cables run under the auxiliary transformer. :facepalm: Also using a sub transformer to relay switch the main transformer in a CD player? Crazy.

I don't think I've ever seen such a layout. 99% of PSU/TXFs on the left, audio on the right. Maybe 1% with TXFs at the rear centre.

It's a really cheap design, sadly.
 
BTW, how about out-of-band noise on this one? A CS4392 ought to be much the same as the notorious CS4272 DAC, though they seem to have implemented 5th-order lowpass filtering (well, there's a 6th pole at 400 kHz but that's not doing much).
Here you go with the view up to 96kHz, I can't analyze further:

1729848418370.png


Left and Right channels are exactly the same.

I also updated the review with digital outputs measurements as this player still makes a perfect transport with a fast drive (something we don't get from modern low value CD players).
 
It's a really cheap design, sadly.
I wouldn't agree in all regards, but the single-sided PCB definitely stinks for anything mixed-signal. This is the area around the DAC:
cd5400-dac-pcblay.png

Underneath AGND jumpers J003 and J004 are CS4392 pins 11-20. Note how VA decoupling cap C159 is actually situated towards the bottom right and VA snakes its way underneath the DAC to pin 17 while AGND is taking the scenic route via J125 before making it to its destination pin 16. That's some first-rate HF rail bypassing right there. :rolleyes:
The logic supply VL has to take J157 before arriving at C178.
DGND and AGND are actually kept apart on the entire board despite the fact that the DAC only has one common ground pin (AGND), a quirk inherited from the CS4391. (I'm all for lower pin count, but this is a dumb design for a high-performance chip.) So VL rail decoupling effectively is quite lousy. I mean, they rarely are very far apart so inductance shouldn't be astronomical, but this can't be good. In effect, the layout would have worked OK with another chip and the chip would have worked OK on a double-sided board with a nice ground plane, but the combination of both stinks.

In an attempt to fix this, I would probably try a combination of two decoupling caps, one SMD ceramic across VA and AGND and one leaded type between VL and AGND (maybe 100n each, but the latter may need more). Nothing much to lose at this point.
EDIT: Also, J125 should really be beefed up. In the interest of low inductance, maybe use a piece of discarded desoldering braid or something? On the bottom side, ideally.
 
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Very very interesting reviews yours, I'm totally impressed. I am a fan of measures and always had the curiosity to know how old CD players performs with respect to modern DACs and modern ones players, read about modern stuff is generally simple, but never had the chance before to read about this old players, so congratulations from my side.
I have a Motu M4 and a Marantz SA-8005 I will try to make some tests. In the meantime I try to replicate some measurements on a cheapo portable player to learn something, below i.e.
I know my ADC is not that reference instrument, but I want to try, and maybe later upgrade it. Below a little test on an Hitachi DAP-XP2E line output, with the buffer for jogging deactivated, probably is not a simple buffer but a compressor -> buffer -> decompressor, compared with a Samsung A51, jack 3.5mm output, with my great surprise the phone wins on all tests and is not a bad performer at all. Lot of noise coming form the servos by the Hitachi, and little little noise coming from the display refresh of the phone, very very interesting.
Why don't you publish a CD ISO image of your test CD so we can perform the same exact test to compare? :p
I'm a newbie with REW, still didn't understand how to include measurement summary :facepalm:
1730021652673.png
 
Hi Luca,

Thanks for your comments.

The Motu M4 is more than good enough to test a CD player. You can use the line input which has the best THD+N. Even if the load input is not specified, I guess it will be 20kohms+, so that’s good.
Use ASIO driver with REW.

I can share the test CD of course. I’m working on a new version of it, with the great assistance from some members here.

Some have also suggested me to open a thread on how to use the test CD with REW. I recon it would help but requires time. I’m thinking of a simple user guide.

I’m not on my computer today, but send me a PM and we continue the discussion.

Enjoy the testing!
 
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The Motu M4 is more than good enough to test a CD player. You can use the line input which has the best THD+N.
Wow, good to know, yes I've soon realize that mic inputs adds some visible distoriton and noise, line IN 3 and 4 are used form my tests with ASIO driver.

with the great assistance from some members here.
Yes I notice this community is impressive about competence.

but requires time. I’m thinking of a simple user guide.
Yes, time is not on our side!

I will PM you as soon as possible for some tips!

Luca
 
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