Marantz NA-11S1

[tom1120s]

Does anyone know when this may be available in the U.S.? I hope it matches up with the reference series color. Price?

[Tank_PD]

Initial shipment of the NA-S11 is expected to begin in March. Price is $3499.

I'm torn between this and the SA11S3. I have the NA7004 and use it more than the SA8004. Anyone have the PM11S3?

I just wish they had included AM/FM (like on the European NA7004) since there are many stations that do not do HD radio. Or if they do, they do not use the WMA/MP3 format required by the Marantz.

Also seems like gold is not in USA this time. I don't know why they don't give us the same options.

[tom1120s]

This is listed on Marantz website.

[tom1120s]

The model listed on the website is black. Does anyone know if they have a model that will 'match' with the reference color?

Anyone?

[Tank_PD]

I have asked Marantz this question. UK has it for sure, but to me it looks different / lighter even in the pictures. I'm not sure if the USA will get the gold color at all.

[Tank_PD]

Originally Posted by tom1120s

The model listed on the website is black. Does anyone know if they have a model that will 'match' with the reference color?

Anyone?

I just asked Marantz this question and the only color available in the US is black. So no, if you live in the US.

I don't know why they can't offer the same colors everywhere.

[tom1120s]

Has anyone purchased one of these yet? Impressions? I am thinking this may be a good place to start with the streaming devices and I understand it has a pretty good DAC......

[-E-]

I know a few people who have it; they think it is great.

But... You're best using it has a DAC and potential DLNA renderer (getting fed/controlled by a proper DLNA server like a PC controlling your music database).

Otherwise it's a glorified compressed internet radio streaming device.

[Tank_PD]

Originally Posted by tom1120s

Has anyone purchased one of these yet? Impressions? I am thinking this may be a good place to start with the streaming devices and I understand it has a pretty good DAC......

Most of my impressions are from owning the NA7004. I would like a NA11S1, but I'm sure it's worth the cost. When I mentioned frustrations to Marantz or asked if these issues had been fixed in the new model I got very disappointing answers. The NA7004 has many of the same features and is now $499. You may be better off going this route if you've never owned a streamer / DAC before. Sure the NA11S1 is nicer, but I'm not convinced it's $3000 nicer. You'd have to already own some seriously good speakers as you'd be much better off spending more on speakers. It's a shame these products are so hard to audition. The dealers seem more and more like a walk-in order by mail catalog.

I find the Internet Radio in the streamer to be woefully incomplete for an area like Los Angeles. Sometimes the server response is slow or it fails to connect some mornings. It doesn't support all codecs for the internet radio stream. Only WMA/MP3 streams are supported. Any radio station using an AAC stream cannot be listened to. I end up having to use Airplay + the iHeartRadio app to get any stations the Marantz streamers cannot see. This is the same on both models. Almost wonder if the CD player with an AppleTV attached would be any better.

The NA7004 does not support gapless FLAC playback. Apparently the NA11S1 does now. Marantz does not plan to give this as a firmware update to the NA7004.Because of this I pretty much switched to Airplay immediately. That and almost every DLNA server + mobile remote app was terrible. JRiver would constantly unstable 2 years ago when I was evaluating it two years ago.Though I suppose the NA11S1 has a few more capabilities such as Spotify.

As mentioned you really need all of your music on a media server of some kind. Perferable something that runs 24x7 so you can have convenient access to your entire music collection. Also a tablet with a remote app of some kind to browse the library / queue stuff up and make selections. Otherwise the device is not nearly as compelling.

[afridi]

I compared it to the MSB Analog DAC and found it kept up quite nicely with maybe a bit more detail. Suffice to say, it is now in my main system.