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THE PHILLY B REPORTMARANTZ SA-7S1
CUTTING EDGE PERFORMANCE AT A RESONABLE PRICEThe Marantz Sa-7S1 is one of the most musically satisfying red-book cd players that I have owned, wait you say it is a SACD player also, we will get to that in a moment.
I bring up Red-Book playback first because we all have more 16-24 bit CD’s than Super Audio CD’s and I have heard really good SACD playback on my Cary 306 SACD and the classic Sony SCD1, but neither satisfied me playing back red-book compact discs.
Red-Book playback on the Marantz makes well recorded red-book CD’s sound almost as good as a SACD, I said almost as good, but it will be a jaw dropping experience when you first put on one of your favorite cd’s and hear the resolution, micro to micro dynamics, perfect balance in color and tone from the high’s down to the lowest lows and to me this is more impressive than SACD which by design has a higher resolution, bandwidth and dynamics, though today’s 24 bit recordings are very close to offering what SACD cd’s could do several years ago.
I started with some Opus recording the 15 Anniversary CD that has everything from jazz to classical. I never was that impressed with this CD so I wanted to hear what an average CD would sound like as starting point.
On Here’s that rainy day, Teach me tonight, Georgia Cabin and House of the rising sun were the first cuts I played after the unit was warmed up and playing on repeat for 24 hours. Every cut I played sounded like a re-mastered recording, the stand up bass, piano, horns, the pace, swing and over tones were breath taken, things sounded “right” transparency with air and space around each instrument, but and this is a big but, the music retained it’s body and weight, not like a lot of so called players that are all detail but lacking any feel of weight to the presentation, no soul!
The stand up bass on Here’s that rainy day was full clean and articulate, the snare drum is quick and snaps, soft brush strokes are easy to hear and the sax is full warm and very clean sounding, like you are right in the studio, the piano is full, individual keys and fingering is so coherent it through me, and each instrument had it all spot not over hang or having “to try to listen to follow each instrument”.
But here is the kickers to get this type of reproduction you have to push in the phase inversion switch on the front of the unit; this recording was mastered out of absolute phase, everything comes together, switch it back, a thinness, lack of imaging and a less engaging sound. The is done in the digital domain by the way. My old Mark Levinson preamp had this switch also and I always missed it, now that I have it back and I can check out a recording and make sure I am hearing it in the right phase.
By the way Jazz at the Pawnshop suffers this big time, in fact the first 3 tracks need the phase flip and the next 4 tracks switched back to normal phase polarity! As does Ry Cooder great sound track Crossroads, when you flip the phase the bass comes out of now where and the dynamics are scary.
I played some mono tracks from Billie Holiday (10 CD Sony Box Set) and Frank Sinatra (Concepts). They all had a life to them that I never heard before, my wife came into the living room and said I never heard Billie’s band like that before, and you can hear her vocal changes so easy now, she sounds real sassy like she should.
Frank sounded full with such diction, the horns and the small jazz combo’s took you to the dance hall or the nightclub, happiness, and sadness of his emotion came through clearly. “One for my baby and one for the road” is so simple. Just a piano way in the back of Frank and a bass, and some light strings, again this recording is out of phase polarity, switch it and Frank and the whole recording because simply real, Franks voice now resonates, you can hear the edge to it his articulation and phrasing is much improved, jaw dropping to say the least.
In fact when you get used to hearing phasing right you can pick up a recordings that is not recorded in the right absolute phase, there are a lot of them two, I used to mark my LP’s in the old days, I have to start doing that again.
The unit has 3 filters and noise shaping, Filter one is default I guess, because based on your listening preferences any one of that would be enjoyable, Filter one is the most detailed, the one I used a lot, but I like two also, gave me a rounder sound with just a it of detail lost, there also is a noise shaping switch you can use, that adds a touch of digital feedback, so if I want a bit of Filter 2 but with all the detail and dynamics if filter one just turn on the noise shaper!
Can you see the value in having these tools and your fingertips? The hobby is about the music, and this unit will open up a whole new world to you and reproduce your CD collection, as you may never heard it before.
One note, I use all balanced connections in my system, the SA-7S1 uses pin 2 is cold and pin 3 is hot, my McIntosh gear XLR are configured the opposite, so the phase switch makes it easy to match my pin configuration on my McIntosh.
