Denon dcd 110 or Marantz saki Ruby?

I have a black Ruby SA-KI number 819/999
At first I was very disappointed, the sound was not good at all.
My old Sony XA5ES(modified) sounded much better.
What have I wasted money on? Expensive crap.
I thought burn-in may make it sound a little better.
I gave it a chance before I decided if I should sell it for half price.
I used Audacity and an online tone generator to make a mix of frequency sweep (5hz-20124hz at 0db(full signal volume) and used a usb mem-stick as source.
It played for 100+ hours (my tube-amp turned off but connected)
I waited and waited and finally I dared to sit down and listened.
WOW what a difference.
After this treatment the sound is SO much better.
Now it sounds BETTER than the Sony, smoother and more life-like.
This player is in need of some serious burn-in.
My Ruby is a keeper.

@sericolo

So glad it worked out for you. The sound has a dynamic drive unlike any disc spinner I’ve had. A musical authority! It’ plays music. Not about treble, midrange, bass etc. just the music. It is as if I went to a more powerful amplifier.

Hi all,
Now my Marantz sa-ki ruby has been on for, 12400 hours.
Almost all is playing from a USB stick.
I have not noticed any change in sound quality after about 3000 hours. 
My SACD laser still has zero hours, and the CD laser has 256 hours.
So far I like the sound very much. However, at about 5000 hours I turned it off to let it cool down for 23 hours and the sound became harsh and unpleasant. It took at least 48 hours to get the good sound back, so I decided to leave it on all the time.

I have measured the temperature inside the player by sticking a probe through a screw hole, and it’s always around 37°C. So, according to an online electrolytic capacitor aging calculator, the electrolytic capacitors should last at least another 5 years if I never turn the player off. 

How many hours do you have on yours?
 
(1)While holding down buttons "stop" and "open tray" simultaneously, press the power button to turn on the power.
The tray opens automatically.
(2) Insert a CD and press the "close tray" button to close the tray.
(wait until reading the disc.)
(3)Make sure that "Aging Mode" is displayed. Use the skip buttons to go to laser on time TB1 or TB2 then press play to get the time.

 

 

Interested in this thread also. Surprised how little info there seems to be on the Denon. Ruby looks like it might be gone, I realize this thread is 2 years old.

Sericolo,

Where did you obtain the Service Manual for your Ruby player?

Steve