Marantz CD6007 Review (CD Player)

[EJ3]

Why scramble to pick the least damaging alternative when one can find better measuring old CD players for almost free everywhere? The key is to have measurements.

Because some of us are looking for an additional NEW CD player (a streaming will not happen in my lifetime where I am at, the old CD players have been rebuilt several times, the parts are getting hard to find, people that can work on them are getting hard to find, etc) and a new one is, well, new.
In my case I will also be looking for a NEW CD player & a NEW (never had one before) SACD player (yes, 2 separate items).
Also, maybe an older one or 2.
Not everyone only has only one home to have gear in (I do the downstairs stereo & the upstairs stereo at my mother's home, and I always have 2 to 3 systems at my own homes (one more or less in the City, one on a river [where cell phones & therefore streaming] have no signal.
The City home is not owned by me but is owned by my family. It is not a place that I like to be (which could be any City). But these days I have to spend a lot of time there, as it is within 12 miles of my mother's home (she is a very active 90, swims, and does other fitness things 3 or 4 times a week). But, I am an only child & was overseas for 17 years (and have a wife, a son & a home [with a stereo], there).
And, finding the better CD players is through knowing which ones are, in FACT, better (old or new).
Knowing the good old ones, maybe you luck up & find one at a thrift store, estate sale and by knowing the way it tested, you may get a very good one inexpensively.
Or maybe not.
Some people know what they have & it will be priced accordingly. In which case a new one is certainly a possible choice, if you need one to last 30 years or so.

 

[Down South]

It was a nightmare indeed especially when some CDs were not recognized, I had to name each song with all necessary tags so that each song would be part of the album, plus taking the picture of front cover…
The latest update of the PC was a 2Tb hard drive to host music only and it’s nearly full.

I did all of that in the span of 10 years as it was largely depending on the free time I could find.
In fact I stopped also because searching the library became very slow and it was annoying me that online search was faster. After several upgrades of the PC to make it a little beast, and still suffering performance issues, I suddenly stopped all at once. Having IT issues, when only wanting to listen to music, became a no go concept in my mind

————
Flo

At long last I shall undertake digitising about 3-400 LPs and about 100CDs. Question - I don't want or need to have any cover art or track info, I just want to have the LP info and nothing else - is this possible?

 

[vladej]

Hi,

I've noticed some strange behavior with CD6007 when playing files from a USB device. When I add new folders with music, the CD player doesn't show them at all. I've tried unplugging the USB key, switching off the device, and changing the input from USB to disc and back, but without any success. When I plug the USB back into my PC, I can see the added folders and play the music.

Do you have any suggestions on how to resolve this issue?

 

[EJ3]

Thanks to you too.

You can also have a look at my previous review of the Onkyo C-733, which is near best in class for a 20 years old mini player, and when it comes to play CDA.

That’s why I like testing old and new CD players. Some really positively surprised me and others were a deception.

Your Oppo has been reviewed by Amir. But maybe you were interested to know how it behaves with CD audio?

I’ll continue to review other players, as I see interests

————
Flo

Yes, Amir's testing was limited. I would very much like to see the oPPo 205 UDP testes for playing the silver discs. It could be that I do not NEED (differentiating from 'want') another CD player.

 

[NTTY]

At long last I shall undertake digitising about 3-400 LPs and about 100CDs. Question - I don't want or need to have any cover art or track info, I just want to have the LP info and nothing else - is this possible?

I guess you’ll have to search the web every time and copy/paste (for LPs).
————
Flo

 

[NTTY]

Hi,

I've noticed some strange behavior with CD6007 when playing files from a USB device. When I add new folders with music, the CD player doesn't show them at all. I've tried unplugging the USB key, switching off the device, and changing the input from USB to disc and back, but without any success. When I plug the USB back into my PC, I can see the added folders and play the music.

Do you have any suggestions on how to resolve this issue?

Check the user guide. As far as I recall, there are limitations in number of folders/sub-folders, files and filename length. Better checking that.
————
Flo

 

[NTTY]

What I use (rarely) is a Sony CDP 227 ESD, incomparable feeling but no idea about measurements, to me all I have sound the same.

