Marantz SA-10 Review (SACD Player & DAC)

[stvnharr]

Hey Snoopy, people who might consider this player do not look at music the way you do. They want to play the disc itself.
But yes, if all one wants to do is rip the file to .dsf then your suggestion is perfect. And people who want to do only that probably already do that.

 

[Scytales]

The Denon is a fabulous disc, but it has a greater spray of spikes on its digitally derived 1kHz tracks (track 18,19 & 49) than either the Philips CD3, Sony YEDs or the CBS CD-1 discs. The absolute numbers may not be much different (same focusrite interface, same CD player -Marantz PMD-325 professional), but the picture sure isn't pretty with the Denon test disc on the 1001Hz track... The other two standard test discs give identical results.

Philips No3 test disc, 997Hz 0dBFS:
View attachment 192582

CBS CD-1 997Hz 0dBFS:
View attachment 192586

Denon Test Disc, Track 49 1001Hz 0dBFS:
View attachment 192587

Considering the Denon track is a digitally derived sine, it has a wide skirt around the fundamental and a bunch of spurious junk. The other two (Philips and CBS) are clean.

What this also shows is the 20 year old Marantz 'Professional' player and the low cost Focusrite A/D front end are giving THD figures virtually the same as what the SA-10 achieved. Notice the THD only numbers are excellent.

For the sake of interest (at least mine ), how does your best vintage CD players measure with the Denon Audio Technical CD as source signal ?

I have bought this same test-CD and a Boonton 1130 distortion analyzer, and the analyzer tells me my best optical disc player produce 0.0029 to 0.003 % THD+N (depending on the channel under test) at 1 kHz, 0 dBFS, with 30 kHz bandwidth and the RMS detector on the analyzer.

 

[VintageFlanker]

We would need to test lower cost SACD players to see where SA-10 lands.

You may have a look down there...

Marantz SACD 30n Measurements (SACD Player, DAC & Streamer)

Marantz SACD 30n Measurements Hi folks, Here is my objective analysis of the Marantz SACD 30n. This sample in particular has been gently loaned to me by Sound United France directly. It is a versatile piece of gear, being not only a SACD/CD player, but also a standalone DAC and a streamer...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[Nutsfortubes]

Oppo where can I buy a new one? Oh they don’t make them anymore.

 

[stvnharr]

Oppo went out of business 4 years ago. However you can find new ones for double, triple, quadruple the original price.

 

[Nutsfortubes]

This device the SA-10, I liken it to a Super Bowl ring. They are in the same price range too.

Wrong the rings are $36K

Super Bowl 2022 Ring value: How much does the NFL championship ring cost?

The Super Bowl ring is not as expensive as some think, but its initial value is around thirty thousand dollars each, and the winning franchises of the Super Bowl cover only a small part of the manufacturing cost of each ring. Check here the Super Bowl ring price and more details around it.

bolavip.com

 

[Nutsfortubes]

I love reading comic books.

 

[Xyrium]

I would think that most of the inexpensive DACs available in the green or blue areas of Amir's charts would perform equal to, if not better than the SA10. However, it was not a poor performer, and is definitely a nice piece of audio jewelry. I most certainly wouldn't mind having one in my rack!

It may simply depend on your appetite to add yet another device and handful of cables to your setup though.

 

[MarcT]

Hmm, post removed. I wonder, by whom and why?

 

[BDWoody]

Hmm, post removed. I wonder, by whom and why?

Moved to the catch all.

 

[Sal1950]

Moved to the catch all.

You might link "catch all" Woody,
Not all know what your talkin bout.

 

[MarcT]

You might link "catch all" Woody,
Not all know what your talkin bout.

Yeah, I looked and didn't see any "catch all" forum.

 

[BDWoody]

You might link "catch all" Woody,
Not all know what your talkin bout.

Good idea!

Master Thread: Are measurements Everything or Nothing?

Seems like so many review threads get challenged with: 1. Measurements are not everything. 2. You all never listen. 3. I trust my ears, not graphs. 4. I don't listen to graphs. I listen to music. 5. You all must not listen to music at all. 6. Why don't you all buy the best SINAD gear? 7...

audiosciencereview.com