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

my review sample was black. evidently my editor thought the champagne color would be more attractive.

Ok, I cannot help my self no longer!, Mr tennis, I will say you do not know how to get the best sound out of a vincent cd-s7!, Lets get that out of the way!, Most seasoned audiophiles know you would have to spend in the excess of $10,000.00 to better a direct to amp connection like the vincent cd-s7 offers, thats if you want a pure sound of a single source, there is absolutly no way and impossible for any marantz or the teac cd-3000 can better the sound by using a pre-amp in the cost range someone would have to buy to match the cost point of the marantz and the teac!, think about it, another circuit board for the singnal to go thru!, this dilutes the signal purity badly!, thats why Wadia was so famous for not having the pre-amp to have to use!,also the Esoteric K line players use a direct to amp connection as well, there is a huge difference with my exsperience with the vincent cd-s7 direct to amp compaired to using with a pre-amp!, also I will add that most pre-amps add their own sound to the mix that can ruin a great tone like the vincent cd-s7 has!, I know that most audiophiles use pre-amps, there is alot of us that do not!, the teac you are looking at, the cd-3000 is likly a good player with a pre-amp for the money, BTW, what does it retail for?, I went to the Teac website, It said that the Esoteric brand of engineers voiced this player, great!, why would you buy this instead of getting the Esoteric k-07 player, that is the bottom of the line model that is alot better!, back to the vincent player, this player is extremely resonance tunning friendly!, you can change the sound to your listening preferances by simply tunning with tunning cones underneath the player and useing a light weight small phone book on top to move around to better the sound!, I have done all of this, I will also say that the cables and amp, speakers, power cords etc... matters as well, direct to amp with my system, I have NEVER heard more body and deep impactfull bass and a sound stage to die for in my entire life at this cost point!, I am sure their is better, I would say thousands of dollars for a pre-amp, and thousands of dollars more for a cd-player to be good enough to compensate going thru a pre-amp!, I felt the vincent was unfairly dis- respected here when in fact, If you use the vincent cd-s7 to get the best possible sound out of it that I exsposed here, Its a hands down better performing set-up than all that is listed here by a very large margin!

hi audiolabyrinth:

for the second time, I did not say the Marantz sounded better than the Vincent.

I said the Vincent had a touch of tube warmth. read my review on audiophilia.com.

I own a Vincent cd s6. I have tube rolled. I know how good the Vincent can sound. I replaced the tubes in the Vincent cd s7 dac. I heard the changes.

if you are carping about my use of a tube preamp, then, we agree to disagree.

I trust my ears more than yours.

Hi Mrtennis, Rest assured,your ears should matter to you most!, I also need to add this to my review above, The vincent cd-s7 out of the box sounds listenable, however, The sound intergrates to its best and the bass is finally realized at 500 hours of burn-in time with playing music only to settle the unit to its full potential, my family was shocked and we were all supprised when this incredible bass with slam came thru, we got so excited, we invited numerous listeners over to hear the difference, they was in awe as we were!, Mrtennis, I enjoy your write-ups and the equipment you expose me to, I never knew Teac provided a player that would be cited as having a good sound, I might add, Its a beutiful player too!,I can see your point on wanting to use a solid state player on a tube pre-amp, tubes on tubes does not facy me!, I am not downing your pre-amp at all mrtennis, I am saying, unless you have one of the state of the art pre-amps out there, this cannot surpass the direct connection of the vincent player that is talked about here, I also stated above that all cables, power amp, power cords, speakers play a roll in the sound I have gotten out this player, The rule of thumb thats known about cables is that they are system dependent, The same can be said about componets, what may work in my and many other audiophiles systems may not work to a great sound in yours,Mrtennis, We both know its a trial by error with this hobby, I look forward to more of your write ups, I would like to read your write up of the teac here on this thread only if its talking about the merrits of its sound, not others, cheers.

regarding the teac, i find it uncolored. i listened to holly coles' recording of DON'T SMOKE IN BED, track 1 and heard a lot of sibilance. then I listened to a reference recording, of Liszt's Mephisto Waltz--a Reference Recording Release, and i heard a smooth string section.
Listening to other recordings, revealed a player capable of presenting space, dynamics, and natural timbre, when these attributes were on the recording.

so, I would say that while it lacks warmth and liqudity, it is fairly true to the sound of the recording.