Marantz SA8005

I've been thinking about one if I keep my Marantz amp.
I'll be watching this thread to hear your thoughts.
 
Congrats! This is where I'd head if I were looking for a new SACDP.

I understand the DAC is superb. Has coax, optical and USB in, and rivals many stand-alone DACs.

Congrats? Heck, I'm jealous.
 
I've been thinking about one if I keep my Marantz amp.
I'll be watching this thread to hear your thoughts.

Congrats! This is where I'd head if I were looking for a new SACDP.

I understand the DAC is superb. Has coax, optical and USB in, and rivals many stand-alone DACs.

Congrats? Heck, I'm jealous.

Gonna be a fun thread, I believe!
 
Huh? What happened to the Line Magnetic, Art? I thought for sure that would be your last cdp.

Please check the Line Magnetic thread. It's all there. This player can't quite replace the 515 but I'm hoping for a player that makes good enough music that I won't miss the LM (uh yeah)..
 
Congrats! Beautiful piece of Marantz craftsmanship. I just got the Marantz NA8005 a few days ago and absolutely love it.

Enjoy!
 
I assume that's good...

Pretty impressive for "mass market" HiFi. Long way to go before one can really make any definitive statements. Takes about 72 hrs powered on for the DAC to settle in and then a couple hundred hrs for the balance of the run in, so a long way to go.
 
Early observation:

The SA8005 presents music differently than any other player I've owned. All of the other players with the exception of the Naim players and the Cambridge players presented a different but similar version of the same events. Tonality, detail and so on may have been a different but the balance or the way they unraveled the meaning in music stayed consistent. This is very difficult to explain.

The Line Magnetic 515 had great tone and excellent detail especially in the bass reqion where it only trailed the Naim CD5X in my experience. The 515 did have a bit of an emphasis in the midrange and that was toward the upper end. This made it occasionally a more difficult listen than the 215 which in SLO mode was a bit more neutral if a bit less like live music.

The Cambridge players I owned were colorless and odorless...in other words they lacked anything that distinguishes dance from close order drill. Lifeless and amusical. I would rather spend the day in the dentists chair than listen to CA player.

The Naim players I owned put the tonal emphasis in the lower end of the midrange and upper bass. Excellent bass detail. The lower registers on the piano were more real with Naim than any other. They also did the best job of getting cymbal detail correct enough to determine what kind of cymbals you were hearing. The LM players were particularly weak in this area. Where the Naim players fell short was with regard to decay of notes which was an LM strength.

The Marantz, so far, and let's not forget that the DAC hasn't even warmed up yet, puts the emphasis in the middle of the midrange. This makes every piece I play sound different than I've heard it before. As yet I can't really determine if I like that or not. Once it has all settled in I will know more.
 
Congrats on your purchase, Mi Man! Art! Nice enjoyable posting with some flesh!

I took notice to the part about the tonality and cymbal detail. Its true some manufactures put a certain emphasis on a certain region of the sound. In my experience with detail and cymbal work....going up the chain in a favorite internect cable is a sure fix...especially in the cymbal work. I've had cheaper priced but none the less, very nice interconnects, but the cymbals as well as the concert of voices where indistinguishable. After spending more money on the same cable company, going up the chain, those things became more detailed and distinguishable in tone and especially in the voices where we could separate the sopranos from the tenor and so on. Not saying this is true in your case, but very well could be as well.

A trade mark of every Marantz I have owned was a fleshed out mid section. But the overall sound was indeed neutral and very satisfying....but of course from me and your past conversations regarding Marantz....you know I am a fan.

Looking forward to your continued evaluation of the SA8005.
 
I wonder how my SA 8001 would compare to the SA 8005? I will be curious if the new player is as warm as the 8001. One day the warmth became too much and I ordered the Sony.
 
I'll be following your reviews Art. I'm looking to replace my YBA YC201. The Marantz is definitely on the radar. Although the Teac CD 3000 looks interesting too.
 
It's been an interesting ride so far.

I didn't change cabling or speaker positioning when I introduced the new CD player to the setup.

Over the course of the first three days the real niggles I have with the player have (had...keep reading) not improved. Bass is quite light compared to the LM515, to be expected. The real problem has been this sort of diffuse sound. In the past I have been able to put a disc in to a player, press play and wait for the music to play as I sat on the floor between the speakers and a clear idea of where the instruments were in the mix would emerge. With this player it was so wishy washy or spongy that it all just blended together. Color me disappointed. I also prefer a bit of a drier sound. Good tone but in a matte finish not a gloss....gloss is what I was getting. Changed speaker positioning and there was no improvement. Interestingly I could hear potential but just couldn't unleash it or perhaps it was wishful thinking.

Last night I had just about thrown in the towel when I decided to ditch my beloved Chord cables and try some others that I had on hand and voila...potential realized. I have been playing a wide variety of music today just to make sure that it isn't just wishful thinking. Jazz, classical, electronica, vocal and so on. No it's not an LM515 but it ain't half bad...more to come as there is a lot of break in to go...stay tuned.
 
Really...
Did you have the chameleons or the Cobras?

Odyssey 2 and Chameleon Vee 3. Great cables, just not a good match with this CD player Worked great with the LM 515. I also have Carnival Silverscreen and Cobra Vee 3's which I didn't try.

What's working is Analysis Plus Oval 12 and Kimber Hero. They did not work well at all with the CD6004 and KEF LS50's. Every system is different. I might try PBJ and Clear Oval with the latter system. Concerned about trying Kimber speaker cable...we'll see. I'm certainly not going to spend any real money on more cables.
 
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