If it is the one with two TDA1541 and the specific oversampling filter of Sony (CXD1144), keep it, it’s a unique staggered architecture designed to make the most of the Philips DAC (in a Sony Player, funny).
I have the 337ESD with the same architecture and I shall review it one day.
————
Flo

 

[vladej]

Check the user guide. As far as I recall, there are limitations in number of folders/sub-folders, files and filename length. Better checking that.
————
Flo

Maximum is quite high, 255 folders and 65025 files. I'm not even near...

 

[usersky]

If it is the one with two TDA1541 and the specific oversampling filter of Sony (CXD1144), keep it, it’s a unique staggered architecture designed to make the most of the Philips DAC (in a Sony Player, funny).
I have the 337ESD with the same architecture and I shall review it one day.
————
Flo

Indeed it's that with two TDA1541, nice too look at naked Would love to see it measured but I don't expect wonders.

Mechanism is also interesting, nothing like plastic gears, in fact no gear at all:

 

[vladej]

Maximum is quite high, 255 folders and 65025 files. I'm not even near...

I've been sloppy, I exceeded the max number of folders. If every album has its own folder, you can hit 255 very fast.

 

[EJ3]

I've been sloppy, I exceeded the max number of folders. If every album has its own folder, you can hit 255 very fast.

That would be about an 1/8 of the amount of folders I need.
Maybe they want me to buy 8 of those CD players. That is NOT going to happen!

 

[NTTY]

Indeed, on these it is was full metal with the KSS-151A magnetic head.

I've been sloppy, I exceeded the max number of folders. If every album has its own folder, you can hit 255 very fast.

There you go

 

[NTTY]

Indeed it's that with two TDA1541, nice too look at naked Would love to see it measured but I don't expect wonders.
View attachment 392886
Mechanism is also interesting, nothing like plastic gears, in fact no gear at all:
View attachment 392887

Indeed, it is full metal with the KSS-151A magnetic head. Instant access to any track. Very reliable. Flawless digital output.
Measurement wise we are on an old but really nice DAC tech with a specific “staggered” digital output from the Sony oversampling filter. It was running at 8x but, with the staggered output, Sony could feed two Philips TDA1541 DACs which ran at 4x only. It gave a nicer output, a more powerful filtering otherwise not possible.
And then came the TDA1541A which was 8x oversampling compatible… but as you can see, your player has the TDA1541A in staggered mode, so both run at 4x.
Keep it.

 

[Watire]

@NTTY reviews are precious.

Learning the capabilities of several CD players from different generation bring answers to questions CD enthusiasts have asked them-self for quite a while:

1- Does it make sense to use old players ?
Yes it seems. From what we get from the measurements, since the 3rd generation of players, we are not going wrong by staying on old devices from the major brands. We know the old models are way better at exploiting the compact disc format.

2 - Does it make sense to hope for a good experience with the digital out from an old device?
So yes it does ! So we can preserve the pleasurable experience of great CD players with informative display, direct access buttons and full fledged remotes and doing away with analog RCA out when a modern DAC is right there to play along.

3 - Does it make sense to look out for a modern, recent CD player ?
It’s alright ! If one can afford it; the big Japanese legacy brands are still pushing great players. They are not cheaping us out on the audio section. Too bad the great optical drives are not there anymore yet Shanling touts about Sanyo and Philips inner gears. The real bummer though is that the full informative displays are gone.

[ 4- Do we really need more than 16-bit /44,1khz by the way ? ]

--

I’m hopeful @NTTY contributions will push some action around CDs in audio community. Maybe one hip chinese brand will imagine a CD/DAC combo that would make Aiwa engineers proud. Case in point : Shanling is on fire with its just released CD burger and a full digital innovative player.

Of course this great body of ASR posts brings more avenues for explorations !

1- How bad a cheap $60 / 60€ brand new Sony DVD player with its standard RCA out or via its optical digital out anyway can be?

