Marantz SA-8260, Class A?

I recently purchased this sacd player for $899 and am very pleased. Its cd playback is excellent and its sacd playback is very good.It extracts great detail from the music but unfortunately a poorly recorded disc will sound like crap on this player...garbage in-- garbage out.
I will eventually buy a good universal player, maybe the Esoteric (TEAC) bit until then this is an excellent interim player... use with warm amp and accurate speakers eg Dynaudio

kiwicoup, where did you buy the 8260 if I may ask? I have read that it suffered (at least the earlier productions) from minor mechanical defects so I'd like to know if you have experienced any reliability problems.

Thanks.

I have an 8260 and love it.But I believe it has been or will be replaced with a new model. What the dealers have left in their stock rooms is all for the 8260.

i dont know if it is "class a". but it is a very musical sounding unit and very close to a analog sound. that is very unusual for a digital source especially under $1000.

it is one of the few sources that is muscially invloving and that i can listen to a whole cd all the way through.

i compared it to a dodson dac, sony 333,555,999, aclemist, and electrocomponiet (big $$$) and philips 963.

there is a STEEP law of diminishing returns on digital sources despite state of the art and state of the art $$$.

i would say it is "class a" for the price it is at. i would be hard pressed to find a better unit under $2k. please note it does retain the marantz house sound, either you will love it or hate it.again, its greatest strength is its musicality ( like a linn turntable, once you hear it, you will know).

btw, there is quality issues with the TOC/servo/transport with some units, once it warms up, it wont read redbooks cd's. marantz service has had my 8260 more than me. this is the second time in for repair for the same thing. i dont hink they repaired the first time, it has been frustrating.

also, if you do buy one - get it from a authorized dealer. the warranty is 3 years and non transferable

hope that helps !!

Mike