 
|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
|
|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
69.142.92.197
Dear All:
I sincerely want to hear your opinion on these players. I want to get a new SACD player.
Thank you very much!
Follow Ups:
My Marantz 11S2 was a fairly good sounding player but broke twice when new, was replaced with a new machine that also broke within 6 months, something to do with the laser transverse. A friend had the same problem with his. Needles to say we don't recommend Marantz anymore. I tried a Sony 5400 for a while after that but was not happy with it's slightly clinical sound.
With you description and several others' experience, IMHO, I think the following sequence for equipment in the similar price range (only in order of magnitude) may exist:
Marantz -> Sony -> Esoteric
Warmth of the sound gradually decreases, with the precision of sound image improves.
Based on my own first-hand experience with equipment from various design houses, and impression transcended from reading posts this community over the years, I found my personal preference is towards the far left of the above mentioned experience.
Have you finalized the player yet? Just curious.
I wish the Marantz player had HDCD decoding. The most ideal player on the market is the Cary 306 SACD Professional Version. Has CD/SACD/HDCD decoding/Digital ins/outs, etc. I wish Marantz had a player like this - since scales of economies would tone down the price on a similar Marantz. Would certainly jump on a Marantz like this.
The search for new SACD sound started with the dissatisfication with the sound of my blu-ray player. Starting a couple of years ago, I started collecting opera in blu-ray format. No doubt, BR gives stunning graphics, but sound from SONY player sounds really harsh to me. I am more of two-way stereo person, and I noticed pretty much all opera blu-ray have 2.0 PCM sound track. I was wondering if if a DAC will help improve the sound quality. So I set $400 budget to get a DAC. A few month ago, I went to a local audio store and got miniWyre4sound. I liked miniDAC over PeachTree's DACit for mini'DAC's very dark color compared to DACit, even though both use the same chipset. MiniDAC greatly improve the sound from blu-ray, and all my CD collection, to a point, that SACD from Marantz 6xxx sounds pale and thin.
milpai and everyone, I placed the order of SA11S2 last week. I was told I will not get the equipment until the end of May. There is currently no stock. They are fabricated in Japan and it takes time to ship them here. I greatly appreciate everyone spending time write to me to share your opinion/thought. Those input/ suggestion are extremely valuable, due to the difficulty we encountered to acquire a new equipment - lack of stock of a specific equipment we are interested, unable to compare two different brands of instrument in one location, just name few. IMHO, Each of us have different opinions on what an "absolute sound" really means, depending on how we perceive subjectively what a great sound really is. Comparing the detail description of sound characters from different equipment from you with my own experience of listening them, will give myself fairly good ideas what a specific equipment's ranking on various performance in a series of equipment.
I will let you know my experience once I receive SA11S2.
"Economies of Scale" are relevant and important. For both the R&D that goes into products such as the Marantz Reference Series SACD players and the ability to offer them at very reasonable prices. I've written before that if these Reference Series players were made by smaller companies like Ayre, Playback Designs, etc., they would sell for 2 - 3 times the price that Marantz charges.As for the poster above who had three SA-11S2s go bad between him and a friend: I don't doubt it, but they must be very unlucky. This is the first time I have heard of the "laser transverse" problem. Several google searches didn't find anything either.
Of course the proof will be in the sound, so please do report back. You may want to start a new thread as this one is working its way down towards the bottom of the page. Give the SA-11S2 a little break-in time and don't forget that main power fuse!
Gerry
Edits: 05/02/12 05/02/12
Gerry, I will report back what I will hear when I get the equipment, thank you and everyone else on this thread in helping me.
****They are fabricated in Japan and it takes time to ship them here***
Curious, where is "here"?
Robert C. Lang
Robert, "here" means US. I forgot this is a global discussion platform.
Good to know that you finally made a decision. Yes, will be interested in hearing your opinion on this Marantz. I like the Marantz line in general.
I own a Marantz SA 11S2 and an Esoteric X-05. And contrary to what others have stated I've found the Marantz player to be more forward and the Esoteric to be more even-handed in presentation. I like both machines, but the Esoteric resides in the main rig.
Now, how my X-05 compares to the SA10 both in performance and price I don't know. I've been told that the X-05 was a bit of a departure from the Esoteric house sound. This may be something for you to consider.
Regarding the SA11 S2, evidently Marantz has done some tweaking along the way because the older SA11 S2 I brought home to demo sounded more forward in the upper mids/low treble than the newer unit which I later purchased. The newer unit was an improvement IMHO.
