Fantastic New Budget DAC: The Marantz HD DAC1

A CD player that requires an external DAC is flawed in my opinion, unless it is designed as a transport. And quite frankly belongs in the scrap heap.

 

I said nothing about requiring, I said I have a use for it. It's not required, it's preference. I'm new here, but I'm learning the members. Thanks for your input and opinion, it helps me figure out who's who.

 

Cool. Welcome.

 

Thanks for the reminder about HDMI audio de-embedders. That'll allow for the use of an external DAC with many SACD players, albeit via a DSD > PCM conversion step and stereo only.

 

Andre I use my Emotiva's Dac for my budget cd player, The DC-1 is acting as a pre-amp in my system, so the options it had with it's price point fit my needs +analog for my phono-pre, my Onkyo was a energy hog, with so many options out there I'm glad your taking the time doing reviews

 

No problem, I could never really tell the difference from DSD->HDMI->Onkyo which could decode it and PCM, so it was really no big deal, The DC-1 picks it up at 88 so all is well for me

 

Understood..your situation is a bit unique as the Emotiva is also a preamp.

 

So everything evolves & progresses except the isolation?

 

To broad a statement.

 

A really nice looking unit!

 

Yeah, I buy a headphone amp I want analog inputs. I know, is it a headphone amp or a DAC? You can plug your headphones into it, that makes it an amp.

 

It does look nice, but $799 is not a "budget" product in any sense of the word.

I'd call the $149 Audioquest Dragonfly a "budget" DAC.

Calling $799 units "budget" shows how out-of-touch this hobby is to the mainstream. If we want to attract more younger people to hi-fi, calling a $799 DAC a "budget" product is going to scare the crap out of them!!! I guess it's not the hi-fi press' job to attract younger people to the industry, but IMHO they should not be doing something that will actually dissuade newbies from it!

 

I mostly agree. But I'm thinking most "audiophile's" definition of "budget" is < $1,000

 

Well, I consider myself an audiophile and my idea of a "budget" device tops out at around $299. Anything above that is "moderately expensive." And yes, I have plenty of gear that is over $1k.

 

That is pretty much what I feel as well. A component under a grand would be budget components and an area where I would love to get most bang for the buck.

 

Absolutely! That's why I used quotes around the word audiophile. Unfortunately, the word "budget" is really subjective.

And regarding my status as an "audiophile", let's just say that I have intense intellectual curiosity but am utterly turned off by examples I've seen of "audiophile lifestyle".

 

Would you be able to compare it against the Schiit Gungnir? I am really considering the Gungnir but if this Marantz is better... I'm only interested in the USB interface

 

So how does it actually sound?

 

Couldn't agree more. I'd typically not be looking to buy anything that's classified as "entry level" these days, but I'd got along with this rationale entirely. Anything up to £300 gets your foot in the door. Anything over that is step up territory. Anything over £1000 is off the cards for most folk out there. This is definitely not a "budget" device.

 

It's available for £579 in the UK, it's either the high end of budget or the bottom rung in the middle ground I'd say.

 

So same territory as the Teac DSD DACs. Either way, at nearly £600, that's above entry level still. Seeing as you can land a first gen Dragonfly for about £150...

 

You could hook up a CD player with the digital inputs, correct?

 

The Marantz absolutely runs circles around the dragonfly sonically and feature wise. Like comparing a Smart Car to a Jaguar.

 

Yes, there are Coax, TosLink, and USB inputs.

 

Sounds fantastic...did a pretty long listening session last night..spacious, clean, and big soundstage.