TRL Marantz Sa-14

La45-

Well, no need to wonder about which is better. They are both wonderful players. The TRL SA14 is simply different than the TRL Sony 900.

The cable you are happy with is the Oritek X-1 I am assuming.
What did it sem to do in your system?

Lkdog-

It made everything very articulate and coherent. I compared it to the Acoustic Zen Matrix II. While the Zen adds more body, bass and warmth, the Ori cable is wonderful in speed, balance, and low noise. Of the two, the Oritek is more neutral. It also adds more emotion, you just feel more connected to the sound.

The Oritek X-1 noise level is very low so there is alot of "air" around instruments especially cymbals, saxophone (try Antiphone Blues cut 2)and guitar strings. Very involving indeed.

Enyas voice (Watermark) is more articulate, I can understand her words. Very nice improvement especially at the used price found on Audiogon. Its a keeper.

I am going to be trying the Oritek X-2 shortly on my TRL Sony DVP-NS900V. If I see a used X-1 I'll be all over it. Too much has been said about these cable to ignore them.

Lkdog,

Thats great to hear. I was wondering if I really needed to consider making another change and frankly I wanted to settle with something good. And the TRL Marantz SA-14 is really good! The one thing Paul mentioned was that the Sony NS900 had even lower noise (less digital noise). So I worked on the Marantz and it has improved in this area.

ClioO9,

Lkdog says the Sony NS-900 is different than the Marantz TRL. Is this your opinion also?

Let me know how the X-2 works in your set up. I might make the same move to the X-2. There is something 'just right'. The ship has arrived response with the Oritek in the system is very satisfactory.

La45-

It is a bit hard to put my finger on the difference. Paul says the 900 measures out the most neutral of any unit they have modded. This can be a good thing, or not, depending upon your
perspective. The SA14 probably had a slight lower midbass and/or lower range bump that I really liked. Maybe it was just the interaction in my system. Since TRL modded my integrated amp also-it is very neutral also so I think I can discern source and cable nuances pretty well..
Both units are incredibly quiet, detailed, and void of glare.
Maybe I will try the Oriteks sometime. Many folks like them.