Thank You- elizabeth and gulpson.
Marantz SA-10 arriving Monday!
I've been hearing and reading all I can about this player during this last year. I have a 6005 right now and it's a nice player but not as good as my analog rig (10k) so it's not a fair comparison. Elizabeth mentioned that her SA-10 is better than her analog. I will be comparing the 2 SACD players side by side. I have at least 3 CD's in which I have duplicates. I'm fascinated about how the circuitry upsamples to DSD SACD. Well not exactly but somehow an improvement over Redbook CD. I have a 2" thick maple block coming in the same day for it. It's going to be a long weekend. I know it can't work miracles on all CD's. If there is jitter in the recording then supposedly you will never get that out. Speak up if I'm wrong about that.
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jafant, Bob Dylan Blonde On Blonde single layer SACD (one of those first ones released in 1990s) and hybrid from the box (early 2000s) do sound a little different but I am not sure if one is that much better than the other one. It may be that they are mastered differently, though but I do not know details. |
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There was just a SA-10 on Audiogon a few days ago for less than $3000. Probably went for 2500-2700. I have the DX-5 which is a "glorified" Oppo 83. For the approx.3K- 4K you have to spend on a DX-5 the less than 3K SA-10 is a screaming bargain if you dont need it as a Universal player. Your also SOL if anything happens to your 10 Year Old DX-5 as Ayre doesn’t have any lasers or other replacement parts as confirmed by Michael at Ayre. You would have to source a laser (Made in China) if that went but the rest?? Probably going to be a doorstop unless you find a working Oppo 83. |
I almost brought that unit. A gold unit came up later on and I snatched it. It is 800 more but still 600 below new. I had the sa-11s2 and oh boy, the sa-10 is an obvious upgrade. I’m only at the 50 hrs mark and everything is sounding wonderful now. Already surpass the sa-11 in terms of instructment isolation. The soundstage. Micro and macro dynamic. Talking about dynamic, this spinner is one of a kind. Last time I heard a similar sound is at the show with most rooms using the emm labs. The bass go very deep, I explored another layers or two of bass notes compared to the sa-11. The sa-11 is sweeter but maybe a bit too sweet for some. The sa-10 brings it back towards the esoteric type of reproduction more but it is still a touch sweeter than the Ayre. |
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@blueranger , Very strange that you would prefer the TT to SA10. Other owners have mentioned that they can finally give up on TT. But to each his own. I agree with @elizabeth that you might need a good power source for the Marantz. I wanted to upgrade my Oppo. But got feedback that I should try a power conditioner. Then a poster who owns a SA10 and the Oppo 205 helped me decide that I should try a power conditioner first. Will it make the Oppo as good as the Marantz - hell - NEVER. But apparently a good power source can make a source sound "right". The poster also mentioned that with the SA10, he can retire his TT except for the recordings where there is no CD/SACD/digital downloads available. |
The SA-10 is a superb CD player in both formats. Give it the right power cord and it can go against units at 3X the price. Their a rightness about the sound, the design where it by passes the DAC and the conversion 11-Mhz DSD and direct out to your preamp has done wonders to CD and SACD as good as my Esoteric and CD reproduction better. Sold my K-01 and I will miss it, it was a wonderful unit for its time but time marches on, does the Marantz beat it in every way, no, the K-01 is a beast as far as slam, bass and dynamic range, the Marantz gains in other areas, either one you could not go wrong, depending on your system one might meet your needs better, but if you heard the SA10 with a good matching power cord you shake your head. 22K vs. 8K. A classic. Note with a few power cords I tried sounded like hi-fi. The right cord it comes to life. So try different cords till you find the utopia one. SA 10 is a great player, a great value and worth very penny plus some. |
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I've had mine for 4 months and it finally broke in thank god that was a long time!. Using many types of music, the best I've heard was dither off, Filter 1 and noise shaping 3-1. This gave the most transparent, dynamic and superb balanced sound. I used piano, stand up bass, Trumpets, and Vocals. Some all by themselves. These settings were the ones that made it feel like the players were right in the room with the correct tones, weight, and dynamics, natural. Dither 1 rounds things off and warms things up but in a bright system or unnatural like many systems today that would be a good choice for the dither 1 or 2 which might bring the weight and soul back to the music. After break-in, the SA-10 is outstanding in CD and SACD and USB flash drive files. Burning some music for compilations in WAV and even MP3 playback great and musical, WAV outstanding of course. Great value and worth looking into grabbing one, my past players have been Esoteric -X1, K-01, Marantz Sa7, Sony SCD1 and others that I had but had nothing but problems, some big boutique names who use OEM parts and some caused issues with other sections of the player, like overheating and shutting down and not reading discs. Stick with the Players that are built and designed from the ground up like Sony's, Marantz, Esoteric and a few others. |
No the Esoterics and Sony's and Marantz have been fine, not to say they never would have issues. Japanese players I've used have work and worked well even after I sold them one 15 years later and still was going it was Sony CPA 7ES. The 1st player that blurred the Vinyl copy to the CD copy. The small boutique ones are build from using OEM parts, the 3 I've used all had issues and one had several due to the design and they replaced it with 3 new ones. The last one worked the best. They make good amps and preamps so I will not say the names. But lessoned learned. One of the best power cords for the Marantz' and others that float the ground, 2 pin IEC inputs does not cost an arm or a leg, it is the Luxman Power Cords JPA 1500 this cord came with my C800F preamp and I never used it due to being a "stock cord" well I did finally try it and my jaw dropped. The key is plugging it with the right polarity (Pins are both the same so you can flip it), The Luxman as a polarity check on the back on the preamp and lights up if the plug orientation is wrong with the