Ejresch, my friend, I did not mean to upset anybody I was just answering a question. My friend had this player for a while and I had it in my system and listened to it enough in both his and my system to fairly judge it. Like I said, it is a decent player for $1000 new, but what I was trying to say, and if I didn't make it clear here I appologize, is that on the used market $1000 will get you a better digital front end. For example a used Sony S7700(from $150 to $200) with used Bel Canto DAC2(anywhere from $700 to $800) beats the SA8260 even when the latter has an SACD of the same recording playing. Example #2 is Audio Mirror dac(new about $500) with the same Sony S7700 as a transport also bests the SA8260. I am very familiar with the sound of the system I heard it in to come to this conclusion and we did compare the Bel Canto DAC2 directly to this player in the same system running with the same interconnects connected to a different pre-amp input with SA8260 being utilized as a transport. SA8260 is pretty good for $1000 but you can definately do better if you invest the $1000 to get a good used digital playback system. I am not trying to express that the SA8260 is a POS. In no way it is, and for $1000 new, I have not heard a brand new player in this price range that will easily beat the SA8260 when it comes to overall sound, top to bottom, soundstage, imaging included, although I have not heard every single CD player in this price range, so take this with a grain of salt. Another issue with the SA8260, and this is what stopped me from buying it initially, is that it has problems reading some CDs. It is very finicky when it comes to playing less than perfect discs. I observed it on more than 1 of these players. Anyway, you like it and that's what matters the most. Everyone has different taste when it comes to the sound of their systems, so what I like may not be exactly what you like. Besides, it is entirely possible that the same component may have different sound characteristics in different systems. By the way, before you purchased the SA8260, what did you compare it to?
Breakin of Marantz SA8260 SACD player
I just took delivery this past Wednesday of the Marantz 8260 player for use in my dedicated 2-channel music system which consists of Maggie 3.5s, ARC LS-3B preamp, Bryston 4B-SST power amp,Grado PH-1 phono preamp and Linn Axis table. How long does it take to break in this player and is there any advantage to leaving it on all the time, so that the DACs stay warmed-up? This player sounds a little louder than the DEnon 2910 I was using. I checked the output specs and found that the Marantz is 2.2v while the Denon is 2v. Should this produce an audible difference in loudness, assuming the preamp is set at the same level?
What's everyone's opinion of this unit? Stereophile rates it Class A, but the review that rating stems from isn't what I'd call a full-fledged review. Thanks.
What's everyone's opinion of this unit? Stereophile rates it Class A, but the review that rating stems from isn't what I'd call a full-fledged review. Thanks.
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- 18 posts total
- 18 posts total