|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
219.78.11.15
In Reply to: SA-11 is a very good player at its price point posted by mose on December 29, 2004 at 09:13:21:
What type of sonic characteristics does it have? I know Marantz is kind of warm in mid range. Does it give good analytical performance?
Follow Ups:
The player is more straightforward than and not as warm as the 8260, though I liked the 8260 in its pricerange. The SA-11 is musical and full bodied, detalied and timbre is very good -- the player is not especially colored or overly warm. Its SACD section is excellent. It is, on both SACD and CD, more analogue in its presentation than other players I have heard in this price range(although CD may miss the final degree of realism available with very special DACs or more expensive one-box players). Evidently, reb finds the player overly analytcial, thin and/or bright, but my experience is different from his. Again, I do nto think it is as good as a good record player, but I have not heard digital that is. SACD playback from the SA-11 is as close to vinyl as I have heard. I wonder what players reb is comparing it to and which ones he likes better.
I've had my SA-11 for over a month now and during that time it's become even sweeter and smoother than I would have thought possible. This is definitely NOT a harsh or aggressive player. Indeed if I was to be critical then I would say that it may be a little too laid back on many discs. Now that the player has bedded in I'm finding that many CDs are best with filter 3 and noise shaping on. These filter options are definitely not a gimmick as some critics are claiming, and I'm certain that anyone who owns a SA-11 will definitely agree. If reb thinks this player is bright and harsh then he definitely has major problems elsewhere in his system. My Infinity EMITs are not tolerant to even the slightest hint of grain, glass or edge, and this player has less of those qualities than I've yet heard from CD. Critisism of the bass is also way off the mark but I can sort of understand the origin. The bass is so clean and free of false bloom that many listeners will no doubt interpret this as lacking in some way. However, if your amps and speakers are up to the task of producing perfect bass to 20Hz (as mine are) then what you'll hear is the the most extended, cleanest and detailed bass imaginable. It beats the absolute pants off my Meridian 508.24 and the SA-12s1 that it replaced. If this player is giving you weak bass and agressive highs I think it might be time for a speaker or amp upgrade, or possibly both. If you don't trust my judgement on this then wait for the review in Stereophile and you'll find all my comments 100% verified. Yes I'm that confident.
If analytical is what your after, then you would love this Marantz.
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors: