Marantz SA-14S1 or Vinvent CD-S7-DAC


If you had the chance to own either , which would you choose and why
grey9hound

Showing 2 responses by jmcgrogan2

Does the Vincent CDP have an active gain stage? If not, your results do not surprise me, I've always been left wanting more with passive attenuation.
Well you probably already know that I would lean towards the Marantz for two reasons. First of all, I have heard Marantz CDP's, owning a SA-11S1, and I like them quite a bit. I sold a couple of more expensive CDP's when I bought my Marantz SA-11S1 about 6 years ago. Now I haven't heard the Vincent, so this basically is a bird in the hand analysis.

The second reason that I would go with the Marantz is because of it's SACD capabilities. That was the key for me keeping this unit over an $8K BAT CDP, the Marantz sounded as good as the BAT on redbook, but offered the ability to play SACD as well. Not all SACD's are exceptional, but there are many very good ones that will better any redbook cd.

They both offer USB connectivity, which is a plus, but the Marantz has the flexibility of front and rear USB ports. As always, YMMV.