Quote:
Originally Posted by Dilettante
I noticed you have the Esoteric CD/SACD player. Just wondering why you want to consider the Marantz SA-10. The Esoteric is on another level an will sound better than the Marantz. Even the entry level Esoteric player will be better than the SA-10.
Plus I noticed that on the AC inlet on the back of the SA-10 has only two-way prong and missing ground. So, it will be hard to find a good audiophile quality power cable that has only two-way prong female connector. All good upgraded power cables have three-way prong female connectors.
I noticed all Marantz Reference series gears have only two-way prong AC inlet on the back of their gears. Wonder why? Could someone explain?
I was considering the SA-10 before but when I saw that two-way prong AC inlet on the SA-10 it kinda thew me off a bit, so I ended up getting a used Cary Audio CD 306 SACD player which also sounds very musical and it's in the same league as the SA-10 sonically and build quality wise but the Cary is an older player and has been discontinued sometime ago.
My cousin has DCS Vivaldi full four separate stacks which consists of the Vivaldi masterclock, Vivaldi upsampler, Vivaldi DAC & Vivaldi CD/SACD transport. One time one of his buddy brought in over the Marantz SA-10 and the he was dissapointed with the sound quality of the SA-10 especially in comparison to his DCS Vivaldi full stacks. I know this wasn't a fair comparison at all, far from it. I wouldn't compare $7k SA-10 to $130k DCS Vivaldi stacks.
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The transport on my Esoteric X-05 literally broke into pieces as I was playing a disc several months ago. The single authorized Esoteric repair service in the entire US estimated (by phone) that the cost to repair it would be $1,800 or more, plus $170 for a "factory authorized" shipping box, plus cross-country shipping. Several knowledgable folks advised me that DACs had improved so much in the last 12 years that I would be much better off putting that money towards a new machine.
Despite feeling a bit put out by Esoteric, my first thought was to see what their current replacement model would be. 3 different major Esoteric dealers told me that Esoteric had apparently abandoned the US market - multiple big-dollar orders by them had gone unfilled, inquiries to Esoteric by them had gone unanswered, & they had been forced to give their customers refunds. (They also said that no-show replacement parts were delaying repairs.) They all advised me to avoid Esoteric like the plague.
My thoughts then turned to Luxman, but they had just retired their entire SACD player line, & the only new model that will be available this year is the d-10x, which is way out of my price range.
Because I need SACD (I have over 1000 discs), my player choices are limited to begin with. I did a lot of research, & called a lot of dealers, and the SA-10 seems like the best player available within my price range, unless I am willing to wait a year for the new, less expensive, Luxman models, which I'm not. The new Esoteric players have gotten some good reviews, but that does me no good if I can't (reliably) buy one. It's been a very frustrating process.
Although the AC inlet on the Marantz lacks a ground pin, it takes a standard IEC-type plug, allowing the use of aftermarket PCs like my Shunyata Alpha NR - it simply makes no connection to the ground. I currently have a call in to Shunyata to ask if this is a problem. (Richard is on vacation until next Wed.)
As my turntable is also out of commission at the moment, I've been without my system for over 2 months, & I'm going through withdrawal...
