New Technics SU-G700 Mk II on the horizon

FYI: I directed someone looking to upgrade either his Linn speakers, or his components. I directed him to the SU- G700 MkII. StereoNET has a review out now, BUT, it seemed the review intentionally avoided saying it was GaN based, instead emphasizing Digital amplification. Seemed odd to me

The Technics SL-G700 SACD/CD player is on my list to upgrade from my Oppo 105, which I bought strictly for SACD/DVD-As, but even with upgraded OEM power supply, IEC etc, the SACD playback does not stand up against my Audio Alchemy DDP-1 + PS 5 and Audiolab 6000CDT transport playing the identical CD layer vs SACD layer

I read that same Stereonet review and missed that it didn't mention the use of GaN FETs. I guess from all my reading up on reviews I took it for granted and just didn't notice that. Maybe it wasn't that big a deal to the reviewer who should have know better.

I agree with your choice of going for the SL-G700 SACD player as one dedicated to  a particular format is better than a jack of all trades since there's no short cutting and therefore compromising.

Even though I was told by MusicDirect that it wouldn't be that big an improvement over my Marantz SA-15S2b, after listening to the SU_G700M2, I think their SACD player will extract that much more out of a recording (both CD and SACD) than the 9 year old Marantz can.

All the best,
Nonoise

I have been using SL-G700 SACD directly feeding the SU-G700 (original) via coax digital out which I prefer over analog out.  I have found Direct digital out has a "quicker" sound, less processed sounding, though analog out sounds "warmer".   Of course, when listening to SACDs, one has to use analog out.  

 This is a quote from the Peachtree GaN 1 Beta thread:  

The GaN 1 is also designed so that it does NOT require a digital-to-analog-converter (DAC). The digital audio signal at the input directs the amplifier outputs to drive the speakers. Although DACs have continued to improve over the years, there is no DAC better than NO DAC!

Thanks for the impressions. I haven't tried digital out after the first few days and the SU-G700 has fleshed out some since. I'll give it a try later one to see how digital out now fares.

All the best,
Nonoise

Yes, worth a try;..."less is more".  One thing for certain, I cannot go back to listening to DACs or Class A/B amps again.