Marantz na7004 or Sonos


Hi all,

I have Marantz amp (pm5004) and cd player (cd5004) and would like to have the capacity of playing Sirius radio as well as music on my iPod. I am thinking of either adding the Marantz na7004 network player or a Sonos device. Does anyone have experience with either one. Important criteria are ease of use (although the range of things I plan to do is really just Sirius and iPod) and sound quality. Any thoughts? Thanks, M.
mcanaday
I dont have any experience with the Marantz but have been a Sonos user for almost 10 years! The Sonos interface makes it incredibly easy to access my library and thus enjoy my music. Thats the one thing I would really check out with the Marantz. As for sound quality, I am not sure how good you can get with Surius and iPod (I assume compressed) music anyway so I think the Sonos is fine. You could use the digital out of the Sonos to an external DAC to get better sound.
I have the Marantz and have found it to be a "buggy" device. It frequently malfunctions, loses its wi fi connection, changes inputs for no reason, and it's Apple Play responsiveness is spotty as well. It does sound nice, although it tends to roll of high frequencies in the same way as a Marantz disc spinner.
I would pass and investigate other streamers.
As a former sonos dealer and current Cambridge Audio I would suggest a Stream Magic 6 with a Bt 100... dual Wolfson dacs, 24/384 up-sampling, 24/192 usb, balanced and single out
20,000 internet radio stations, Sirius plus much much more
can operate with smart phone app.
Add a bt 100 now you have Bluetooth to stream music from your phone.
Take a minute and see the reviews on this streamer
Dennis
PrimeOne Media
The NA7004 does not have WiFi, it has an Ethernet connection. I think it sounds very good and have not had any of those problems. Maybe I'm just lucky but I will take it.