Thread: Marantz Ref SA-10 SACD/CD Player/DAC?

Has anyone had experience with this unit they'd like to share? I saw a video clip of the announcement, and it looked like a fine unit priced between the two lower end Esoteric machines but with perhaps a little warmer sound. The DAC uses FPGA technology a la PS Audio.

According to Stereophile, the Marantz SA-10 & PM-10 just won the EISA High-End Stereo System award for 2017 - 2018.

Hello
I had a listen to the SA 10
Nice .. why not
The CD tray seems cheap ..
For the price , there could be other alternatives
Then it's a question of taste
Cheers

Originally Posted by Zaheer

Hello
I had a listen to the SA 10
Nice .. why not
The CD tray seems cheap ..
For the price , there could be other alternatives
Then it's a question of taste
Cheers

Zaheer, thank you for your comments. Trying to get a feel for this product without being able to find a dealer in the area who carries the Marantz Reference line and not hearing much about their service in the US. I'm especially sensitive to transport quality due to experience with my old Proceed CDP (now on third transport mechanism and gasping). Oppo and Esoteric would seem to be two candidates.

Hello again
I have been a Marantz fan , still owning a CD 63 ki and a CD 17 ki
There is the marantz sound , sure
But today , in this price region , I considered the fact that a DAC costing that much , with a good transport , may be a better option
In europe , it's priced about 6500 - 7000 euros ..
The other thing is that CD is dying slowly but surely .. BUT SACD really delivers nice piece of music still
I'll try to have a listen to the SA 10 with some external sources soon , and will report back
But on a strict performance , and sound pleasure , some other brands are on a different level , especially in the CD playback
I have in mind Metronome technology
Lastly , Marantz rarely hold their market value .. and 1 year's time i'm sure that the SA10 will be available for a lot less
From some dealers , which are now friends , I know that Marantz allows substancial margin to them ..
Cheers

The SA8005 seems to be almost universally liked by owners. Any thoughts on the SA-14S1?

Hello
The SA11S3 sounds very good, a bit different to the SA10
BUT , now with the SA10 out , you can get it for a fraction of price
Cheers

Thanks to all for the feedback. The SA-10's US MRSP is about 7,000 USD. At this price we shouldn't need an external DAC to achieve really good sound. I like classical music where SACD excels and where there's [still] a good selection of music, but CD is still important to me. A criticism of the SA-11S3 has been that while it's excellent with SACDs, it's not a standout with CDs. Hoping this has changed with the SA-10.

Originally Posted by nc42acc

Hey GSOphile glad to see another NC audiophile. Would you be located in the Greensboro area?

Yup

Originally Posted by GSOphile

Thanks to all for the feedback. The SA-10's US MRSP is about 7,000 USD. At this price we shouldn't need an external DAC to achieve really good sound. I like classical music where SACD excels and where there's [still] a good selection of music, but CD is still important to me. A criticism of the SA-11S3 has been that while it's excellent with SACDs, it's not a standout with CDs. Hoping this has changed with the SA-10.

The redbook is very good. The SACD is a better, depending on the cd. I would imagine that the sa-10 would be better. Given the price increase.