USA
Germany
England
France
The Marantz SA8003 brings advanced engineering to all manner of discs – SA-CDs, CDs, even MP3- and WMA-encoded CD-Rs and –RWs. And its advanced digital processing and best-in-class analog circuitry bring even your flash-card playlists to life thanks to a front-panel USB input.
Details in the Design
But Marantz design doesn’t extend to just the obvious.
As an example, we’ll ask a question: Almost no one thinks twice about the disc tray, right? Well, Marantz engineers do. And when you realize that the tray is the most important mechanical link between your favorite discs and the rest of the disc player, you realize just how important it is.
That’s why Marantz helped develop a material called Zylon for the SA8003′s tray. Zylon is a composition of rigid-rod chain molecules of poly(p-phenyene-2,6-benzobisoxazole) or PBO for short. (Now you know why we call it Zylon!) This new tray material has high tensile strength and a high modulus of elasticity. Because it isolates the disc so well from the micro-vibrations inherent in any drive mechanism, it allows the digital circuitry to process a more accurate data stream. This, in turn, translates directly into a more coherent and pleasing aural experience.
Superior Technology for an Awesome Sound
While you’re taking a virtual tour of the SA8003′s interior, look at the large toroidal transformer. In addition to the exterior casing that damps stray flux fields even further, you’ll notice a large brass mounting screw that helps hold the transformer firmly in place. Why brass? Simply because it’s totally non-conductive due to the non-magnetic material, it plays a role in reducing extraneous noise. True, it might be a small improvement but it’s an example of the lengths to which Marantz engineers go to optimize every aspect of a component’s performance.
Marantz would also like to point out the separate power supply and audio circuit boards that flank the transformer for even further noise suppression capability.
Marantz used the SA8003′s high-performance Cirrus Logic digital-to-analog converter in other – and far more expensive – disc players in the past. This circuit brings several advantages. In technical terms, its architecture combines a proprietary multi-bit/Delta-Sigma demodulator with noise shaping technology. It eliminates the need for dynamic component matching within the D/A converter itself as well as removes potential destructive artifacts from the resulting signal. For SA-CD playback, the Cirrus IC accepts the SA-CD’s 2.8224 MHz sampling rate directly without the need for decimation. And an integral 50 kHz low-pass filter protects downstream components from potential oscillation.
Marantz’s Proprietary HDAM SA2 Circuits Included
You’ll also notice a number of critically selected parts at important spots in the analog output circuitry. They’ve been chosen because they meet the criteria established not only in the lab but also in the listening room. And you’ll see Marantz’s proprietary HDAM SA2 circuits there, too. Used primarily as output buffers, these HDAM circuits benefit from a discrete component complement rather than earlier ICs.
Under all this advanced circuitry, you might not notice the double-layer chassis bottom plate. But it provides long-term alignment for all the SA8003′s separate assemblies as well as helps damp external vibration.
Carefully Designed Chassis
If you look carefully, you’ll certainly see the large copper plate behind the machined, chassis-mounted gold-plated analog outputs. The plate minimizes any ground potential between the outputs and results in quieter playback. The outputs themselves are spaced to allow your choice of any interconnect. Mounting them directly to the chassis means you won’t pull them off when changing cables. Small points? Well, not really. When you add up all the similar touches within the SA8003, you’ll understand their surprisingly-large cumulative effect. And it results from an almost maniacal determination to make the SA8003 as good as it can possibly be.
The shielded digital output provides yet another example of this approach. Rather than allowing spurious radiation, as is the case with most digital outputs, the copper case effectively traps digital pulses and prevents them from interfering with adjacent circuits.
Additional Features
The headphone output, usually far down on the priority list for lesser players, includes a high-speed current buffer circuit for minimal interference, maximum articulation, stability, and fatigue-free listening.
Complete with a soft-touch Power/Standby switch and full-function remote, the SA8003 brings top-shelf disc playback to a wider audience than ever before. A true Marantz, it contains the most advanced circuits in a chassis that’s highly styled to blend with any décor. It’s a stunning contemporary expression of the Marantz “look,” long the standard for the entire home entertainment industry.
