Marantz SA-10 arriving Monday!

Use a better Power chord than the stock one and you will notice a big difference. The Luxman Power Chord on EBAY which sells for around $175 comes highly recommended by several on the SA-10

Hi Anwar. That is pretty good. I will certainly try. But my USB stick is only 32GB. Can only download limited stuff. I will need to burn DVD blanks for DSDs and listen to them. Which is what I have been doing. But interesting that USB can also be done.

What max capacity pen drive do you think will stay under 5v 1A?

@cool_jeeves As long as you use USB stick or external/portable SSD (such as Samsung T5 rated 5V 0.8A), it will stay under 5V 1A. The limit specified by Marantz is:

This unit can display a file structure with up to 8 levels, up to 1,000 folders and up to 2,000 files in 1 folder.

My recommendation is to use USB storage below 500 GB, otherwise SA-10 struggles (takes too long) when reading the folder structure after SA-10 input switched to iPod/USB.

Please also note that Windows 8 or 10 cannot format large USB storage as FAT32, need to use third party tools.

Hi Anwar, I followed your advice. It plays beautifully from my 32GB memory stick. But I have plenty of other old music (80GB) which are from my mp3 collections which I will never really be able to get on my CD. I occasionally listen to this, though the sonics are not really of the standard that the SA-10 deserves. But still old music has its own charm. So I purchased a 128GB memory stick, which I had to use a different formatter to format as FAT32. Once this was done, I copied around 700 folders with less than a dozen files in every folder. I stuffed it into the SA-10 and it played everything flawlessly, and taking no more than 30 seconds to read the stick. But when later it went into standby and i restarted it, it would almost get frozen in "loading" mode and i became a bit worried. So I pulled the pen drive out and reformatted it, and again loaded the files, this time fewer files. The same thing happened. Initially loading took 30 seconds, I played a full day of music, and next morning when I restarted it, the SA-10 took more than 5min before i once more became worried and switched to a different input. Now I dont use PC audio anymore,  after getting the SA-10 and cant live without my old MP3 music either. So regular CDs and SACDs apart, how does one carry on with the 80GB of old mp3 music? thanks a ton for looking.

blueranger

any new sonic discoveries via your SA-10 ?

Happy Listening!

I have it hooked back up to my PS Audio P1000. It might be a little better than my direct line.

blueranger

Nice!  Any new discs or downloads ?

Happy Listening!

blueranger

How is the SA-10 doing in your room/system?
I recently picked up the SA-11S2 player for my collection. My 1st Marantz !!!

Happy Listening!

SA-10 is a stellar multi-talent player. This replaced an Esoteric K-01 which was great, but I don't miss it at all. I enjoyed my time with it. The Marantz needs a top-grade power cord, I found the Audioquest Blizzard and Thunder to bring out all the musical ability this player has, I heard it sound thin, all by switching a power cord, so this tells you how important a power cord is the 1st piece of gear that will feed the rest of your system. The power supply is larger and you can tell because the chassis becomes very warm, while past players like the SA7s1 did not. My Esoteric got very warm also in fact much more, due to it having 4-transformers in the power supply. Well made CD players are like phono cartridges, each gives you a different balance of sound, Esoteric was upfront, dynamic taking no prisoners, the Marantz is about balance, elegance, more laid, back but more natural sounding, it does not throw music at you it presents it to you so you feel like your listening to a performance in from of you. It can rock, the bottom end can shake your room if your speakers are up to it, yet the midrange and highs sound just right, open, airy, with vocals having body and weight to them to sound real. A very nice player, grab one while you can, sounds best using XLR outputs.  

Phillyb you are right on the money, the SA compete with my analog set up, The dynamic of the SA 10 is unlimited.using good pc will give you more.  I read a review of the SA 10, the reviewer said, He thinks it’s the best sacd player regardless of price? Of course not, But it will keep you sitting on your chair longer than you plan. 

You better be prepare to buy quality cabling to enjoy the SA 10, the better the cabling , the better this unit perform.

I find mine sounds best pluggedright into the dedicated outlet in my wall. The power regenerater did not bring out its best

blueranger

Thank You for the update. Power conditioner/regenerator(s) can limit dynamics.

Happy Listening!

Are there power cord recommendations other than Audioquest? I have noticed that with the wrong cable the sound can quickly become thin. I did not expect that from a player described as warm and full-bodied.
I thought a fast and dynamic cable would be great, it may also sound a bit "thin". That doesn't bother in the combination. Man was I wrong.