Marantz SA-10


I currently own a Modwright Marantz SA-8005. Its has some upgrades including a WyWires umbilical and SR Purple fuse. Its a great player but I'm considering some system upgrades and the Modwright outboard PS will be an issue. The plan was to move to either an Esoteric/Luxman unit but after doing some research another possible candidate might be a Marantz SA-10. Has anyone had a chance to compare the SA-10 with the Modwright SA-8005? Would the SA-10 be and upgrade or just a sideways move? As always your feedback is appreciated.

cmach

anwar

 

Thank You for the follow up on the SA-10. I know that you were an early adopter of this Reference spinner. Impressive, in that, you own 2 now. I own a Marantz SA-11S2 reference player 1 generation back. I can only imagine how good the newer SA-10 sounds.

 

Happy Listening!

Cmach,

I have owned and listened to a Marantz SA-8260 from 2003 to 2020. All the Marantz entry level players were about the same up to and including the SA-8005. They all benefitted from a new analogue output stage. I had my own unique design gathered from diyaudio, and it was very very good. Dan's output stage features a bit of the tube sound and is also very very good.

In July 2020 I bought a Marantz SA KI Ruby player. It took about 3 seconds to determine that this player right out of the box was a huge improvement over the SA-8260. And then it got better the more it played.

I am an sacd guy with 3/4th's of my 2000 disc collection being sacd. And most of those are high rez recordings, not reissues. All of the new generation Marantz players are worth every penny.

So, if you can afford the SA-10 and feel you need the fully balanced output stage, go for it. Otherwise the SACD N30 player offers the same package with a single ended output stage, at a far reduced cost. 

Steve

I own the Marantz SA 10 for a year now, Ruby sacd player maybe 3 months now, Marantz 8005 sacd player for 8yrs now, if you can afford it get the SA10, the Ruby is superb but even on single ended rca the SA 10 is way better, On balance the SA 10 is untouchable.No it’s not true that SA10 is a 8005 Marantz sacd player put in a nice case that’s total misinformation.

Anwar when Iam playing Esoteric sacd disc or Venus sacd disc, the Marantz SA 10 sounds like my SME 10 turntable and Icon phono pre.i agree with you , At times I play it more than my vynil set up.

Jayctoy,

That is quite the assortment of players there.

FWIW, I wouldn't mind having an SA-10 as I now have a fully balanced amplifier. It's just that where I live, Australia, the SA-10 is 11K AUD and unaffordable for me.

Steve