FWIW, whether you like a high end Marantz CD player or not may more depend on the rest of your system than anything else. I have a Wadia 302 and a Raysonic 128 CDP. I tuned my system (using tubes in my integrated amps) to a give me a sound with a bit of warmth in the lower mid-range/upper bass. I then bought a Marantz SA11SA3 for SACD playback.
In my system the Marantz sound was bloated in the bass/lower mid range. This was particularly notable in a lot of new orchestral (classical) recordings including both formats. Interestingly a lot of old, somewhat sterile CD's, such as DG's for example, were much more listenable. I found that solo piano music this player was excellent. This probably has more to do with nature of the piano sound which just presents a warmer lower frequency sound, not a bloated or congested sound as it might when made by a large orchestra in a big hall.
What this suggests to me is that the Marantz probably works best when it is used in a more linear system where it's bass emphasis will be nothing more than that, i.e. a bit of added warmth.
Re, the Redbook vs CD issue. I find that the difference in recording format is far below the importance of the performance - once the CD starts to spin I really don't hear all of the benefits of the SACD format. The only thing I have noticed is that frequently on new SACD's, which seem to have some additional warmth built in, these SACD's actually sound better on my Wadia. Go figure.
Hope that helps a bit.....:-)
In my system the Marantz sound was bloated in the bass/lower mid range. This was particularly notable in a lot of new orchestral (classical) recordings including both formats. Interestingly a lot of old, somewhat sterile CD's, such as DG's for example, were much more listenable. I found that solo piano music this player was excellent. This probably has more to do with nature of the piano sound which just presents a warmer lower frequency sound, not a bloated or congested sound as it might when made by a large orchestra in a big hall.
What this suggests to me is that the Marantz probably works best when it is used in a more linear system where it's bass emphasis will be nothing more than that, i.e. a bit of added warmth.
Re, the Redbook vs CD issue. I find that the difference in recording format is far below the importance of the performance - once the CD starts to spin I really don't hear all of the benefits of the SACD format. The only thing I have noticed is that frequently on new SACD's, which seem to have some additional warmth built in, these SACD's actually sound better on my Wadia. Go figure.
Hope that helps a bit.....:-)