DPM, thank you for your response and info in regard of both X05 and 11S2. I wonder if you can share the information on the cable you use? When I purchased my speaker cable and interconnect, I tried about 8 different manufecturers with products at different points, i found my system can have completely different sound character.
The evolution of 11S2 is new to me, and is truly encouraging.
I'm not one for hopping onto the audiophile interconnect/speaker cable merry-go-round. Do cables sound different? Yes. But those differences are minor compared to those changes brought on by changing components, speaker positioning and room acoustic treatments.
Having stated the above, most of my cabling was manufactured by a company (now out of business) called Cobalt Cable. The speaker cable is 9 gauge copper with spades, and the interconnect from the SACD player to the preamp is copper with RCA connector. The preamp-to-amp connection is via a set of Mogami quad balanced pro XLR cables. So, nothing fancy. Just solid, well-made interconnects.
Regarding the evolution of the Marantz SA11 S2, the date of manufacture on the back of my unit is July 2011. The date on the back of the demo unit was at least a year earlier--if not more. So, if you want the latest iteration I'd say make sure the date on the back is no earlier than July 2011.
I hope all of this helps you out. Good luck in your search.
Thank you forvsharing the cable information, and more important, the date of the latest evolution of 11S2 you are aware of. I will pay attention on the date of the machine being manufactured.
Because opinions vary--for many reasons, including individual associated-equipment setups, listening environments, and listening preferences--they're probably not going to be that helpful to you. So if it's at all possible (and I appreciate the difficulty of doing so these days), I'd second the suggestion to do your own listening evaluation before you spend your money.Whether or not that's possible, one factor I consider essential in making that kind of purchase is what kind of after-sale technical support you can expect from the vendor, whether you opt for Esoteric or Marantz.
In any event, good luck in your quest. And let us know how it turns out.
Jim
http://jimtranr.com
Edits: 04/22/12
Hi, Jim and Disbeliever:
Actually, I listened to both DV60 of Esoteric and Marantz SA7 before. I am well aware of the more analytically sound of Esoteric and warmer sound from Marantz in general. Given that I want to control my budget below $3500, and no dealer would like put SA10 or 15S2 or 11S2 on display, I would like to hear your opinions how these three players compared to each other, because each those lower line product has something compromised, so the comparative description from you who actually have heard of them can be helpful to me. Sometimes, what you like may be what I like, but sometimes, what you don't like may be what I like.
I think my taste is consistent, got a speaker of Dynaudio Contour 3.4 (after listened about 20 brands in that price range) driven by Luxman 550A. In general, I like the tune/color of Cardas Cable, regardless of speaker cable or interconnect.. I normally like the tweeter made of soft-materail instead of metallic/diamond kinds. Hope this will give you some clue of my preference is,
Thank you very much for spending time replying my question.
$3.5k on a unit, I'd expect the dealer to provide me a home demo option.
> > Sometimes, what you like may be what I like, but sometimes, what you don't like may be what I like. < <
Well, that's neither here nor there, it's YOU that's spending $3.5k on a component - and it's YOU who needs to justify and live with that choice over a long period of time, which is the real test. Therefore, no matter what others have experienced, although helpful, due diligence is still your better option.
tb1
TBone, thank for suggesting for in-house demo. Never know this can be done. Like what you have mentioned, I am fully aware the sound characters of Marantz and Esoteric, and strongly inclined to go with Marantz. However, my experience also told me that sound characters can be tweaked by the carefully selected cables. I found this through my experience of purchase the speaker cables. Thanks to thecableco.com in PA, I experienced about 20 cables from 8 manufacturers, and found my system sound significantly different on different cables. So I expected that I can rely on the cable selection to tweak the system later on, because I found SA10 has so many useful features.
The sound can also be influenced by an upgraded main power fuse. I'm in the Marantz Camp (SA-7S1), so IMO your inclination to go with the SA-11S2 is the correct one!
The SA-11S2 wasn't available yet when I bought my SA-7S1, but if it was I would have bought it instead. It probably gives you at least 90% of the performance of the SA-7S1 for half the price.
Upgrade the main power fuse in the SA-11S2 with a Hi-Fi Tuning Supreme fuse and you will know you made the right choice. The upgraded fuse will add that last bit of missing dynamics but the player will retain its overall warm and smooth sound. BTW, I upgraded the other fuses in my unit and while they made an improvement, it was not nearly as much as the main power fuse.