Listening to SACD CD’s was breath taking, all of the above improved by a factor of 3, this was a surprise to me, it made my old Cary 306 SACD sound, coarse, grainy, and digital and the Cary sounded good, just not very reliable during the 5 units I tried over a years time ending in November.SACD was the best I have ever heard it, much better then the separates DCS which to my taste sound sterile, in fact HP commented on some of the RCA Living Stereo classical recording having a digital coldness to them, and he felt also the DCS gear used for mastering was at fault and I would agree.
The imaging and depth of field is the best of any of the units I have owned or taken home for a long work out. Listening to classical recordings you sense the size of the hall and room, this unit brings out the little things that make you think your hearing a real musical experience.
The last thing I want to comment on is the built quality, like my Sony SCD1, this is the best built unit on the market at a sane price, again the Japanese give you outstanding value along with built quality and design features that would cost 3-4 times as much for smaller companies to produce a unit of this caliber and a big thing for me reliability.
Any down side? none, and I never said this before, I can’t find one, if you want to nit pick you could say the remote because it plastic, but what does a remote do? If what it does it is all you need. By the way the unit looks better in person then any picture you can find of it, it look like a million bucks and it does not cost you $45,000, $30,000, $20,000 or even $8,000.
So to end. You will have a sonic feast, a visual feast, real world filters and phase inversion switches to bring out the best of your recordings be it CD or SACD, this does CD so well that if SACD fades away, I really won’t care because it bring so much out of my normal CD collection that I will not miss it… as much.
Can you call spending $6,900 for a CD player a bargain, I think so, they I not saying most people can afford this unit, but in my experience of ownership of the Sony SCD1, Accuphase DP77, Esoteric X-03, Cary 306 SACD (I hear a big price increase is coming) and the McIntosh MCD201 (it sounded much better then two of the units above) and it not the Sony or Cary.
And having heard at home for a week once the Linn CD12 (the best red-book I ever heard until the Marantz) and that unit back then was $20,000, I guess if you got the cash and you have some gear to sell, then I would say the Marantz SA-7S1 would be worth your investment in it.
This unit does Red-Book and SACD equally well, and I know from some reviewers they have said many times to have a unit of each or add a DAC so you have the best of both worlds, well now you can have one unit that not only does both well, but does them at the current state of the art.
YOU will not regret it!
My Current and for the foreseeable future: McIntosh C200 & MC401 preamp and amp. Dynaudio Confidence 5 speakers and of course the Marantz SA-7S1.
Cables: MIT Magnum 3 speaker wire and interconnects (XLR). Power cables, 2 Oracle Z-3 and Shunyata research Taipan VX for the CD player and two PS audio Ultimate Outlets for the front end gear.
I hope you have a chance to hear this unit, it will be worth your time to do so.
Give peace a chance!
Follow Ups:
Thanks for the review, I've had my eye on that SA-7S1. I'd love to be able to demo one against my Underwood/pcX Ultimate modded SA-11S1. That should be interesting me thinks.
Thanks!I could write part two already, but it just me more of part one with additional raves about this unit.
I am so impressed and happy with it. It really is a special product and it is to bad it cost so much, but compared to other expensive units I have owned it is well worth its asking price and then some.
This unit will be a classic, and I don't need any reviewer from one of those magazine to tell me so and then go out and buy it once they give me permission to do so...smile!!
I was lucky to hear one, and I heard what was special about it right away, ordered mine and never looked back.
I had the one box Mitner at my house last weekend at the Marnatz was better over all. It got the soul!
By the way dynamics are just superb but not in your face like the Cary 306 SACD was when it or I should say they worked, all 5 of mine had problems.
The Marantz is very natural; with out standing depth of field and width when the recording has it, my wife said you could hear the hall so easy on classical recordings that are live.
She also said you can hear the give and take of the instruments and she sat down and listened to a whole CD of Brahms Violin Concerto in D Op.77 with David Oistrakh on Violin. Now this is not my type of music, but I was down stairs and I listened to it and I never heard it sound so moving, and it is not a great recording, but the playing came forth in such a way that you forgot about the tape hiss and other problems with the mastering. EMI Classics budget line.
Another thing that is priceless in having the phase inversion switch, I am listening to Nate King Cole Trio on Capital, I know from when I had my Levinson 380S that this recording was out of phase and every time I played it for the past 2 years it never sounded right, thin and lacking the body and weight to the bottom that I knew was there, so I put the disc on, listened to it for the first time on the Marnatz and felt the same way, hit the phase switch on the front of the unit and its back in its full glory.
