Opinions on Marantz SA-7S1, Nagra CDP

Hamr:
How many hours of breakin did it require? Did you breakin both CD and SACD separately? Which filters do you prefer?

F1a. It took about a month of constant playing to sound its best. I didn't break in the CD and SACD separately and the sound seemed to improve in the same ways in both formats so I guess the improvements are in the power supply or output section. I have never had a component that changed as much as this one with time. The funny thing is that it wasn't how long the unit was left on as I would unplug it if a thunderstorm was in the area and it would regain it's sound rather quickly. I usually stick with filter#1, but I have heard the others improve certain CD's.

I heard the Nagra CDP in a friend's system for several hours. I liked the sound -- clear, detailed and open, without being overly edgy and brittle. None of us preferred it over the Naim CD555 that it was being compared to, but, it is about half the price.

I also really like its look and compact size. However, it does have some operational quirks. If I recall correctly, if one operated the unit manually to start play on the machine, the remote control became inoperable. The remote was also quite weird and difficult to use. Ergonomically speaking, I would not agree that this player is well thought out.

The Nagra is of interest because of its build quality and attention to detail. Features and being user friendly is unimportant. Larryi, although the Naim is a very impressive machine, as you said, it is in a completely different price category. Hamr, thank you for your comments on the Marantz.

I too like a compact player with front/drawer type of loading. But, the Philips mechanism that Nagra employs is really meant for top loading, so Nagra had to engineer a drawer to move the whole transport in order to convert it to front loading. The key question is whether they can successfully manage vibration dampening/isolation with such a mechanism.

The bottom line is the success of such implementation. I like the sound of that player and I also like its unusual looks.

I've seen and heard the Marantz, though only in a dealer's system. It is very well built and operates very smoothly. I've always been impressed with what they offer for the money in digital source components.