2. digital
  3. 1139184843

Breakin of Marantz SA8260 SACD player

I just took delivery this past Wednesday of the Marantz 8260 player for use in my dedicated 2-channel music system which consists of Maggie 3.5s, ARC LS-3B preamp, Bryston 4B-SST power amp,Grado PH-1 phono preamp and Linn Axis table. How long does it take to break in this player and is there any advantage to leaving it on all the time, so that the DACs stay warmed-up? This player sounds a little louder than the DEnon 2910 I was using. I checked the output specs and found that the Marantz is 2.2v while the Denon is 2v. Should this produce an audible difference in loudness, assuming the preamp is set at the same level?
What's everyone's opinion of this unit? Stereophile rates it Class A, but the review that rating stems from isn't what I'd call a full-fledged review. Thanks.
william_moore

Showing 3 responses by milpai

milpai's avatar
milpai
2,322 posts
 
I leave mine in "Standby" all the time. I don't see much difference between OFF/ON on this player. But 1 thing I noticed was that it now sounds much better than what it was brand-new.
Opinions on this unit - this is a superb unit. I have compared it with RBCD players costing upto $2500 and exchanged mails with fellow audiogoners/asylum-inmates who have done similar comparison. This player sometimes outperforms those players or gets very very close to their sound. Some hardcore audiophiles rate the RBCD playback ability of this unit as Class B because there are other CD players in the range of > $10,000 whose RBCD playback is awesome. For me - considering the price I paid - I rate the Marantz SA8260 as Class A. But thats me.
milpai's avatar
milpai
2,322 posts
 
Hififile,
This is good news. I posted on audioasylum about the SA8260's capability to drive headphones. Which Grados are you using? I am thinking of Sennheiser 555.
milpai's avatar
milpai
2,322 posts
 
I believe Mike was trying to stress that at that price point it is the king - no other CD/SACD player comes close to it's sound quality in it's class. I have personally compared to CD only players costing upto $2500 and it would be very very difficult to justify the $1500 price difference.

I personally don't look at Stereophile's rating to make my buying decision. But this player is damn so good that despite some of it's known flaws, I luv it. I will have to spend a lot more to get an SACD player 1 notch up.
More to discover