Gerry
Thank you. I will look into the fuse upgrade when I complete my purchase!
Good choice! You may want to check out the reveiw at the link below. Especially the section towards the end where he writes about replacing the fuse and the results.
Gerry
Thank you for sharing the review. It also addressed my dilemma between 11s2 and 15s2, whereas 15s2 is similar to SA-KI Pearl.
Better fuses can or may improve any piece of equipment not only the Marantz SA7-S1 & SA11-S2
Better fuses can or may improve any piece of equipment not only the obese over engineered SA7-S1 & SA11-S2
> > Because opinions vary--for many reasons, including individual associated-equipment setups, listening environments, and listening preferences--they're probably not going to be that helpful to you. So if it's at all possible (and I appreciate the difficulty of doing so these days), I'd second the suggestion to do your own listening evaluation before you spend your money. < <
Agreed, however one could loosely come to a pseudo conclusion per each unit without really having to hear 'em in comparison to each other. The fact is that both the Esoteric and the Marantz have a built-in "house" sound that is both unique ... and different.
Ex: If you prefer more warmth, body and punch to the music, or you system as a whole is in need of such intervention, the Marantz could very well be the ticket. If you require a more transparent faster, wider more traditional type "leaner" digital sound, the Esoteric would ...
Kinda like choosing between a Lyra and a Benz, you'd probably know 'going-in' what to expect.
That said, obviously a home demo would provide you the sonic answers on a more conclusive basis.
tb1
If you have a good DAC, consider an HDMI audio de-embedder (do a search). They are cheap. A friend of mine was going to buy a $3k SACD player and after getting the Monoprice de-embedder decided not to.
So I checked the web and I believe what you suggested is to using a better DAC to through PCM decoding. Is this the correct understand?
Monoprice Product ID 5557 (which is made by Port-ta, a Hong Kong co.) will work with many players and it is under $50. I have a Modwright modded Oppo BDP-83 and prefer going through the de-embedder via my Bryston DAC. I also use one in the secondary basement system with an Emotiva DAC. I have about 300 SACDs and I find it a tough sell to move to the next level for an SACD disc spinner knowing I'm probably going to have to spend $4k+ to top what I have (my friend was set to buy a Marantz SACD player before he tried the de-embedder). At $4k, I'm spending $13/disc for the capability to play it. I can still use a DAC for CDs, DVD-As and even audio on Blu-Rays (not to mention PC Audio at resolutions more than CD).
HighEndWire(A), thank you very much for suggesting a new route. I would certainly to give it a try. However, I am wondering if my SACD signal will be passed to de-embedded properly. My current player is 6 years old. It has a HDMI, but don' t know if it allows SACD signal be extracted by HDMI. Currently, I am using a wyre4sound DAC to up sampling the audio signal 2.0 PCM from a blu-ray player using 75ohm coaxial cable to 24/196. It has been working beautifully.
You need HDMI 1.2 or higher for it to be passed. You probably could pick up a used Oppo though. The DV980H I have in the secondary basement system is probably around 6 years old and I use it with an Emotiva DAC. You can also use the DV980H as a region free DVD player easily too. They probably go for around what they sold new - $170.
I did notice now some oof the opera blu-ray I have are TrueHD2.0 instead of PCM 2.0. Quite interesting, it still passes my Wyred4sound DAC w/o issue. However, it seems that I should get de-embedder to have my blu-ray operated properly. Will follow your advice to look into it. Thank you.
From my considerable experience none of them. Now that the Sony XA5400ES has disappeared I would not know what to recommend. SACD sounds best in mch.
With your considerable experience with these players, would you mind giving us a comparison in regard of audio characteristics? I was thinking of SONY, I am surprised it is "out of print."
I did buy the Marantz Sa7-S1 which is a better version of the two Marantz players you mention and quickly sold it on. Whilst some reviewers like the cheaper Marantz What Hi-Fi ? do not and their description of the sound is exactly as I found with the Marantz SA7-S1 well built but IMO not very good for the high price. Same goes for the Esoteric which I have only experienced in a Dealers dem too clinical. You have to if possible hear players for yourself and choose the one you like best and take no notice of me or anyone else.
Post a Followup:
| FAQ |
Post a Message! |
Forgot Password? |
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:
Top of Page ]
[ Contact Us ]
[ Support/Wish List ]
[ Copyright © 2024, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ]
