Marantz SR8015 Review (Home Theater AVR)

[YSC]

Agreed, in fact my geekyness has rubbed off on my wife haha.

Now when are you bringing the Lambo around for a test drive?

sadly I have NONE of those super cars, or else would ask for drive around all day

 

[Deleted member 43441]

sadly I have NONE of those super cars, or else would ask for drive around all day

I don’t know where you live, but I suggest we hit a dealership lol! I’ve never been for a ride in a supercar, I’d love to.

 

[YSC]

I don’t know where you live, but I suggest we hit a dealership lol! I’ve never been for a ride in a supercar, I’d love to.

sadly I live in Hong Kong, so it's highly unlikely to happen but anyway

 

[Deleted member 43441]

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Marantz SR8015 11.2 channel 8K AV Receiver (AVR). It was kindly purchased by a member and drop shipped to me. It costs US $3,299 and is the flagship unit from Marantz.

All Marantz AVRs look the same and the 8015 is no exception:
View attachment 134218

I am not a fan of the port hole display from looks or functionality. It does less and looks worse in my opinion than a wide rectangular display on its sister Denon products. Typical of these products, despite the high cost, the volume control is stiff and has horrible feel. Fortunately you will be using the remote in this application but still, can't this be made a bit better feeling? Surely in a showroom people play with this control.

As is common with Denon and Marantz products, the SR8015 runs hot, really hot. The left row of amps really cooks with the case almost too hot to touch. There are two fans on each side under the row of heatsinks which is nice but they don't come on to keep the unit more comfortable in typical use.

The back panel tries to give the look of high-fidelity with gold color:

View attachment 134220

Can't believe in this day and age they still insist on including component and composite video inputs. I know in retail more connectors seems to be associated with higher value but really, let's leave them behind and make it easier to find what is what in the back.

I have a recent policy of running my measurements by D&M for review but this unit has been tested by Audioholics and since my results are inline with that (but with very different conclusion), I did not do so.

Marantz SR8015 DAC Measurements
As usual we start our AVR testing by creating as straight of a pass through we can from digital input to analog output. Let's start with HDMI and pre-out then:

View attachment 134221

Ah, it is a relief to test the first Marantz AVR that doesn't destroy performance in the name of subjective listening tests they perform. While SINAD could be better still, it is by far the best I have measured in any Marantz AVR/processor:

View attachment 134222

While I tested the unit in pre-amp and pure mode, neither was necessary. It seems that Marantz has solved the problem of amplifier clipping and dragging the DAC performance down at the source (likely an independent power supply). My interface to HDMI in my analyzer software can cause problems of its own so I like to switch to using another digital input that doesn't have this problem, namely, Coax. So let's measure that:

View attachment 134223

Strange to lose 3 dB performance here but since most people use HDMI anyway, I guess this is OK.

Edit: forgot to post the distortion+noise versus output level:

View attachment 134283

Dynamic range is in line with what we measure in AV products:

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Spectrum in our jitter test is not clean but fortunately it is not an audible problem:

View attachment 134299
IMD distortion test is good, again for an AV product:

View attachment 134227

Linearity test shows lack of accuracy starting at 19 bits which is below what I like to see but is in keeping with the rest of the measurements:

View attachment 134228

Multitone test shows what we have seen with the rest of our tests except rising noise floor in lower frequencies:
View attachment 134229

Sadly now we get to a poor decision on Marantz's part yet again with a super slow DAC reconstruction filter:

View attachment 134230

This will generate ultrasonic noise (mirror image of your music) which we can see impacting the THD+N versus frequency which has high bandwidth to include them:

View attachment 134232

This is due to mistaken belief that time domain ringing at higher frequencies matter but there is no listening tests to prove such. Even if Marantz believes in this approach, they should provide a menu option to select one of the standard DAC filters for those of us who like to have the correct approach here.

