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Marantz SA-10 arriving Monday!

I've been hearing and reading all I can about this player during this last year. I have a 6005 right now and it's a nice player but not as good as my analog rig (10k) so it's not a fair comparison. Elizabeth mentioned that her SA-10 is better than her analog. I will be comparing the 2 SACD players side by side. I have at least 3 CD's in which I have duplicates. I'm fascinated about how the circuitry upsamples to DSD SACD. Well not exactly but somehow an improvement over Redbook CD. I have a 2" thick maple block coming in the same day for it. It's going to be a long weekend. I know it can't work miracles on all CD's. If there is jitter in the recording then supposedly you will never get that out. Speak up if I'm wrong about that.
blueranger
elizabeth
6,726 posts
 
Yeah, but the Marantz in not using PCM to recreate the signal. The SA-10 is using DSD with upsampling of the DSD plus other unique stuff to decode the signal.And I have to say if you think the PCM decoding is 'perfect' and always gives the exact same answer from the same digital read every time from every player playing the same disc... You are deluded. they may be similar. but they are often only approximations of the 'same'. Otherwise why do different chips sound different?Why can one spinner read a disc, and another has errors? because they are not identical? Then the same it true of every decoder. They are not the same. Just because 'in theory' it can be perfect. Does not make it so in practice.
blueranger's avatar
blueranger OP
575 posts
 
Decoding perfectly is one thing. Carrying an undistorted signal through the analog chain is another. Digital noise is rather nasty and filters don't seem to get alk of it out. My Marantz manual suggests turning off the display, digital outs and the headphone amp!
elizabeth
6,726 posts
 
I have had the display off since day one.(I love that the SA-10 can stay on, and the display stays off if I have it to Toslik with the other disc spinner on. (the SA-10 display will turn on if the digital connection is broken by the other player being turned off) And the phones output turned off.
I did not remember if I had the digital out off. and trying from a distance, the readout is too small to see.. So getting closer I made sure it is off. But since I failed to see from a distance, I have no idea if it WAS off before. I have not played with that since I got it.
astru
19 posts
 
Elizabeth, take a look at page 8, bottom of the middle section. They use the word "phase" for polarity. However, all you need to know if that the unit comes wired with pin 2 hot (+) and pin 3 cold (-), as I posted in my previous message. I do not know the XLR polarity setting for Bryston BP-26; the Luxman C900u in my system allows to set the polarity for each input and for the output.
@clearthink: I have a PhD in engineering; the Redbook standard does not provide a guarantee for reconstructing perfectly the original acoustic signal
astru
19 posts
 
Elizabeth, I mistyped something in my previous message. I meant to say "is that the unit" rather than "if that the unit". I am just trying to clarify the meaning of those Marantz settings.

Clearthink, can you enlighten us with an explanation for bit-perfect acoustic waves?

After that, we should get the discussion back on track to Marantz SA-10. This thread should be for people who own the player, had some experience with it, or may be interested in knowing more about the experience of those first two types of people.
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