This is a review and detailed measurements of the Marantz M1 stereo streaming amplifier. It is on kind loan from a member and costs US $1000.
I used the Heos app to control the M1. It instantly recognized the unit and offered to upgrade it. But boy, did it take forever to do that with multiple reboots of the unit. On positive front, functionality is extensive which I won't cover here. Hardware connectivity is also quite rich:
While I didn't play with it, you have nice features such as setting a high pass filter for the amplifier. There are also two filters available for the DAC but I could not find a description of which is which.
I forgot to check the unit last nigher after testing but this morning, while idle overnight, was warm.
Marantz M1 Amplifier Measurements
I started by setting the gain close to 25 dB with the volume control and then testing the RCA analog input:
This was very strange as the output would constantly vary as far as low frequency noise and the "grass" in higher frequencies, varrying the SINAD from 67 to 72! You could see the same during warm up:
First time I have seen this.
Fortunately, digital input in the form of either Toslink or network streaming eliminates this, turning in quite respective performance:
All tests from here on are digital input.
Noise performance is good:
As is Multitone results:
19+20 kHz test though which shows ultrasonics, demonstrate massive noise shaping or some other source:
Frequency response is flat and good indicating likely class AB amplifier:
It seems there is some kind of auto-scaling, causing more noise at very low output power:
The aforementioned ultrasonic noise plays havoc with our wideband noise+distortion power measurements:
I performed another test with 22.4 kHz and it made things better but still fairly elevated noise floor.
Conclusions
The Marantz M1 gives me an impression of a product line which has emphasized functionality with constantly piling things into the box (hardware and software) resulting in what I consider bloated design. Hardware design has some bright spots but otherwise, shows fair amount of strange impairments. Shape as a cleaned up design could be quite nice. Then again the price is way up there relative to competition these days.
I marginally cannot recommend the Marantz M1.
-----------
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/
I used the Heos app to control the M1. It instantly recognized the unit and offered to upgrade it. But boy, did it take forever to do that with multiple reboots of the unit. On positive front, functionality is extensive which I won't cover here. Hardware connectivity is also quite rich:
While I didn't play with it, you have nice features such as setting a high pass filter for the amplifier. There are also two filters available for the DAC but I could not find a description of which is which.
I forgot to check the unit last nigher after testing but this morning, while idle overnight, was warm.
Marantz M1 Amplifier Measurements
I started by setting the gain close to 25 dB with the volume control and then testing the RCA analog input:
This was very strange as the output would constantly vary as far as low frequency noise and the "grass" in higher frequencies, varrying the SINAD from 67 to 72! You could see the same during warm up:
First time I have seen this.
Fortunately, digital input in the form of either Toslink or network streaming eliminates this, turning in quite respective performance:
All tests from here on are digital input.
Noise performance is good:
As is Multitone results:
19+20 kHz test though which shows ultrasonics, demonstrate massive noise shaping or some other source:
Frequency response is flat and good indicating likely class AB amplifier:
It seems there is some kind of auto-scaling, causing more noise at very low output power:
The aforementioned ultrasonic noise plays havoc with our wideband noise+distortion power measurements:
I performed another test with 22.4 kHz and it made things better but still fairly elevated noise floor.
Conclusions
The Marantz M1 gives me an impression of a product line which has emphasized functionality with constantly piling things into the box (hardware and software) resulting in what I consider bloated design. Hardware design has some bright spots but otherwise, shows fair amount of strange impairments. Shape as a cleaned up design could be quite nice. Then again the price is way up there relative to competition these days.
I marginally cannot recommend the Marantz M1.
-----------
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/
>> ty, 