Like I said a priceless feature...see I told you I could write another review...smile!
A good friend of mine just sold his Sony SCD1 and should have his Marantz SA-7S1 by the weekend he has a great system so I will be interesting in his feedback, having owned the SCD1 (a classic) I think he will be very happy, in fact jaw dropping.
The only thing I wished they would have done is put the phase inversion switch on the remote, for me it is fine because my rack is right by where I sit, so I can just reach over and push the switch, by my friend will have to get up and walk across the room to do so.
What I do is mark my cd's with an r for reverse, so when I play it I know how to setup the polarity.
Give this unit a listen if you can, perhaps you will like it as much as I do, then perhaps not, but it is worth a listen.
One element of performance of these Marantz players (I own the SA-11S1) that many people have failed to mention is the high output level. I run mine into a passive Sonic Euphoria via balanced output (which is the better of the two outputs), and there is plenty of power to drive my primary monoblock amplifiers, a single-ended subwoofer output, AND a remote system. Indeed, these are powerful, beautiful machines. Have you opened the case? The entire chassis is lined with copper, as are the power transformer and some other PS elements. The only flimsy element is the cover, which should be (and can easily be) mechanically damped.I sold my outboard DAC after I realized it added very little to the presentation of redbook, and the SACD sound is far superior to an expensively modded Sony. If only these companies could produce a reliable laser mechanism. Mine, after two years of heavy use, is beginning to display some of the non-reading quirks so commonly associated with SACD. With all the care these designers take in producing such excellent circuitry, couldn't they spend ten or twenty more dollars on a laser transport that won't crap out after a while? My CAL Audio Icon NEVER failed to read and play a disc, even after more than ten years of very heavy use.
My Sony SCD1 ran fine and is still in use to the person I sold it to. Laser 10 years ago and well made units used a glass lens, then as prices dropped they started using plastic lenes due to cost.I remember when a replacement laser on a Sony ES unit was like $300.00 or so.
I not sure what the laser is made out of on the SA-7S1, but it sure sounds good.
PhillyB, thanks for the excellent review. I was wondering whether you or anyone else here has compared the SA-7S to the Esoteric X-3; both units seem to be the natural upgrade to the very good SA-11S1.
This unit smokes the Esoteric-X-03 hands down, not even close. I owned the X-03 for sound quality way over priced and what of the porest units in bring out the sound of SACD due to it switching it back to PCM, same goes for the X-01 I had at home for the weekend.
Nice review Phil. I also have Confidence 5s and have been considering the SA-11S1 or the new SA-13S1. Thanks, now you have me thinking about the SA-7S1, although I will admit the price is a bit steep for me. Wish I could A/B an 11S1 and a 7S1.
Can you say a bit more about how SACD on the Marantz compares with the same on your SCD1?
The SCD1 was more opaque, not has open with the bloom, pace and speed; I guess a rightness or purity to it. The Marantz is in another class in all ways, a lot as changed in the digital arena since 1999. See highlights.
· Plays SACD-Stereo, CD, CD-R/RW
· Current Feedback Circuitry
· High-Speed Analog Circuit with HDAM® SA2
· Newly Designed Aluminum Transport
· Digital Isolator for D/A Grounding Separation
· Marantz Original PEC (Phase Error Compensation) PEC777f2
· High Accuracy NPC SM5866A5 D/A Converter
· Low Jitter Internal Clock
· External Clock Input
· Phase Inversion for Balanced Output
· Toroidal power transformer w/Copper Shield Case
I have been living with the SA11S1 since the first month they became available and it's the best SACD player I've heard and come to own. It's redbook performance is bested only by my ML37/360S combo at more than twice the price. I have an idea I will get to hear the 7S1 this week. On the one hand I hope I am blown away. On the other I hope I am not as I cannot afford a $6500 audio purchase right now. Then again, I think the 7S1 looks enough like the 11S1 that my wife would not notice...
Yes your right it cost a good few bucks, I sold some gear to help me buy it, and yes you could sneak it by your better half, the front does look the same.....smile!!
It does look conveniently like my SA-11S1. I'd love to ask a question about the phase inverter but am afraid of unleashing that cast of characters once again.
This is god sent, I played several CD's that went from sounding good to great, bass firms up as well as imaging and of course body and extention from top to bottom.It does not hurt to do a quick check if you think something sound lacking, once you get it, you can pick it up very quickly. This is a known fact, not fiction.