Marantz SR8015 Amplifier Measurements
Let's start with testing the amplifier using analog input (pure mode) and testing the Front Left and Right channels:
View attachment 134233

We see the result of the competent amplifier design from D&M with above average performance:

View attachment 134234

Sadly when I switched to Coax input performance dropped a few notches:

View attachment 134235

I can't explain this as with SINAD of 98, this conversion should have been transparent. The problem seems to be in more power supply noise appearing with digital input. Anyway, for proper comparison to stand-alone amplifiers, I will continue my testing with analog input.

Dynamic range is good for an AV product:
View attachment 134236

Frequency response is flat in audible band and quite extended:

View attachment 134238

Crosstalk is decent:
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There is plenty of power to be had in 2-channel mode:

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Sweeping at different frequencies shows the predictable performance we expect from class AB amplifiers:

View attachment 134244

I wrote on the slide that distortion dominated but thinking now, this may be power supply ripple which rises with power causing the lines to be horizontal rather than dropping down (which they would if the noise was residual).

All the tests so far have been in 2-channel mode. Let's now measure power from 1 to 5 channels to see how it scales:

View attachment 134245

What was D&M's promise on 5 channel performance? 70%? If so, we are missing that at 61%. Maybe they measure it differently.

EDIT: the comparison is against 2 channel mode which it achieves.

Conclusions
I was pleased to see Marantz remove many of the compromises they had included in their products in the past in the name of "better sound." The only one left seems to be the slow filter which is the easiest to fix: give us a selectable DAC filter like many budget DACs do. Otherwise, this Marantz AVR performs similarly to its Denon counterparts from audio performance point of view with is a major step forward.

I can recommend the Marantz SR8015 AVR.

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As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

Appreciate any donations using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/

Thanks for another good review.

My thoughts are why can’t Marantz do this good with their pre-pros? It makes no sense at all that they can’t get this or better performance out of the 8805.

I’ve heard it said that they do extensive listening when they are designing, which of course you would. But I understand that they’re tuning by ear, at least that’s what the buzz was back in 2015 or so. Anyway it looks like this is a pretty nice AVR.

Still waiting for a affordable ($5000 or less) golf club swinging panther AVR. Even if I can hear the difference, I wanna know what measures well before I drop that kind of money on one.

Thanks again good job as usual.

 

[Deleted member 43441]

sadly I live in Hong Kong, so it's highly unlikely to happen but anyway

I’ve seen how they drive over there, that’s out of the question lololol!

It would be a cool visit though.

I am from the US, but I was married in Kenya Africa, man they don’t even have stoplights over there… or stop signs. Seriously in Nairobi there’s like four stoplights.

 

[Deleted member 43441]

Why no XLR inputs on this AVR?

They should get rid of the component jacks and put a couple XLR’s on this.

 

[peng]

Thanks for another good review.

My thoughts are why can’t Marantz do this good with their pre-pros? It makes no sense at all that they can’t get this or better performance out of the 8805.

I’ve heard it said that they do extensive listening when they are designing, which of course you would. But I understand that they’re tuning by ear, at least that’s what the buzz was back in 2015 or so. Anyway it looks like this is a pretty nice AVR.

Still waiting for a affordable ($5000 or less) golf club swinging panther AVR. Even if I can hear the difference, I wanna know what measures well before I drop that kind of money on one.

Thanks again good job as usual.

The difference is, the 8015 had the same HDAM used in some of the integrated amps and they likely do not introduce the added distortions and noise that those in the 2019/2010 avrs and avps might have done. Imo, it would probably be best if they eliminate the HDAM altogether but then it would become virtually the same as Denon's. Or they could replace the HDAM with some high quality OPA ICs that have better specs than the discrete, HDAMs.

 

[Deleted member 43441]

The difference is, the 8015 had the same HDAM used in some of the integrated amps and they likely do not introduce the added distortions and noise that those in the 2019/2010 avrs and avps might have done. Imo, it would probably be best if they eliminate the HDAM altogether but then it would become virtually the same as Denon's. Or they could replace the HDAM with some high quality OPA ICs that have better specs than the discrete, HDAMs.

