Breakin of Marantz SA8260 SACD player

Audphile1 - Thanks. That was what I was looking for. Your initial response did not upset me in any way whatsoever. Maybe since I asked so many questions right in a row, it may have sounded like I was upset. Not the case at all. I actually owned a Denon 1650, demoed a Music Hall CD25 and a friend of mine had a Planet 2000, so I did some comparisons after I purchased the Marantz. I had heard the Marantz DV 8400 before in a different system, so I took a leap of faith that the 8260 would be at least as good, given that it is audio only and shared some critical parts and design. I also tried a few DVD players as transports, a Pioneer PD-65 as a spinner, as well as a DIP Upsampler, MSB Link III with P1000 power supply, and a Monarchy 20 Bit D/A (can't remember the model). I preferred the sound of the Marantz to all the other one-box players. The sound of the player D/A combos was very good, but not quite as smooth from top to bottom as the Marantz. The difference in sound between the 8260 and the one-box players was enough to make a choice easy. The difference between the 8260 and the D/A combos was subtle (except for the MSB, which I thought was grainy in the treble, but had excellent bass). Given the price and sound of the Marantz verses the extra rack space, cost of extra cables, etc., I decided on the Marantz. I have heard good things about the Bel Canto, and the S7700 has a reputation as a very good transport. I agree that the Marantz likes discs that are clean and scratch-free. One last question. What specifically did you prefer in the sound of the Bel Canto and Audio Mirror over the Marantz, and what speakers/amp/pre were you using? --ok that was technically two questions disguised as one. Cheers!

Ejresch, I just wanted to mention this upfront - this is not a review of any of these components. Just my observation and my opinion on how these components performed in my own system. Will they sound the same in any other system? I have no idea. But, to briefly describe the differences, in my system, between S7700/Bel Canto or S7700/Audio Mirror combos vs the SA8260, I can say that the separates have fuller sound, smoother highs and deeper, tighter bass. Voices sound fuller. Better imaging, better stage. These differences are not night and day, but still are noticable enough. Of course it also depends on how revealing the rest of the system is. I just think that in the context of a revealing system, SA8260 would most likely sound digital, thin and hyper-detailed.
Audio Mirror D2, for the price, is a very smooth sounding dac. I don't think it has the resolution of the Bel Canto but in certain systems that are on the bright side, I think this dac may just be the ticket. Overall, both the Bel Canto and Audio Mirror sounded, at least to me, smoother than SA8260. The dacs sounded also more involving. However, neither of these digital sources pretend to be state of the art, so I wouldn't worry about it too much. Each of these components is good in its own way. Especially for the price.
If you click on the (System) next to my ID you'll see in what context these components were evaluated.
Again, as I said before, the most important thing is that you like it. That's all that matters. Take care.

I was pretty suprised when I was listening to this player yesterday. I've been in the market for a new cdp, so I have been looking at various options. I took my ancient 1988 Kyocera DA-510cx to a local shop and the only / best cdp they had was the marantz. We were able to do some a/b listening between the two. The marantz had a more spacious soundstage and a bit better mid range detail (listening to kodo SBM recording of taiko drumming). However, for a state of the art $1k CD player, you had to listen pretty hard to hear the differences.

I was pretty suprised when I was listening to this player yesterday. I've been in the market for a new cdp, so I have been looking at various options. I took my ancient 1988 Kyocera DA-510cx to a local shop and the only / best cdp they had was the marantz. We were able to do some a/b listening between the two. The marantz had a more spacious soundstage and a bit better mid range detail (listening to kodo SBM recording of taiko drumming). However, for a state of the art $1k CD player, you had to listen pretty hard to hear the differences.

If you read Stereophile recommended components, they mention in the beginning of the CD player section that all SACD and DVD-A players are recommended based on their ability to play their respected media, not the redbook cd. So, as far as redbook performance of SA8260...yes it's pretty good, but personally, I wouldn't give it a class A for it. Just my opinion.