2- What level of performance can a portable CD Player sourced from aliexpress bring ?
Some are quite cute and even feature a toslink output that does work. Isn’t it a definitive solution for playing legacy physical digital audio ?

3- Is it true that standard CD Players play better on anti vibration feet ?

4- What about that more affordable Pioneer PD-10AE that looks so neat ?

and so on ...

 

[EJ3]

@NTTY reviews are precious.

Learning the capabilities of several CD players from different generation bring answers to questions CD enthusiasts have asked them-self for quite a while:

1- Does it make sense to use old players ?
Yes it seems. From what we get from the measurements, since the 3rd generation of players, we are not going wrong by staying on old devices from the major brands. We know the old models are way better at exploiting the compact disc format.

2 - Does it make sense to hope for a good experience with the digital out from an old device?
So yes it does ! So we can preserve the pleasurable experience of great CD players with informative display, direct access buttons and full fledged remotes and doing away with analog RCA out when a modern DAC is right there to play along.

3 - Does it make sense to look out for a modern, recent CD player ?
It’s alright ! If one can afford it; the big Japanese legacy brands are still pushing great players. They are not cheaping us out on the audio section. Too bad the great optical drives are not there anymore yet Shanling touts about Sanyo and Philips inner gears. The real bummer though is that the full informative displays are gone.

I’m hopeful @NTTY contributions will push some action around CDs in audio community. Maybe one hip chinese brand will imagine a CD/DAC combo that would make Aiwa engineers proud. Case in point : Shanling is on fire with its just released CD burger and a full digital innovative player.

I do not think that you will see the economies of scale again that is enough to bring the prices down on the quality of CD PLAYERS that we want.
That's fine by me, as I simply want the best that is out there at a reasonable price (which is what I think that we have now on both the used & new markets, [barring the VOODOO ones]).
We just have to get them separated out to the ones that do an excellent job.
@NTTY is doing a fine job of this for us.
Thank you very, very much, Flo!

 

[Timmy]

We know the old models are way better at exploiting the compact disc format.

Besides: The simple fact that a certain vintage CD player might be kind of a solid and faithful friend to you may very well (over)compensate for it’s possible flaws

 

[NTTY]

I’m hopeful @NTTY contributions will push some action around CDs in audio community. Maybe one hip chinese brand will imagine a CD/DAC combo that would make Aiwa engineers proud. Case in point : Shanling is on fire with its just released CD burger and a full digital innovative player.

I’d be tempted to test the SMSL PL200. A bit high on price though, but looks high performing.

Of course this great body of ASR posts brings more avenues for explorations !

1- How bad a cheap $60 / 60€ brand new Sony DVD player with its standard RCA out or via its optical digital out anyway can be?

I tested the DVD Sony DVP-SR760H. It showed dither at 14bits (not sure why) and so noise was 10dB higher compared to other CD players. THD alone was contained at 92dB, even down to -20dBFS. Poor filter attenuation (one of the 80’s at -60dB) same with crosstalk (-88dB @1kHz) but near flat bandwidth.

Digital out was good, to my surprise. This a scope vie of my standard 3DC test :

The 3 levels are perfectly represented which means no resampling, apparently. I’m not sure it’s worth a review but it was informative to me at least. If there would be demand, I could test and report thoroughly.

2- What level of performance can a portable CD Player sourced from aliexpress bring ?
Some are quite cute and even feature a toslink output that does work. Isn’t it a definitive solution for playing legacy physical digital audio ?

Can’t be sure, need to test, some are also modifying the digital output, going by default through ASRC for some reasons (simplicity sometimes).

3- Is it true that standard CD Players play better on anti vibration feet ?

I tested that and could not find differences in measurements. Same with weight on top or below as some people believe it makes changes. I could not see anything.

4- What about that more affordable Pioneer PD-10AE that looks so neat ?

I have an older PD-30 (CD/SACD). Besides low level power supply leakage, it’s a good performer. This one I intend to review one day.

and so on ...

More to come!