Marantz SACD 30n vs ND8006 / CD50n


Hello,

About 12 years ago I listened to the old Marantz Pearl and Pearl Lite players in a shop.

Even after so much time I remember well the main differences that led me to the final choice:

The Marantz Pearl had superior detail and soundstage compared to the Lite, however as one might expect it was more revealing and therefore highlighted the defects present in the 80's pop and rock recordings that I have listened to and listen to mainly.

This is normal, however it also had a rather narrow band at the extremes, enhancing the medium frequencies more with a consequent lower and less pronounced bass compared to the lite.

I noticed that this feature was also present in other high-end players, let's say above 3000 Euros, it almost seems like a constant.

Maybe for classical music this type of sound could also be pleasant, but for rock it is not what I would like, in fact at the time I opted for Lite for this very reason.

It makes me think that perhaps the same thing could also be inherited by the SACD 30n, being the successor to the Pearl, but I could be wrong.

Currently I no longer listen to CDs, but only 16 or 24 bit flac files on USB disk (no streaming services).

At the moment I have the NA8005 which sounds more or less like the Pearl Lite of the past from a tonal point of view so a warm and musical sound as I like (not too aggressive).

Being an older player, I would like a new player with more detail without being too analytical and which does not have a less pronounced bass than mine.

In your opinion, the SACD 30n has a slightly less pronounced bass than the ND8006 or CD50n ?

Thank you at advance !

marco777

The ND8006 is out of production, so only available on the second-hand market. The SACD30n is available new

The ND8006 and SACD 30n are similar on features. At NPP, the 8006 cost half that of the 30n. The SACD 30n has the higher end line casework and styling of the two. Both have a WiFi and ethernet streamer, HEOS, Bluetooth,  a  DAC, CD transport and headphone amp with volume control.The 30n DAC is different--in house design--to the DAC of the ND8086 which uses an ESS Sabre 9016 chip as its foundation. Despite the differences, the DAC performance of the lower cost 8006 is still very good, and still to the warmer coloration Marantz favors. There is a digital out--coaxial and optical--if you want to use another DAC, in a preamp or integrated amp or as a direct feed to a GaNFET amp without a DAC as such. I have had the 8006 now for five years and have used it mainly without its DAC as a wireless streamer, but I have on occasion used the single-ended outputs and found the results very good.

Thank you for your response, yes probably Luxman D-03X sound better but is more expensive and does not have some features that for me are important, like for example a large display and double optical input, etc.. I like to stay with Marantz because have more features that I use.

"Being an older player, I would like a new player with more detail without being too analytical and which does not have a less pronounced bass than mine."

I can highly recommend the Luxman D-03X.

Sounds fabulous, and the "invert phase" button is invaluable.