Hi,
I am new here; but now that I have a Marantz SA-14 v.2 myself, I think I'll give my opinion.
I bought my (ex demo) SA-14/2 over the Internet from SaleHifi; a Hong Kong eShop. It arrived a week ago. So right out of the box -- with to cold of transport at 10kms above Siberia still in its bones -- I hooked it up, and had a listen. Yes... beautiful rich sound; but the low highs put quite some pressure on my ears. After 24h in the cosiness of my home, and Zappa on repeat, that was almost gone: everything was more in balance.
I have been breaking it in for a week now: Mahler V (Concertgebouw orchestra), Zappa 'Hot Rats' and Cathy Berberian (Berio; Folk Songs and Kurt Weill) on repeat. That aught to tame the beast!
It is getting better every day; not as spectacular as the first few days, but still...
If there is one CD that justifies buying the SA-14, then it is 'Sure thing' (the Jerome Kern Songbook) by Sylvia McNair and André Previn. Ah... listen to track 10: "All the things you are" Splendid.
No... wait: listen to that phrase at 1:05 min: 'you are the breathless hush of evening...', how tender and fragile that 'hush'.
Yes folks: piano and female voice; the Marantz excels with that!
The SA-14 is a perfect RBCD-player, that -- by the way -- also plays SACDs.
The other day I hooked up my old CD-player again: Tjoeb '98.
And yes: all the things that are on the CD are shown by the Tjoeb as well. But you really have to listen quite carefully.
The SA-14 presents the music, the emotion with a sovereign ease. It has a quietness over it, that is hard to explain. It is by far the most inaudible player I've ever heard. And that is only on plain vanilla RBCD!
Hmmmm.. I love this machine! Even my wife can hear the difference with the old Tjoeb.
Oh... you all know that the SA-14 is out of production. But SaleHiFi.Com still has it on their price list; maybe they still can get hold of one. So if you are interested: drop them an e-mail.
But please note: it might be a 230V / 50Hz machine!
Question: Is anyone of you guys using it as a SACD player?
I am new here; but now that I have a Marantz SA-14 v.2 myself, I think I'll give my opinion.
I bought my (ex demo) SA-14/2 over the Internet from SaleHifi; a Hong Kong eShop. It arrived a week ago. So right out of the box -- with to cold of transport at 10kms above Siberia still in its bones -- I hooked it up, and had a listen. Yes... beautiful rich sound; but the low highs put quite some pressure on my ears. After 24h in the cosiness of my home, and Zappa on repeat, that was almost gone: everything was more in balance.
I have been breaking it in for a week now: Mahler V (Concertgebouw orchestra), Zappa 'Hot Rats' and Cathy Berberian (Berio; Folk Songs and Kurt Weill) on repeat. That aught to tame the beast!
It is getting better every day; not as spectacular as the first few days, but still...
If there is one CD that justifies buying the SA-14, then it is 'Sure thing' (the Jerome Kern Songbook) by Sylvia McNair and André Previn. Ah... listen to track 10: "All the things you are" Splendid.
No... wait: listen to that phrase at 1:05 min: 'you are the breathless hush of evening...', how tender and fragile that 'hush'.
Yes folks: piano and female voice; the Marantz excels with that!
The SA-14 is a perfect RBCD-player, that -- by the way -- also plays SACDs.
The other day I hooked up my old CD-player again: Tjoeb '98.
And yes: all the things that are on the CD are shown by the Tjoeb as well. But you really have to listen quite carefully.
The SA-14 presents the music, the emotion with a sovereign ease. It has a quietness over it, that is hard to explain. It is by far the most inaudible player I've ever heard. And that is only on plain vanilla RBCD!
Hmmmm.. I love this machine! Even my wife can hear the difference with the old Tjoeb.
Oh... you all know that the SA-14 is out of production. But SaleHiFi.Com still has it on their price list; maybe they still can get hold of one. So if you are interested: drop them an e-mail.
But please note: it might be a 230V / 50Hz machine!
Question: Is anyone of you guys using it as a SACD player?