Marantz dv-8400 as an audio-only player

Bailey,

If you are only using the Marantz as a redbook CD transport, I would think you would be better off selling it and purchasing a dedicated CD player or dedicated CD transport. There are lots of great CD players or transports available for well under $1000 USD.

You could get an Audio Note, Rega, CEC, Parasound, Camelot, etc.

Enjoy,

TIC

I own the 8400 and their are a few points to ponder on this machine. The video is good, but so are many machines costing much less. I use an Iscan Ultra and get breathtaking video , and I dont care to knock myself out trying to get the best video DVD player because its "not for sale yet" . That will be some form of high def DVD video player. The second issue is the two 2 channel outs on the back of the machine. The first one which is used for high res , has an HDAM chip, the second one a cheap op amp, so I discovered if you play redbook Cd through CD 1 out {the one you are using for multichannel, the sound quality is much better}. the Third isssue is as a transport it can be quite good if you consider the following , it has a direct digital out mode which allows 24/96hz signals to pass digitally. Since the machine is your typical lightweight DVD player , simply adding some weight to the top of the machine, can be as simple as adding a couple of heavy books for example, yields a high quality transport sound. The 4th thing is, and I have no idea why, but it loves Cardas Power cords. I know PC's are system dependent , but I have been through two PLC's and 2 preamps and have tested it 3 seperate times and everytime The Cardas made the machine sound analog. The same PC sounds bad on my amp and only fairly good on other CDP's. Hope that is helpful.

I own the 8400 and want to upgrade it as I feel the audio stage is just Ok. If you are using it as a transport you may be interested to know that Marantz uses a Pioneer transport in the 8400. It is the same as Pioneer used in the 47ai. So at that I would sell the 8400 and use the 59avi. Or look at maybe a Rega Jupiter transport.