Ahhhh I get it.

So this is to differentiate themselves from Denon?

 

[Deleted member 43441]

I would have to think that they need to do some re-designing. I think there’s revamping coming soon for Marantz, and I welcome it. Mine has served me well, but I’m not buying one that looks just like it.

 

[peng]

Ahhhh I get it.

So this is to differentiate themselves from Denon?

I don't know but I think so, that would affect analog and digital inputs. On the digital side, they have the same DAC (vs D's comparable models), but they use the slow roll off reconstruction filters that would differential their FR slightly, though the difference would be too insignificant for me to hear a difference.

 

[peng]

I would have to think that they need to do some re-designing. I think there’s revamping coming soon for Marantz, and I welcome it. Mine has served me well, but I’m not buying one that looks just like it.

For sure, even the AV8802A is quite different.

 

[Sal1950]

My thoughts are why can’t Marantz do this good with their pre-pros? It makes no sense at all that they can’t get this or better performance out of the 8805.

I wouldn't be surprised to see some improvements in the near future. I'm sure
D-M doesn't enjoy seeing their flagship brand getting beat-up here and at a couple
other sites, over the Denon's

My AV-7703 sounds just fine to me and I see no new "can't live without" codec's
in the new or future units. Also I have no room for any additional channels over
my current 5.2.4 setup. So unless my Marantz lets the smoke out, I can't see my
self replacing it any time soon.
Then again if they were to come out with a new unit with stellar numbers (or at least very good)
my paranoia might force me to open my wallet again. LOL

 

[Deleted member 43441]

I wouldn't be surprised to see some improvements in the near future. I'm sure
D-M doesn't enjoy seeing their flagship brand getting beat-up here and at a couple
other sites, over the Denon's

My AV-7703 sounds just fine to me and I see no new "can't live without" codec's
in the new or future units. Also I have no room for any additional channels over
my current 5.2.4 setup. So unless my Marantz lets the smoke out, I can't see my
self replacing it any time soon.
Then again if they were to come out with a new unit with stellar numbers (or at least very good)
my paranoia might force me to open my wallet again. LOL

What understood. Your 7703 Was actually recommended to me by the manufacturer of my Pascal amplifiers. I believe that’s what he uses in his music room.

Like you said I don’t hear anything detrimental in mine either, and mines a couple generations before yours.

I’m not ready to buy yet, but probably within two years. When I do I would like to lose the look of my current AV8801. We shall see, thanks for responding.

 

[oupee]

So I used a screwdriver. There is little space and it is not possible to take pictures there.

 

[MacCali]

This is one of those questions for which there is no single clear answer.

Take SINAD, an inverse of THD. Lots, TONS of research that shows that THD is poorly or not correlated with our perception of harmonic distortion (and that is only one form of many distortions a product produces). On one hand, if the SINAD value exceeds 100, we can likely argue that the chance of there be any audible harmonic distortion is nill. Those harmonics sit so far below the noise floor of any room as to be impossible to hear.

But a product with a SINAD of 60 might sound just as good if the makeup of the harmonics is benign. A product with a SINAD of 75 might sound totally awful.

What about amplifier output? I've experienced audible clipping of normal 100x7 receivers in home theaters with efficient speakers. Others have told me I'm nuts and they can't hear it. The research into the audibility of clipping amplifiers is nearly non-existent. There has been some casual studies at shows, but nothing that exhaustive and nothing establishing thresholds.

We have wonderful measurements to characterize the quality of engineering for a product, but not the sound quality. If something measures really well across the board, it should sound really good. If it doesn't measure well, it still might sound really good. We would need to investigate more what the specific problems are and its very possible we don't have measurements that correlate well with perception.

