Breakin of Marantz SA8260 SACD player

Its a good idea to leave it on all the time. Digital sources take 48 hours to get to thier prime after being turned off.

I bought mine used, so I can't comment on break-in, but for what it's worth, I have tried leaving the Marantz on for a week straight, and have tried listening to it stone cold, and can personally hear no difference whatsoever. I do leave my amp on all the time, however, and do hear a difference between continuously on and "just-turned on". This may be why I don't hear a difference in the player, as I personally have found amps to sound better when left on, as opposed to CD players. I'm sure it depends on the player and your system. You'll probably get lots of opinions from both camps, so just judge by your own ears. As for the sound of the Marantz, I can only compare it to what I've had in my modest setup. To me, it was more refined, detailed and spacious than a Rotel 991, Denon 1650, and a few $1500 DVD/CD players. It also had better resolution than a Music Hall CD25 and a Rega Planet 2000. The soundstage is very wide and it sounds very balanced throughout the frequency spectrum. A few of the DVD/CD players had more apparent bass weight, but the Marantz bass is very articulate and blends well with the midrage and treble. It's possible that the Marantz bass is more accurate of what's on the disc. It's certainly not a lean player in my system. I heard little difference when using it as a transport verses the other machines. I agree that the review in Stereophile is not really a review, but I do agree with the statement that it really does a nice job with redbook. A lot of SACD players sound good on SACD, but the Marantz was a significant improvement over my previous player on redbook. I've been playing discs that I had written off as unlistenable a while ago, and they are tolerable now. The downside is that it can be a very slow disc reader, and there are tons of them out there, so there's no uniqueness to owning one (if that's important to your ownership pride). I'm sure there's better out there, but for the money, I couldn't be happier.

Ej: Thanks for the info. I'm just in the early stages of "break-in" and so far, the player seems a little "thick" in the bass, but perhaps this will ameliorate over time. I was using a Denon 2910 for audio payback which doesn't sound too shabby for the money, but I was seeking just an audio-only player for my music system which doesn't have any video circuitry to mess with.
Thanks again for the help and if you have any more thoughts, let me know.

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.

Wierd to ask for opinions after you actually made a purchase. But anyways, to answer your 1st question, I would think 100 hours would be a good amount of time to let this player give you an idea of how it sounds. Just leave it spinning a disc on repeat, at least overnight, until you reach or get close to 100 hours. To answer your 2nd question, I would think that Marantz could seem to sound louder because it probably is more detailed than the Denon, but there could also be difference in sound between 2v and 2.2v output. I am not sure if it would be that audible, but it's possible. Anyhow, it's a decent player for the money. There are of course better units for $1000, sure, especially considering the used players and used stand alone DACs. Good luck.