I bought a new (to me) Marantz UD9004
. It should arrive in a week.
I was originally going to get the OPPO 105 to replace my 95, but the sound quality worries me. I was never happy with my 95 after the MVP871. The 95 sounds more "impressive" at first with better dynamic, bass, etc. But, it was never musical. I couldn't listen to it for an extended period of time. It's got all the bells and whistles, but if the sound doesn't satisfy me, none of that matters.
I came upon a used UD9004 for a great price, so I decided to do some research on this old flagship unit. It turned out the unit's audio section was based on the Marantz Reference SA7-S1 that sells for $7K. Users report the UD9004 sounds better than the SA11-S2 and SA-KI Pearl. In fact, the UD9004's sound quality approaches the SA7-S1. Plus, a majority of people that owns Marantz are extremely happy, especially for the price/performance ration. I decided to purchase it.
This machines uses the 32bit/192khz AK4399 DAC. It has the ability to turn off all video/display/digital out circuit when playing music. I'll be using the balanced output