Speakers have the most research into the sound quality factors that matter, but even speaker research hasn't fully characterized the limits of what matters. We don't really know exactly how smooth a speaker's response needs to be for it's amplitude distortions to be inaudible. The research many point to was based on contrived signals in which resonances were introduced over headphone or over speakers in an anechoic chamber or special low noise listening room. In practice, small resonances that are audible in isolation may not be with music in a typical room. There is also strong evidence that we adapt to such resonances very easily, so it might be audible, but less of a concern than other factors of sound we don't adapt to, like spatial qualities. Or directivity? Is a single directivity index ideal? Shape ideal? Research wasn't conclusive on that, and even if it was, there is good argument to be made that it would remain content dependent due to a lack of standards and big circle of confusion. In fact, I would argue it would be use case specific as crosstalk in sound field recreation is a huge problem and makes narrow controlled dispersion very important to accuracy. It is likely this is true of surround/multichannel systems and the research suggests that is probably true. But for music, I think all bets are off. There is a good argument to be made for wider dispersion in a fairly lively room as being the more "real" sounding system, if live acoustic music is our point of comparison at least.

Matthew I have a question for you, maybe you can bring to light what my experience is, as to my knowledge it's led me to believe that anyone can believe something sounds good under these circumstances. Which is why so many ladies and gentleman are in here attacking Amirs posts, I can say you can clearly hear the difference between a well measuring and a bad measuring unit. However, the difference is what makes it so easy to get these comments going and creating somewhat of an attack on Amir, ASR, and its members.

My question is Amir measured an amplifier I purchased way back, even when I believed in measurements this unit was cheaper than dinner at most restaurants. It has a sinad of 36 dB, it's a hybrid tube amplifier. It's running on a 300 dollar pair of tower speakers which you can imagine cant be outstanding, nor have had raving reviews. The source was an apple airport, using airplay. This is a secondary system I have just to listen to music. Everything in this chain is basically broken, I cant say if synergy has any influence. The amplifier has HORRIBLE, I believe even Amir commented it's one of the worst and incompetently manufactured products he's come across. Every measurement was a mess.

But to me the unit sounds good, and mind you this unit lacks power and I am running it at almost 95% volume which is where distortion etc should be hay wire. How can this be realistic? I'm not saying it's the best sounding amp ive ever heard in any fashion, but something that measures so bad yet does not sound god awful has me baffled. As mentioned this leads me to believe when someone says something sounds good and screw measurements helps me to understand where this coming from. If something like this sounds pretty alright to my ears. This is no bluff or ploy, I am just not understanding what's going on here and how it's possible I have absolutely no desire to chuck it in the trash LOL and honestly I switch to that amp at least a couple times a week.

I would really like to understand what is going on or how this is even possible.

 

[peng]

Matthew I have a question for you, maybe you can bring to light what my experience is, as to my knowledge it's led me to believe that anyone can believe something sounds good under these circumstances. Which is why so many ladies and gentleman are in here attacking Amirs posts, I can say you can clearly hear the difference between a well measuring and a bad measuring unit. However, the difference is what makes it so easy to get these comments going and creating somewhat of an attack on Amir, ASR, and its members.

My question is Amir measured an amplifier I purchased way back, even when I believed in measurements this unit was cheaper than dinner at most restaurants. It has a sinad of 36 dB, it's a hybrid tube amplifier. It's running on a 300 dollar pair of tower speakers which you can imagine cant be outstanding, nor have had raving reviews. The source was an apple airport, using airplay. This is a secondary system I have just to listen to music. Everything in this chain is basically broken, I cant say if synergy has any influence. The amplifier has HORRIBLE, I believe even Amir commented it's one of the worst and incompetently manufactured products he's come across. Every measurement was a mess.

But to me the unit sounds good, and mind you this unit lacks power and I am running it at almost 95% volume which is where distortion etc should be hay wire. How can this be realistic? I'm not saying it's the best sounding amp ive ever heard in any fashion, but something that measures so bad yet does not sound god awful has me baffled. As mentioned this leads me to believe when someone says something sounds good and screw measurements helps me to understand where this coming from. If something like this sounds pretty alright to my ears. This is no bluff or ploy, I am just not understanding what's going on here and how it's possible I have absolutely no desire to chuck it in the trash LOL and honestly I switch to that amp at least a couple times a week.

