Fantastic New Budget DAC: The Marantz HD DAC1

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by ServingTheMusic, Oct 7, 2014.

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  1. ServingTheMusic

    ServingTheMusic Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    SoCal
    Thanks for reading! Very cool...report back when you receive it.
     
  2. JackBnimble

    JackBnimble Forum Resident

    Enjoyed the review Andre. I've been on the fence about this unit but your review may have pushed me over. Just a couple of questions, how does the Denon USB/DSD DAC compare to this performance wise? I also use Grado 60's. Which unit did a better job driving the cans? Thanks.
     
  3. dnuggett

    dnuggett Forum Resident

    Location:
    DFW Texas
    As discussed in his Denon thread, the Denon is probably fine driving the Grado 60s. However if you decide to go up the ladder it may not do as well with other cans. It drove my HP50s just ok, but I'm not sure it'd do so well with my Audeze LCD2F.
     
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  4. ServingTheMusic

    ServingTheMusic Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    SoCal
    Thank you.

    As always, I advise an audition before purchase if possible.

    I would take the Marantz over the Denon. Classier package, more features, IEC inlet, and bit more of a refined sound, and built to a higher standard.
     
  5. JackBnimble

    JackBnimble Forum Resident

    Thanks to you and dnugget for the responses. Went ahead and ordered the Marantz.
     
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  6. Halloween_Jack

    Halloween_Jack Senior Member

    Location:
    Hampshire, UK
  7. ServingTheMusic

    ServingTheMusic Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    SoCal
    Lol...well thanks!
     
  8. tricka

    tricka Member

    Location:
    Sydney
    Well my HD Dac 1 turned up today and I have been listening to it with my Oppo PM 1's for all of about 25 minutes playing native DSD. As you can see I believe in burn in :hide:.

    It's a lovely dac/head amp. Everything Andre has written is accurate, in my opinion. It is smooth, refined resolving and musical. It makes a compelling package for under $1000 (hard to believe Maranatz can make and sell something of this quality for retail US$799).

    In terms of sound, cf with the Teac 301, it is better. By better I mean smoother, more refined and just, well, yummier, for my listening preferences. The head amp is different to the Teac: tighter deeper bass, more heft but perhaps lack the punch of the Teac and the clarity/rawness it has (and which I quite like). The Teac 301 is a great unit for $400, and I like it a lot. The Marantz is definitely got more of a tube like character, while the Teac is perhaps that more transparent and SS like. Both great units, I'd be happy with either.

    Glad I bought it.
     
    Last edited: Jan 12, 2015
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  9. shaizada

    shaizada Forum Resident

    My buddy econalan let me borrow his HD-Dac 1 for some listening today. Sound is excellent and my sonic impressions didn't change based on the USB input. However I want to add a few more thoughts/learnings so potential buyers know more going in for this unit.

    1) The sound from the Optical input really just sucks! I am so glad I didn't hear this sound the first day I heard the unit as I probably would not let my buddy buy it! My second system relies on an optical TOSLINK connection to stream music. Here the sound was thin, brittle and completely lacking in any body whatsoever. How this unit can have such a weak optical implementation, I just can't imagine. Marantz really dropped the ball on the TOSLINK input.

    2) All my thoughts about the unit are based on the USB input only.
     
  10. ServingTheMusic

    ServingTheMusic Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    SoCal
    Interesting, because out of roughly 8 Marantz digital products I have had, the optical input always sounded good...used it with Squeezeboxes.
     
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  11. ServingTheMusic

    ServingTheMusic Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    SoCal
    Congrats on the purchase! And many thanks for the nice words.
     
  12. shaizada

    shaizada Forum Resident

    Yeah, I'm just not sure what is going on with the optical input sound quality. The first optical cable that was plugged into my Chord QBD76HDSD didn't even work at all! We were baffled by this as I had never experienced something like that. Luckily I had two more optical cables that I dug out and tried them both. Both sounded different but good thing is that both new ones worked. Even the better sounding one out of the two working optical cables just sounded plain horrendous to my ears.

