Yes, it was the latest AV8805 processor. I have not directly heard the 8802 or 8803, but I suspect that there really isn't that much difference. The 8802 was already extremely well designed with large main power supply and a lot of localized power supply capacitors all around the DAC I/V board. And the "new" version of the Marantz HDAM discrete analog boards.
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I was quite impressed with the AV8805, based on a $4k price tag and expecting the Marantz "warm" signature. The sound was very full and had a lot of impact and authority (audio percussion and sounds hit with a lot of authority). That being said, I could tell it was warm with rolled-off highs. If that was my only exposure to HT processors, I could easily live with it. It did sound very good.
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That being said, my main proc is Krell S1200U and the Krell basically blew away the Marantz in all ways! Krell was significantly cleaner in both audio AND video. Of course audio was not warm sounding and was crystal clear. However, it was surprising how good the video was on the Krell, since it is just re-transmitting the HDMI signal with the audio stripped out. With the Marantz, I could tell that the video (through HDMI) was not clean and had a lot of noise. Images were not as crisp and sharp looking.
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A lot of this could be explained by the Krell using only linear power supplies (even for digital and video sections). There isn't any switching power supply in the Krell (even the Foundation uses ONLY LINEAR). That being said, I think the Marantz warmth could be resolved a lot by placing in a Hi-Fi Tuning Supreme or Silverstar fuse. That would increase the speed/detail and reduce the warmth, and would probably also increase the sharpness and quality of the HDMI video.
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I was quite impressed with the AV8805, based on a $4k price tag and expecting the Marantz "warm" signature. The sound was very full and had a lot of impact and authority (audio percussion and sounds hit with a lot of authority). That being said, I could tell it was warm with rolled-off highs. If that was my only exposure to HT processors, I could easily live with it. It did sound very good.
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That being said, my main proc is Krell S1200U and the Krell basically blew away the Marantz in all ways! Krell was significantly cleaner in both audio AND video. Of course audio was not warm sounding and was crystal clear. However, it was surprising how good the video was on the Krell, since it is just re-transmitting the HDMI signal with the audio stripped out. With the Marantz, I could tell that the video (through HDMI) was not clean and had a lot of noise. Images were not as crisp and sharp looking.
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A lot of this could be explained by the Krell using only linear power supplies (even for digital and video sections). There isn't any switching power supply in the Krell (even the Foundation uses ONLY LINEAR). That being said, I think the Marantz warmth could be resolved a lot by placing in a Hi-Fi Tuning Supreme or Silverstar fuse. That would increase the speed/detail and reduce the warmth, and would probably also increase the sharpness and quality of the HDMI video.