USB DAC CDP: EAR Acute MkIII or Marantz SA11S3

I owned the EAR DAcute 192 DAC/pre amp and wish I had held on to it as this rush to DSD DACs is premature. The EAR is very musical and tube rolling can enhance sound even more. Head to head with the Marantz, I would bet my bottom dollar the EAR would sound more like music!

Thanks for that, Musicman. I'll have to check out the 192 and see what chip and tubes it has and how it relates to the Acute III.
I hear you about the new formats. Sort of the Digital wild west out there. I didn't pony up for PONO either....

I agree, out of these two, EAR would be my choice without hesitation.

If you can, audition a TEAC CD3000. USB DAC (+ Coax in) CD/SACD player. No DSD (which might never matter). As a brand, TEAC ain't as prestigious as others but you might be pleasantly surprised by the music and the price. See review on Audiophilia and elsewhere. It did take a LONG time to break in. Keep that in mind if auditioning. Bass was MIA for quite a while. It benefited from an upgrade to the PC (Shunyata Venom) + use of balanced out via Cabledyne ICs. Good luck replacing your AMR.

Thanks for that suggestion. I'll see if I can find a place to listen to a TEAC although I've kind of moved towards the EAR in my mind.

Aftermarket cabling is one of my passions and it's good to get some direction there, too. It seems balanced is the way to go for a lot of gear, but I am a single ended system owner for now and can't foresee changing out my Dynaudio/Plinius combo...XLR is there, but the circuitry to support a fully balanced system isn't.

Hey Bud, no problem...good luck with the EAR. Looked at your system, by the way,....very nice. Too bad there's not a way to upload hi res/hi fidelity samples of the various system posted on A'gon. Would love to hear it.

Thanks G-house. You're right, that would be a good time! Environments count for a lot and even what you bring to the table when you sit down. My system sounds really nice to me...a little warm, lots of dynamics, detail and swing, And a huge soundstage. Really holographic stuff. That might be hard to transmit....but it's a great time listening.
Where's yours?

I am loving :) my Marantz SA11SA3 ! Super smooth and never bright sounding.

The Marantz is so quiet and efficient. When the Marantz SA11S3 is in the stanby mode not even .1 wattage registers on my line conditioner. Only 3 watts registers when in play mode. The Marantz SA11S3 is definitely the most efficient green energy player out there in the audio world.

The only complaint I have about the Marantz SA11S3 is I wish it had a stanby light because it's so quiet. I forget if it's on standby or powered down. "It's a small complaint to live with considering this great player.

Currently own several different one box SACD/CD players and my Marantz SA11S3 sounds the most natural in vocals and instruments. Comparing it to my Esoteric K01 I prefer the Marantz SA11S3 for long listening sessions. The K01 is a superb player but I find it to bee too bright and analytical at times. So I started swapping power cables on my players.

I swapped my BMI Oceanic Rhodium power cable on the Marantz SA11S3 and put it on the Esoteric K01 and waalaaah, pow, zzzzzoomm, instant tame on the K01 and now I can listen long sessions without fatigue. I put the BMI Oceanic Gold on the Marantz SA11S3 and instant more soundstage and dynamics.

To this day I can't believe on how much of a power cable impacts the sound of my equipment. That is why I love this hobby so much because you are always learning and amazed on what you hear with moving around a few power cables in my audio systems.