AMR CD77 vs Ensemble Dirondo Drive/Dichrono Hi-DAC

It does get a little warm, but certainly not hot. You can touch any part after hours of play without any sort of discomfert. The chamber for the transport seems to get slightly warmer than anything else.

The filter options is kinda cool, in that you can change on the fly while the music is playing, the change is instantaneous and without any thumps or pop sounds.

For the most part the Master II default is definately the prefered setting. I have found that on some remastered cd's that were recorded in the 50-60's, especially jazz or rock that were recorded with close mic;...that the 2x or 4x filter is a nice improvement, especially with regards to soundstaging being more natural. I also have some 24bit/96kHz remasters where I use the 96 or 192 filter.
But I use the Master II with 90-95% of my cd's.

I have it paired with set amplification and 101dB speakers, and I believe the ditributor Darren of Avatar Acoustics mates it with Karan ss amps. Either he or Thorsten could talk volumes over the difference between the crown & non-crown version of the TDA1541. Or do a search on the AA site, there was some intelligent post's from last year. I haven't heard the Marantz CD12 that you have.

If you have the oppertunity to demo, make sure that it has 500+ hours, big difference.

Hope this all helps.

Cheers

I'm getting an AMR CD77 for a week home demo

Love to hear what think after a week.

Sounds good so far on Digital Master 1 or 2

The transport on this demo unit is a little noisy when it searches for the next track or when you press stop and the mechanism returns to the default position.It's quiet when playing tracks

That was fast, you must have a dealer close by.
I believe that the noise you mention is a quirk of the cd77, as mine has always done the same.

I realized that I had to readjust my speaker set up slightly after the cd77 was added (moved them about 4" farther apart). Also it does take at least 48 hours in standby or play mode b4 it settles in and you might detect
that the presentation totally relaxes after a week of play.

Enjoy!