I can buy an E30 for almost 60 years every year for this amount of money. As for Marantz QC, so far I've had nothing but crap products from them...Some high SINAD DACS have QC problems and will possibly not last that long
I can buy an E30 for almost 60 years every year for this amount of money. As for Marantz QC, so far I've had nothing but crap products from them...Some high SINAD DACS have QC problems and will possibly not last that long
Because (I correct the above post) in Japan the CD is the most popular format with 70% of the market and it took a pandemic to get them interested in streaming. It had a new state-of-the-art transport (unless you could afford Esoteric) that was best launched in a premium machine.Why would a compact disc sound better than music on a USB storage device going into the same device?
Some think music sound better from a file as there are no mechanical parts involved.
Ground loops? With a machine with this price tag you should have all matched parts with XLR. If you have ground loops you will hear it. It is not that common.
Unfortunately the headphone output ports of devices like this tend to be treated like an afterthought and ignored by any review (though sometimes a reviewer will plug in some headphones to check if it works). They generally have shockingly-high output impedance, anaemic power delivery and are soundly trounced by a $100 dedicated headamp. It would be interesting to know if the situation is any different for a kilobuck statement product like this, but I'm not getting my hopes up.@amirm would have been nice if headphone out had been tested.
So do you mean one should spend for looks, weight, size, brand, big front fascia etc etc instead of measured performance ? If measured performance is inaudible after a certain point then there is certainly all the more "no point" in spending $7k on an equipment. Isn't it ? Or you yourself will spend "$7k" on this even after knowing about this measured performance ?Why would you want to improve the measured performance? Any improvement would be, according to the article, inaudible.
Ok, no problem that people enjoy and buy a CD player.Because (I correct the above post) in Japan the CD is the most popular format with 70% of the market and it took a pandemic to get them interested in streaming. It had a new state-of-the-art transport (unless you could afford Esoteric) that was best launched in a premium machine.
Change of tune: Japan music fans moving from CDs to streaming services
Japanese music enthusiasts, loyal to CDs long after the rest of the world went online, have begun reaching for the eject button and switching to streaming services as artists cancel in-store events and fans stay home because of the pandemic.www.reuters.com
18 years gets you basically the same amount of HD streaming included in the deal. Pretty sweet! And it's not comparable to a Veyron, it just looks like one. The Veyron actually has the numbers to back up the claims, this thing does not (well, other than its weight).This review does seem to be the equivalent of reviewing the DAC in a Bugatti Veyron and concluding it's not a very good car and @voodooless saying he could get a new E30 every day for the next 18 years for the same money, except that I for one would prefer a Bugatti Veyron to 7,000 Topping E30's, even if only to look at it. As I have an electric car, if Bugatti did an electric version ....
I would have guessed this cost more like £2k. Visually almost identical to this model costing half as much
The main difference from a functional point of view is the lack of balanced output on the model costing 'only' £3K, the rest of the specs, including the weight are pretty much the same.Marantz SA-12SE SACD Player
SA-12SE is engineered and extensively tuned; combined with features such as HDAM-SA3 technology, Marantz developed SACD/CD mechanism “SACDM-3”, Marantz Musical Mastering - Stream up-sampling to DSD and filtering to ensure a performance that will bring you closer than ever to your favourite music.petertyson.co.uk
Can they polish a turd?SACD research and development
People still play vinyl, even young people.If I had the Marantz SA-10 I would immediately sell it and buy something I would actually use. The days of disc spinning are limited to a few people who time forgot. Once I experienced the flexibility of CD rips and Qobuz it's very hard to go back to opening CD's, loading them with no easy method for selecting playlists. I have two Denon CD audio players and I almost never use them. Why would someone pay $7,000 for a DAC that offers medium performance? I can imagine when Marantz SA-10 owners pass away these units will end up at Goodwill for $200ish. To each his own.
Used Marantz Super Audio Cd Player Sa-14 | ShopGoodwill.com
shopgoodwill.com
And that copper emi RFI protection should not reflect in measurements ? Or does it magically improves the sound without improving measurements ? Problem with audiophiles is that they tend to like bigger heavier golden/silver front fascia products more even if the measured performance is not good.... and if you ask, why pay $3,000 for all that copper, well people do. It's a bit of science (EMF/RFI, that kind of thing) and a lot of anthropology, and anthropology will win every time.
This is a disc player at first place, not the USB DAC.
I think you missed the point!18 years gets you basically the same amount of HD streaming included in the deal. Pretty sweet! And it's not comparable to a Veyron, it just looks like one. The Veyron actually has the numbers to back up the claims, this thing does not (well, other than its weight).
Still, having it on the testbench is the best opportunity to clarify matters and not doing it is a wasted opportunityUnfortunately the headphone output ports of devices like this tend to be treated like an afterthought and ignored by any review (though sometimes a reviewer will plug in some headphones to check if it works). They generally have shockingly-high output impedance, anaemic power delivery and are soundly trounced by a $100 dedicated headamp. It would be interesting to know if the situation is any different for a kilobuck statement product like this, but I'm not getting my hopes up.
You can rip the Red Book layer from a hybrid (meaning one that has a Red Book layer) SACD--I've done it many times with my computer's optical disk drive.Can you rip the 20 bit layer from an sacd with a cd drive?
I haven't tried the headphone output from this Marantz player, but many of their less expensive disc players have a very decent headphone output. I use the headphone output on my Marantz CD-5004 player all the time with HD-600 headphones.Still, having it on the testbench is the best opportunity to clarify matters and not doing it is a wasted opportunity
We have you arguing the priority of measured performance and against nice styling, @voodooless, and @nikosidis why anyone would want to spin a disc rather than play a digital file. I get that, 100%. To some extent I agree.And that copper emi RFI protection should not reflect in measurements ? Or does it magically improves the sound without improving measurements ? Problem with audiophiles is that they tend to like bigger heavier golden/silver front fascia products more even if the measured performance is not good.
Exactly, audiophiles value other things more than the sound quality.We have you arguing the priority of measured performance and against nice styling, @voodooless, and @nikosidis why anyone would want to spin a disc rather than play a digital file. I get that, 100%. To some extent I agree.
Yet here we have a product, the first in a product line that has been highly successful, because it is very well styled, well built, there are plenty of people who can afford it, there are countries and markets where people far prefer to play CD and SACD to digital files and aren't that fussed about measurements if it sounds good.
It's a product that highlights that ASR values are not universal values and never will be. As I said, it's anthropology and ASR won't lay a scratch on it. It's well researched and there is a reading list. An example will follow.