Thread: Did you hear Marantz SA8260 or SA8400 sacd players?

Posts: 5

Post by wincoach September 7, 2004 (1 of 5)
What do you think about these SACD players in stereo play?
Do Cd-audio sound good??

Thanks

Post by jdaniel@jps.net September 7, 2004 (2 of 5)
wincoach said:

What do you think about these SACD players in stereo play?
Do Cd-audio sound good??

Thanks

I auditioned the SA8260 at home for a week for Classical music. The CD layer was just 'OK' in my opinion compared with the $3000 SA14 version2. Mids and Highs were fine, but dynamic range, transparency, and mid-bass bloom were lacking. I recommend buying a stand-alone CD player to maximize quality.

Post by Dan Popp September 7, 2004 (3 of 5)
wincoach said:

What do you think about these SACD players in stereo play?
Do Cd-audio sound good??

Thanks

Coach,
My 8260 is a delight. The CD playback quality is much better than what I've had before (Magnavox and Sony). Richer, I guess would be the word; the sound is better integrated - warm but not dull.

The SACD in stereo is quite good - better than the Sony multi-disc SACD playter that I briefly owned before the noise from the disc tray drove me crazy. This unit is what the local hi-fi store uses to demo SACD. I don't think you can go wrong with it. There may be something cheaper that would serve your needs just as well - I don't know.

My only quibbles are that I can't set it up to go to "stereo" mode first - there's always that button-press to get a disc that's both MC and stereo to play the stereo program. (No big deal, but it's just a software thing that could have easily been dealt with)... and sometimes, though it recognizes a "redbook" CD in the normal amount of time, it takes awhile to find that first cut. After it does find it, there's no problem.

Post by wincoach September 17, 2004 (4 of 5)
I've bought one SA8400 and it's a delight.Music sounds clear and fast from CDs...
Dynamic is also pretty good...No troubles for reading "CopyControlled CDs"
It's clearly a very good cd player...It's overtaking a Sony DVPN900 DVD player in playing CD and SACD...No doubt about that!

Post by Dan Popp September 18, 2004 (5 of 5)
Congratulations, coach.

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