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Breakin of Marantz SA8260 SACD player

I just took delivery this past Wednesday of the Marantz 8260 player for use in my dedicated 2-channel music system which consists of Maggie 3.5s, ARC LS-3B preamp, Bryston 4B-SST power amp,Grado PH-1 phono preamp and Linn Axis table. How long does it take to break in this player and is there any advantage to leaving it on all the time, so that the DACs stay warmed-up? This player sounds a little louder than the DEnon 2910 I was using. I checked the output specs and found that the Marantz is 2.2v while the Denon is 2v. Should this produce an audible difference in loudness, assuming the preamp is set at the same level?
What's everyone's opinion of this unit? Stereophile rates it Class A, but the review that rating stems from isn't what I'd call a full-fledged review. Thanks.
william_moore
crudo20
6 posts
 
I was pretty suprised when I was listening to this player yesterday. I've been in the market for a new cdp, so I have been looking at various options. I took my ancient 1988 Kyocera DA-510cx to a local shop and the only / best cdp they had was the marantz. We were able to do some a/b listening between the two. The marantz had a more spacious soundstage and a bit better mid range detail (listening to kodo SBM recording of taiko drumming). However, for a state of the art $1k CD player, you had to listen pretty hard to hear the differences.
crudo20
6 posts
 
I was pretty suprised when I was listening to this player yesterday. I've been in the market for a new cdp, so I have been looking at various options. I took my ancient 1988 Kyocera DA-510cx to a local shop and the only / best cdp they had was the marantz. We were able to do some a/b listening between the two. The marantz had a more spacious soundstage and a bit better mid range detail (listening to kodo SBM recording of taiko drumming). However, for a state of the art $1k CD player, you had to listen pretty hard to hear the differences.
audphile1's avatar
audphile1
4,373 posts
 
If you read Stereophile recommended components, they mention in the beginning of the CD player section that all SACD and DVD-A players are recommended based on their ability to play their respected media, not the redbook cd. So, as far as redbook performance of SA8260...yes it's pretty good, but personally, I wouldn't give it a class A for it. Just my opinion.
jimmy2615
417 posts
 
Agree with Audphile1 generally about the class 'A' designation (I had the 8260 for about a year now and have and have had much more expensive CD/SACD players as well). But additionally I think it is important to note that it is a great player, and to get better sound you really have to go well up the spectrum in price.
mikesinger
572 posts
 
imo, the marantz is "class a" @ $1000..there are also class a at $2k,$3k, $4k,$5k,$6k..

the unit does really good when isloated and a upgraded power cord (audience makes a really good power cord)..
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