Marantz SA8003 Super Audio CD Player Reviews
Outstanding value
I think this is, for the money, probably the best CD/SACD player you can buy. I’ve been skeptical about buying “high end cd players”, particularly since mass-market units have become more and more capable and since mass-market components have found their way into some high-end cd players. But the clarity, detail and fidelity of the SA8003 are exceptional. It is extremely “clean” and doesn’t impose its own sound on tracks. I have it in a very simple setup – PS Audio preamp, tube amp, 12 AWG speaker wire (no Monster stuff) and modest Focal speakers. When I popped the “Kind of Blue” SACD in, I felt like I was listening to the album for the first time. Suddenly other recordings seemed almost harsh and bright by comparison. Every note and every subtle nuance was reproduced faithfully. Some of this is due to the rest of the setup, of course, but the other components need good raw material to work with – and the SA8003 delivers. You can spend more and get more but, for my purposes, this was excellent value. Check out Stereophile’s Oct 07 review of the SA 8001 player, which was the previous version, to get a “professional” review of the capabilities,
Superb SACD and Super CD
My old Proceed Madrigal CD player finally expired … and I replaced it with the Marantz SA8003 – my first SACD player. Even as a plain CD player, the sound is wonderful – clean, pure and warm. Not shrill. But, the biggest thrill, by far, is the sound of the SACD … SACD samples at 64 times higher than standard CD sampling – at 2822 kHz vs just 44.1 kHz for CD. You can place a hybrid disk into the machine, and then choose to hear the Marantz SA8003 play either the standard CD encoding on the disc or the SACD Stereo encoding … and the difference is plain to hear: in pureness, in clarity, in warmth (without the shrillness of CD) – the sound is just so lovely. Music has become fresh and exciting again, and that alone more than justifies every cent of this wonderful and elegant machine.
So … other points:
1. The machine has a USB interface on the front, so you can plug in your iPod or usb dongle. This is nice to have, but I haven’t actually bothered to use it yet. I mostly find myself playing (and buying) SACDs now. On the downside, I understand the USB interface uses it’s own D/A converter – not the machine’s high-end super fancy Cirrus one … which partly defeats the purpose of having the USB interface at all. Others have noted that navigating large hard drives is difficult … I would imagine it best suited to just playing odd tracks copied on to a USB dongle. And, of course, the best you can get off a USB device is standard redbook CD quality, or worse, if it has been compressed to mp3.
2. Some people buy plain CD players that cost multiple times the price of this machine. It seems plainly obvious that the SACD performance of this machine will outclass anything that any CD player, no matter how expensive, can do. CD is limited by its technology. SACD sound is just so much nicer.
3. The remote control looks quite smart, but it is far too large, far too deep, and is cluttered with buttons that cannot even be used (such as the Filter button) or buttons that can only be used if you also have the matching Marantz amplifier (volume, mute, input etc) . Marantz could have done a much neater and more elegant job here.
4. The machine is for pure stereo playback: i.e. for people who have their hi-fi’s setup with 2 speakers (like me). It is not designed for multi-channel multi-speaker 5.1 setups that some people have for watching movies etc. Krell have taken the same pure stereo path in their new SACD machine. Seems to be the emerging norm in audiophile SACD players these days.
5. The machine itself, and the display, are a bit slow to respond to track changes made with the remote control, or on the machine itself.
6. You can optionally switch off the display – this is actually quite a nice little feature … the machine goes completely dark – like some mysterious and magical uber box, and then … when you hit a button on the remote, the display briefly activates again … so you can see the track number etc … and then goes dark again.
Overall, the minor quirks are just that … minor quirks. The machine is elegant, it is pure and it is absolutely wonderful. The sound is outrageously good. I sat on the fence thinking about SACD for over 3 years … until this came out … and I am absolutely delighted to have it. Amazon has thousands of SACDs available … prepare yourself for hunting trips!
A Reason to Upgrade to SACD
This product replaces the Marantz SA8001, a model with which I have been extremely pleased. Here’s what I wrote about the SA8001 Marantz SA8001 – SACD player – black.
“If you’ve been wondering whether to move up to SACD, hesitate no longer. Even on my 17-year-old Sony CD player, the Dunedin Consort’s award-winning recording of “Messiah” was outstanding, but I couldn’t help thinking that it would sound even better in its SACD incarnation. It does, and so do my other discs.
“I have a large collection of classical recordings and a good stereo system, but I’ve never considered myself an audiophile, and spending $900 on a single piece of equipment seemed like a bit of a stretch. But Stereophile’s rating of the SA8001 as a recommended “budget component”–a product “under $1,000 or otherwise seen as a great value by the editors”–encouraged me to take the plunge. I wasn’t disappointed. Played on the SA8001, my CDs and SACDs have taken on new life. The SA8001 plays two channels, not five, but it nonetheless offers great realism, accuracy, and dynamic range. In this case, at least, the higher priced product does produce a noticeable improvement in the listening experience.”
