The Marantz Pipeline

Nonoise, what speakers do you have this paired with? Sorry to thread jack.

No problemo. My good old Tonian Labs TL-D1s. Breaking in both the Marantz and the Darwin Silver ICs not long after gave me some pause as it was very detailed yet favored the upper end over a balanced presentation.

It turned out I was simply impatient and the mids and bass (what there can be with the Tonians) came along just fine and are deeper than I would have imagined, yet so taut and tuneful. It makes me wonder just how big and meaty it would all sound with a true full ranger that could reproduce down in the 30s.

All the best,
Nonoise

Nonoise....
Pivoting my own thread to something else; can one hijack his own thread...?
At any rate, I'm a DAC newbie; you seem, like me, to have an affinity for Marantz.
Music Direct has a Marantz NA7004 at half-price. I'd like to buy it but would be interested in your opinions; my own research has shown some people like it, some don't. I'm a beginner here with digital music....is this a smart purchase?

Thanks much,
Jeff

Arcamguy,
I'm with you when it comes to digital music and feel, from personal experience, that it takes more money and effort to get comparable sound with what I have now and even more to get better sound. I gave up on it after getting my feet wet and am waiting for some kind of standardization to happen and since this format is still quite young, I feel it will be a long time before I'm comfortable with it.

Having said that, I've read the same things about the NA7004, both good and just so-so. Music Direct has it on sale for half off so it might be an indication of sorts. Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

All the best,
Nonoise