    Can you imagine a thin, fatiguing and body-less sound coming out of a Fisher 500B amplifier with all original NOS tubes?!?! Well, we heard it here tonight though the optical input of the HD-DAC1! :)
     
  13. ServingTheMusic

    ServingTheMusic Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    SoCal
    What was your source?
     
  14. shaizada

    shaizada Forum Resident

    The system is an Airport Express serving 16 bit, 44.1KHz lossless music. Taking the output through the optical cable into the DAC. From there, using the fixed outputs of the HD-DAC1 into the Fisher 500B AUX input. From there into a pair of Blumenstein Naga speakers, single driver, no crossover.

    I just realized you are in Socal. You are welcome to come over for a listen and help me figure out what the hec is going on with the optical input. Maybe bring your unit along to make sure there isn't something wrong with the HD-DAC1 I have here.
     
  15. ServingTheMusic

    ServingTheMusic Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    SoCal
    Ok. And what was your USB source.

    It is possible the APE is a weak link. It is a high jitter source and is quite sensitive to its environment,

    I am just laying out s possible scenario why the Toslink I out sucked....
     
  16. shaizada

    shaizada Forum Resident

    The Airport Express isn't a very high end source at all, but it does stream CD quality out. The Chord DAC easily manages it with it's own jitter reduction. The HD-DAC1 might just not have a decent re-clocking circuit possibly to minimize the jitter.

    With that said, my buddy, who owns this unit, also tried out the optical in his own system through a NAD CD player. Similar result to what we heard at my place, though I didn't hear his NAD CD player through the HD-DAC1 with my own ears. I trust his.
     
  17. Halloween_Jack

    Halloween_Jack Senior Member

    Location:
    Hampshire, UK
    Have you tried both the optical inputs? One might have some dirt or contamination over the light receiver perhaps?
     
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  18. econalan

    econalan Forum Resident

    Location:
    Orange County, CA
    Just confirming what @shaizada says here. Pretty big difference between the USB and optical inputs. In my system, I preferred my NAD c 546bee player directly into my preamp compared to using the optical out into the DAC. I got a pretty big lift in sound quality using the USB input from via a macbook pro. For me, it didn't concern me too much because I strictly plan on using the USB input. With respect to the APE, I'm guessing, as indicated above, the re-clocking circuit isn't sufficient to use that as a decent streamer.
     
  19. gloomrider

    gloomrider Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Hollywood, CA, USA
    A friend has one of these attached to his Airport Express. Huge difference in sound quality!

    [​IMG]
     
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  20. shaizada

    shaizada Forum Resident

    Yes, ended up trying both the optical inputs. No change in outcome.

    On another note, plugged in my Sennheiser HD-800 into the headphone amp section last night using the stock Sennheiser single ended headphone cable. The headphone amp section of the HD-DAC1 sounds fantastic, again hooked up via USB input. I used to live in the Head-fi world exclusively many years ago and ended up with an exit rig after traversing a chain from the bottom (a good bottom using Koss KSC-35) to the top at that time (Sony R-10 "Bass Heavy", Audio Technica L3000, Sennheiser HE-90, Stax 007mkII). I ended up with a Ray Samuels B-52 balanced headphone amp and three pairs of headphones that I ultimately distilled to (Sennheiser HD-600, Sennheiser HD650, Audio Technica W1000). The sound was good enough for me to be done there. I also now have recently added the Sennheiser HD-800 to that collection as it offered another step up in quality and worked amazingly well with my current headphone setup. This setup sounds as good as the source and cables hooked up to it and SHINES in a fully balanced setup. Even single ended, the HD-DAC1 headphone output was damn good. The sound quality is way more than I could have ever imagined at this price point, quite competitive with a dedicated reference headphone setup. Basically a HUGE Plus one here for the HD-DAC1 headphone amp :)
     
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  21. shaizada

    shaizada Forum Resident

    I've known about this device and have been curious about it. What I just found out is even more interesting! From the website you linked, the manufacturer supplied these measurements:

    [​IMG]

    So even after the Femto clock device has been inserted, the Jitter Measurement is STILL at 87 ps. I think that is too high, especially for a dedicated device that aims to reduce it (which it did quite well from the original 527ps!). I think one of the reasons my Chord QBD76HDSD does so well sonically is that it reduces that jitter to 3ps with it's internal buffer and re-clocker! This is something I JUST realized...thanks for linking that device and putting it on my radar again!