writing facing up the light turns off showing correctly polarity. With the arrows and writing fact up above the ground opening, not facing down towards the ground input. I purchased a 2nd one to try with the Marantz SA-10 and again a home run. I tried it on my Sub Woofer that using floating ground also, 2 pin IEC and the same positive impact. So good I no longer look for a power cord for these units. This same cord is used for their high powered amps also. Even a reviewer said the stock cord was really good. Not that expensive and beat others costing 3-4 times as much, so good design by Luxman. This lame argument of vinyl vs. CD no longer is an issue, it now more the quality of the production itself. Vinyl sucks and so does CD if the source is badly recorded, compressed, or just processed. I grew up with vinyl. So the SA-10 is real good, Esoteric K-01 is really good and some others with today's DAC's used and 30 years to understand the format, much like viny improved between the 30's to the 50's the sound quality was night and day better. Digital also had the same growth. I have 1,300 plus CD's some collectible and no way am I going to start over and rebuy what I already own again, and some will never be on vinyl. I love vinyl but I don't miss it one bit nowadays that how good these new generations of players are. Today your room as more impact on the quality of sound than any current CD player or Turntable or stream file. The formats are just that good today and in the present, I like the physical so I will keep buying, those who like portable music and buying on tunes they like Streaming downloads work great, but that is not my cup of tea. |
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Hi SA-10 owners, anyone tried changing the footers of the player? I took out the original footers and replaced it with 4 pcs of IsoAcoustics Iso-Puck, a product meant for pro audio / studios, pretty inexpensive. I was very surprised with the improvement in sound quality (more analog sounding and better definition), especially when spinning CD/SACD. I know IsoAcoustics has the OREA series for home audio but more expensive. Definitely worth trying the Iso-Puck, especially if purchased from merchants which allow return. |
Here is a repeat of a post I put on AudioAsylum. This thread seems more active. I will add that the player is still pretty new, and that I have not yet swapped out the supplied power cord with a Shunyata Venom that I have on hand. Well, I finally gave in, and in an act of self-indulgence, ordered an SA10. It arrived Monday, and I'e been listening through it for a few hours by now. I must say that it sounds wonderful. I have not done any A/B comparisons with the SA14 (tedious and not fun), so my impressions are based only memory, but here they are, in brief. The main difference, I think, is the big improvement in imaging realism and especially depth and ambience. Singers and instruments, and the relations among them, are much more clearly placed. Before the SA14 I had an Onkyo CD player, which sounded okay but gave a very flat presentation. The SA14 was a big improvement, but still didn't come close to matching my vinyl setup in that regard on CD's (SACD's were better.) Two examples: 1: the wonderful Maazel recording of 'Enfant et les Sortileges" gives a marvelous feeling of where the singers and instruments are and of the enclosing space, esp. in the garden scene, and 2: Zizi Mueller's performance of Crumb's "Idyll for the Misbegotten. In the latter, on vinyl, the flute sounds very focussed but very distant (the score notes say "as if across a lake") The SA14 gave a sense of depth, but the SA10 does much more. In both the flute tone itself is very pure and beautiful, but the vinyl gives it more texture. In addition to better imaging, there is also better rendition of inner detail, both on SACD and CD's. The SACD version of Patricia Barber's rendition of "Summertime" on her"Distorsion of Love" is absolutely breathtaking: one can hear every subtle nuance of her phrasing and shaping, and the bass line is also excellent. Another example: the recording The Magic Flute (with Fischer-Dieskau and Schwarzkopf) now sounds fabulous on CD. I had written before that, through the SA14, the CD could not match the thrill of the vinyl recording. Now it comes close: spatially, and emotionally. Although, at least in my setup, the vinyl has a bit of extra thrill in the soprano voices, the CD version is just about as fun overall. I do think my cartridge is faster. For example, in the cat duet in l"Enfant, the "pfffft" sound is stunningly fast and clean on vinyl, but on the CD sounds breathier and a bit blurred. I have 60 days to decide if I want to keep the SA!0 or the SA14, and I suppose I really ought to do some A/B tests before deciding if the very great extra expense of the SA10 is worth it to me. So far, I think it is. However, I must say that the SA14 is very good and an outstanding value. If I send it back to Music Direct, someone should snap it up. |
Big Chill was poorly mastered. But it also was out of absolute phase. If you are using XLR's with the SA-10 go to settings and check the phase and reverse it and listen. I check all my CD's to make sure my phase setting is correct. Some gear pin 2_is hot or cold depending on the gear, but many recordings including vinyl were recorded out of absolute phase. My Quad speakers really let you know when the phase settings are wrong. |
I got an SA10 for myself a few months ago, and I must say that it is an incredibly natural sounding player, plus great detail retrival, slam and musicality. I spent serious time on RCA vs XLR, and settled on a suitable pair of XLRs (VDH Second). I want know two things - is there a concept of a firmware update? should one screw around with this given that the player is doing very well as it is ? Secondly, how does one play off a USB stick? how does one control browsing? When I try it just says format "unsupported". |
@cool_jeeves Format the USB stick as FAT32, otherwise it will not get recognized. Also, USB stick or external SSD power consumption must be less than 5V 1A. I’ve tried Samsung EVO internal SSD as external drive (with SATA to USB adapter) and it does not get recognized. Please organize the songs in the USB stick by folder, then from SA-10 remote, press the MODE button to browse the songs by folder. Browsing folders can be done using the 4 arrow buttons + ENTER above MODE/TRIM. Once you start playing song with ENTER button, skipping songs use the regular buttons. I recommend you try listen to free DSD downloads (from the USB stick) as the SA-10 sounds the best with DSD. https://dsd-guide.com/where-can-you-find-dsd-music-downloads#.XjPSLGgzZaQ |