I would really like to understand what is going on or how this is even possible.

To some people, even -30 dB can sound good, but to a lot of people that may sound bad. That's why I believe in specs and measurements more, then I can decide for myself without relying on what others say about the sound quality they perceived. Supposing someone who loves a certain tube amps that offer tons of 2nd and 4th harmonics resulting in up to say -30 dB level of THD and then if I bought it and found it sounding awful to me, then am I going to say, oh tough luck, may be I should try another one that has a different combination of harmonics that are reportedly sweeter and warmer sounding? It would be a very time consuming exercise to audition a large number of amps if one believes in going by ears/brains just because...

If I bought an amp that measures very low in IMD, THD+N, flat FR 20 to 20 kHz, DF > 100 wide band, SNR/DR > 90 dB unweighted and yet I think the sound is boring, then I could turn to EQ/tone control etc., and if that's not enough, I could get one of those DIY harmonic generator, e.g. one of Nelson Pass.

In my opinion talks like Matthew's (I mean specifically the example he used in post#227) sounds like making excuse for an amp that measures 60 dB SINAD at the output, presumably using a 1 kHz signal. Of course he is not wrong that such an amp can sound good to a lot of people if all the other tests point to such a prediction, but there is no excuse for it to have such high THD+N, unless it is one that is purposely designed to please people who prefer those so called "benign" distortions. In that case, the amp manufacturer should specify the kind of harmonics they designed into the amp so customers can make their informed decision.

 

[Miker 1102]

The trouble is that when you have so many channels to amplify, so many cables, so many speakers and so much processing it becomes very expensive and very space consuming to even approach the sound quality of a relatively cheap 2 channel system. As Amir seems to be saying any time he reviews gear like this, it is ok as far as HT stuff is concerned but it can not really compete with good quality 2 channel equipment.

To match what I am getting from my 2 channel system with an HT system I would need so much space and so much expensive equipment that it just does not work for me. I would rather spend my money on other things.

Whatever may be "missing", I find the sound of my 2 channel system immersive and enjoyable when I watch movies. If I really wanted sounds from the side and behind me I would go to a movie theatre. How much do I want it? I want it so much that during the past decade I have been to a movie theatre once. Thats right, one time. So, am I going to spend tens of thousands or maybe hundreds of thousands of $ on something I don't really want and consider a gimmick? No.

What has been the single worst thing that has happened to good quality audio reproduction in the home? Home theatre. A lot of people have spent a lot of money on HT gear and where has it got them? A lot of money spent, a lot of clutter and poor sound quality.

I have a Sony avr that cost 280 dollars that sounds amazing when playing Yes or pink Floyd in 5.1. The most popular record ever sold was Dark Side of The Moon. The record was made by a band which played its concerts in an immersive sound format. My family was in the movie theater business for almost 50 years so I was present when sound in theaters went to immersive formats..especially digital. So here I am well into middle age and I have a dolby sound system with subwoofers in my house..amazing and less expensive then many two channel set ups. I think you missed a lot. 5.1 is not a gmmick now as it's become a broadcasting standard on almost every steaming platform.

 

[Ucftechguru]

I recently purchased a Marantz SR8015 as an upgrade to a Denon x3700. I wanted 13 channels and DTS:X Pro. I read through this thread and many people seem to prefer Denon. I’m now wondering if it will truly be an upgrade. What if I used an external Dac with this? I also have a Denafrips Pontus II. If I use that with the Marantz, will it basically bypass the HDAM filters?

One more question. I have a two channel external amplifier that I plan to use with the SR8015 and another external amp that I plan to use for the center channel. If I disable the Left, Right & Center channel and use the rest of the internal amps to power the surround and height channels, will leaving some internal amps on cause noticeable distortion? I can purchase more external amplification and go full preamp mode. However, another reason I liked this amp was the ability to turn off the LRC internal amps and use the rest. Something that I don’t think can be done with the Denon x3700. I could be wrong but I think the x3700 only had an all or nothing approach to the preamp — the option of full preamp mode or no internal amps shut off.