    Now the Marantz unit has it's own Jitter reduction circuitry inside, but I haven't been able to find any more details on it. It has dual clocks, which is a good thing...one for the 44.1KHz multiples and one for the 48Khz multiples. Oh well, in the end specs schmecks, it all comes down to listening and deciding with ones ears. If this device cures the pale, thin sounding toslink section, it would be a win in my book. BUT it also adds $400 to the HD-DAC1 $799 price making it a $1200 investment without considering the quality of the TOSLINK cable itself.
     
  22. Trius

    Trius Forum Resident

    Hello fellow crazy people. This is my first post here. It's in this thread because I was searching the inter-tubes for reviews on this Marantz DAC, and specifically I was agonizing (not really -- I don't agonize, I'm Buddhist :) ) between the Marantz and the Teac UD-501. While DSD may never be dominant, I think it's significant and here to stay.

    So now you all have made up my mind, it's the Marantz. (Truth be told, I think the level of performance for a modest price [I won't get into the "what is BUDGET?" argument!] is at a level that it's a matter of taste. IOW, I could probably be happy with the Teac, Marantz or even others. But Marantz reviews always talk about warm, natural, relaxed, engaging, etc. It's about the music, eh?

    I have two systems, upstairs/downstairs. (My first wife loved that series, I watched and enjoyed, but now that I reflect ... but I digress.) Upstairs is living room that is for TV/video as much as music, but the speakers are my Time Window 1a babies. The digital sources are a lowly Sony S470 BluRay, which I purchased not only for BluRay play but for SACD. The processing and amplification is a Denon AVR-888, a mid-fi which isn't bad for the $399 I paid. But when I play SACDs ... ugh.

    In the basement (yet to be finished/transformed into a real listening room) I have a Fisher 400C, feed by a Pioneer DVD player (also SACD capable) and a half-decent FM antenna feed, into either Angstrom 202 (Great White North!) speakers or Fisher XP-5s. The latter are in really good shape, especially given the whole $20USD I paid at a charity sale, but the foam tweeter difusers need replacement.

    So ... I need to upgrade the digital processing for both systems (forget that I need a speaker upgrade in the Fisher system -- I know!) but I really want the living room system to serve both 2-channel music as primary, and movie/HT purposes as secondary. But when I play SACDs in the living room (Sony/Denon mid-fi) I say ... YUCK! I absolutely know I'm not getting the real music off the disc. Even when I play Apple lossless through the Airport Express (optical) I know it's not all THERE.

    So here's the question ...

    I think the Marantz DAC-1 would be logical to place in the basement/Fisher system. I could use the Pioneer as transport for CDs/SACDs (in addition to vinyl) and have the benefit of tube amplification.

    But what about the upstairs system. I know I need to replace both the BluRay source and AV receiver. So assuming I replace the latter with something highly musical while providing HDMI video, would the Marantz UD7007 DAC section be satisfying enough?

    I know this is a somewhat long and circuitous way of asking ... how does the UD7007 fare as a DAC? Does anyone have experience with this player as a DSD processor? I also have an Apple TV and Airport Express connected, and my iTunes library is on a hard disc connected to a Time Capsule. The router-connected USB drive will be upgraded to a NAS in the future, for a DLNA source. And yes, I know this might better be posted in a thread about the UD7007, but hey ... y'all are relieving me of $800 for the DAC1! :)
     
  23. igbee

    igbee Forum Resident

    Location:
    Toronto, ON
    Does anyone know how much of a compromise the Dac in the Marantz PM7005 Integrated amplifier would be vs the stand alone HD DAC1? They both have the same chip and do DSD 2x but I would imagine there's got to be some kind of trade off. Ideal for me would be a DSD DAC/Preamp with RCA.
     
  24. igbee

    igbee Forum Resident

    Location:
    Toronto, ON
  25. Beetlebum

    Beetlebum Forum Resident

    Location:
    Raleigh, NC, USA
    Could anyone compare the DACs on Oppo BDP-103 with the HD-DAC1 ? What about those in the BDP-105 ?
     
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