If the SA-7S1 is like my SA-11S1, the hot and cold pins are reversed to the general standard. If that is the case, then all the inverter does is get phase back to where it should be. I can understand this may improve the sound on discs with proper phase, but many here on AA say that 50% of the discs are actually out of phase - in these cases the inverter should actually result in a reduced sound quality. Is that what you hear sometimes? I'm debating switching the pins on my XLR's, but am afraid all I will do is make 50% of my discs sound worse. Or is there something I'm not getting??
I belive it will - if you are sensitive to absolute pahse - and if your speakers are phase coherent enough to hear a clear difference.Most multiway cone/dome box speakers have complex crossovers that often invert the phase of one of the drivers (normally the midrange) to give a better measured frequency response - at the expense of phase coherency.
An easy way to find out if you and your system are sensitive to absolute pahse is to take a live acoustic concert recording - NOT a multitracked studio recording -listen to it and then swop the speaker leads over - red to black and black to red on BOTH boxes.
If you hear a difference then I believe you will benefit from absolute phase selection in your system. If not - don't fuss with it until you get some more phase coherent speakers.
But realise that it may take a quite to 'educate" your perceptions - I have found acoustic musicians get it in 2 seconds - real "hifi freaks" may take quite some time longer...
See this is just one on many articles: The Wood Effect is a great book to read. Your looking at the XLR to match your other gear, that just system matching, a recorded disc and if it was recorded in phase or not is totaly different.The switch is a nice option to have to fully enjoy your system. My owner manual and if your unit has the phase switch may bring up recordings that are not in correct phase as the second feature of this feature, my does.
http://72.14.209.104/search?q=cache:CCPSqGD5bCUJ:www.gcaudio.com/resources/howtos/absolutephase.html+absolute+phase+on+recordings&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us
It seems that for the sa-7-s1 the phase switch is only available for the balanced outputs. Is that true and why is that?
No it is a function on XLR and RCA, please keep in mind this swicth does more then just setting up the XLR jacks to match your equipment, it also used to make sure the cd is played back in phase.
Is the phase switch on the remote control?
Because a balanced signal use three wires - one is ground and the other two carry the signal with no signal reference to ground. Hence phase can be easily changed by using a switch to interchange the two active wires: "+" becomes "-" and "-" becomes "+"If the signal is unbalanced, it is routed between one "hot" wire and ground, so if you swop these two you normally end up shorting the signal out to ground and end up with zip - perhaps even damaging something inside.
So to swop phase in an unbalanced signal path normally requires adding a whole extra stage of electronics - and that will often lower the sound quality more than optimising the phase will (perhaps) do.
Clear?
Thanks. It was afraid this would be the case. My amp doesn't have balanced inputs, so I do not know how to profit from this feature. Pitty.
You misunderstood. This feature works with either the RCA or XLR, the phase switch is done in the digital domain and due to that it works using RCA or the XLR outputs per my manual.
If you play a cd or even in the LP days, and check phase you would find some recordings sounded night and day better. The Wood Effect was a great read for me.Counter Point was the first to offer a unit that you could check out and switch the phase during playback of a LP. Early 1980's.
This is a god send feature, so fair several of my CD's have need the phase switched and wow!! image, bass, and extention at both ends and soildness to the prosenatation, that once you hear it, it easy is know when to try the switch and when not to, some recordings just suck though either way, and some you be heard pressed to hear a big difference at all.
This should be a feature that needs to be standard. As far as hurting sound quality who knows, as you know it is all in design.
What I can say is this unit is one of the best CD players I have heard at any price, including a Sony SCD1 that was fully modded.
So if this faetures hurts anything I cannot hear it. This unit is very, very good.
...that you could check out and switch the phase during playback of a LP. Early 1980's"Nope, before that, in 1980 itself, Vacuum State did a front panel absolute phase switch even earlier in the first of the RTP preamps - and using NO extra internal circuitry to enable this, as Audio Research needed later.
I never saw another stand alone unit back then. Glad you knew of the importance and value of having that option to use. 90% pf the time you will never use it, but once you learn what to listen for it makes listen to your system and recordings so much enjoyable with the peace of mind knowning your hearing the recording correctly.Some are strange like Jazz at the Pawnshop the tracks one side one are half correct phase and half not!!
Thanks for the review.
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