 

[MacCali]

I recently purchased a Marantz SR8015 as an upgrade to a Denon x3700. I wanted 13 channels and DTS:X Pro. I read through this thread and many people seem to prefer Denon. I’m now wondering if it will truly be an upgrade. What if I used an external Dac with this? I also have a Denafrips Pontus II. If I use that with the Marantz, will it basically bypass the HDAM filters?

One more question. I have a two channel external amplifier that I plan to use with the SR8015 and another external amp that I plan to use for the center channel. If I disable the Left, Right & Center channel and use the rest of the internal amps to power the surround and height channels, will leaving some internal amps on cause noticeable distortion? I can purchase more external amplification and go full preamp mode. However, another reason I liked this amp was the ability to turn off the LRC internal amps and use the rest. Something that I don’t think can be done with the Denon x3700. I could be wrong but I think the x3700 only had an all or nothing approach to the preamp — the option of full preamp mode or no internal amps shut off.

Shows that with an external dac the unit loses 3 db in sinad. Most likely inaudible.

Honestly depending how many speakers you got it would seem that running 5 channels on the amp and the rest on external would create great performance if it’s a massive room you are in.

This amp can basically handle any external amp without an issue based on the output.

I have a 7013 in a small room/average bedroom, unfortunately I purchased it way before ever knowing ASR existed. I predominantly have run 5 or 5.x.2 channels and it gets movie theaters loud and most my content is from streaming which isn’t even ideal sound wise.

But on the bright side of things, I basically got a brand new unit for less than half the original msrp and I wanted 11 channels because I assumed that’s what I needed.

So even if it’s worse than this the price is a huge factor as that’s all I could afford at the time and everyone said you can never get 11 channels for that price. I am aware it’s only 9 channels of amp but my original plan was 5.x.4.

The only other thing I would suggest is getting a cooling fan, as the unit does get extremely hot. If you really want to make it last. You got cooler guys or ACinfinity as options. My unit hardly gets warm with it on when running 7 channels at least

 

[peng]

I recently purchased a Marantz SR8015 as an upgrade to a Denon x3700. I wanted 13 channels and DTS:X Pro. I read through this thread and many people seem to prefer Denon. I’m now wondering if it will truly be an upgrade. What if I used an external Dac with this? I also have a Denafrips Pontus II. If I use that with the Marantz, will it basically bypass the HDAM filters?

You cannot bypass the HDAMs unless you do some modifications (that would void the warranty), they are an extra buffer stage positioned at the end of the preamp/dac signal chain, not filters. Given the very good bench test results of the SR8015 vs the other models such as the SR7015 or AV7705, why would you want to bypassing them anyway? It is the only Marantz AVR models that showed pre out SINAD >92 dB without using the preamp mode or disconnecting the internal FL/R channel power amps.

One more question. I have a two channel external amplifier that I plan to use with the SR8015 and another external amp that I plan to use for the center channel. If I disable the Left, Right & Center channel and use the rest of the internal amps to power the surround and height channels, will leaving some internal amps on cause noticeable distortion? I can purchase more external amplification and go full preamp mode. However, another reason I liked this amp was the ability to turn off the LRC internal amps and use the rest. Something that I don’t think can be done with the Denon x3700. I could be wrong but I think the x3700 only had an all or nothing approach to the preamp — the option of full preamp mode or no internal amps shut off.

From what I could see, the only D+M AVRs that can disconnect individual channels is the AVR-X8500H/HA and the AVR-A110. All other models would let you disconnect the L and R but not C, unlessm as you know, you use set it to preamp mode that would disconnect all power amp channels. That is unless the SR8015 is another exception, but I doubt that.., have you actually tried to disconnect LR and C?