New from Marantz SA-8005

I recently bought the SA-8004 from Music Direct. It was a 'B Stock' item and they also had a demo unit. Both were $799.00...free shipping/no tax. I called in the order and the gentlemen convinced me to get the B stock rather than the demo...anyways, I apparently got the only B stock item as it disappeared off the site after my order was placed. Later that evening when I checked the tracking information I noticed they lowered the price of the demo to $699.00. Really? On the same day I bought mine? Anyways, I called the next day to express my annoyance about the price drop on the demo unit and stated I thought I should get a credit on my CC. Well after a conference with the 'boss' they said they would give me a $100 account credit for future purchases. Although I would have preferred a credit on my CC this was certainly acceptable as they always run 10% off sales at many holidays and I always have music in the cart waiting for a sale. Sound quality? All I can say is WOW! The transport is very smooth and it plays any CD or SACD I put into it very beautifully. I am just so pleased I can now play the SACD's I have been buying and previously only able to hear the CD layer. I finally got to hear my single layer Boston SACD! I am just loving this and I feel it was way worth what I paid for it. This unit just exudes quality. my only beef is lack of Text for CD/SACD when the lower line CD 5000 and 6000 series have text and the 6004 even has two line text. Minor issue since the sound this unit puts out is awesome. I am a vinyl from way back but this player has me in love with my CD's at the moment. That said I am playing higher quality CD's and SACD's but this thing sounds so analog to me it has me seriously thinking about getting an SA 8005 when the prices come down! There are a few of these out there for this price but make sure you get it from an authorized Marantz distributor so you get the 3 years parts/labor warranty on it.

 

I bought my new SA-8004 in 2013 for $720. It may have been discussed earlier in this thread. I had some correspondence with another member about that time, and IIRC, he got his from his local dealer for about the same price.

You are correct about the sound quality, BTW.

 

I bought a mint SA8003 from a member that had it in the classified section here and love it. I'm mainly a record guy but the Marantz deck really does make my CDs sound fantastic and SACDs are new format for me but I really enjoy them too. I'm not sure I'll ever upgrade to a 8005 because the 8003 is probably all I'll ever need. But you never know. Anyway, glad you're happy with the Marantz.

 

So do the Marantz SACD Players load up a disc super fast like the old cd players used to do? or do they take a while to read the disc.
Also I noticed Marantz still makes cd only players and they aren't very expensive...Does anyone have experience with these? Do they load up fast?

 

The load speed is not breakneck, but it is a lot faster than my earlier Sony unit and my SA-14.

 

I expect to buy the Marantz SA8005, but I have a question I hope someone can answer. A current CD player I have, an Onkyo, has a stupid feature that can't be canceled (though Onkyo brags about it). If you create a program from a CD, even of of consecutive tracks (e.g. tracks 3,4,5,6,7,8 of a 15 track CD), the unit adds 2 extra blank seconds between tracks. In other words, when track 5 is done, instead of going directly onto track 6, it puts 2 blank seconds between them. That's fine for people who only listen to pop songs, but a disaster for anyone who listens to longer music works of more than one track. If you program a CD on the Marantz 8005, and play it back, does the Marantz add that same stupid blank 2 seconds between the tracks like the Onkyo does? I hope not (or at the very worst, at least make it optional).

 

Just picked up an SA8005 and am running it in. Impressive.

 

The same here. I have also one since last week, and I am very happy.

 

I was looking at this player, but it won't play BD-A...the UD-7007 does however and it's the same price. Thoughts?

 

That's what I'd like to know too.
I'm grappling with the same question: go with the 7007 (or Oppo 105) or try the 8005

Logic says a player dedicated to CD/SACD should do a better job at that price.......all the money saved saved by ditching video capability goes into the sound and build.
But logic doesn't always rule the day in audio

 

A quick look at the innards shows a significant difference in the output stage and take a look at that transformer on the SA8005...very nice.

 

Wow, no comparison.

 

I got a used SA8004 earlier this week and love it. But if I needed the ability to play Blu-Ray discs in the same player, I'd get an Oppo.

In fact, I'm not 100% sure why I bought a new disc player when my wife currently uses my Oppo BDP-93 NuForce edition as a Netflix/Pandora streamer, but I guess I'd just wanted to try a Marantz player for years.

 

Bought a SA 8005 a month ago to play some hybrid SACD's i have been buying recently. IMHO its a fantastic player at SACD level
right up with my Naim CDXS digital out into a Chord Hugo DAC !

 

I'm listening to Mahler on SACD as I type...very nice. I've had the player less than a full day so I'm looking forward to when the DAC has at least 72 hrs to start to settle in. If it gets much better I'm going to have no choice but to declare it an absolute bargain......just sayin'.

 

BTW I have an Oppo BDP 103 in my home theater and love that player in it's roll.

 

Congrats! GREAT CD player! Play something with dynamic energy- the notes will jump out of the speakers with this one.
Interested to hear your comparison to the Line Magnetic player. I was on the fence between that one and the SA '05 based on your thoughts on the LM back in the spring.
I went with the Marantz because a good deal came along and have been impressed every time I push the play symbol.

 

Thank you. It will be awhile before I am ready to make that comparison. I've had this player for about a day now. IME it takes about 72 hrs powered up for the DAC to warm sufficiently to really start the break in (another couple hundred hrs). So far I'm quite impressed.

 

i don't burn many cds these days but once upon a time i burnt a ton of phish/dead/jam band cds and this was an annoyance when recreating the live feel. you could fix it by changing a setting from the default burn "track at one" to burn "disc at once."

 

How good is the Marantz, I know you know Rega players as well, would you prefer the Marantz also on CD ArtK ?

 

does the 8005, or any marantz player for that matter, tend to run warm or cool.....?

 

I love the Rega sound and if the Apollo-R were reliable I would still own one and wouldn't have any idea what the Marantz sounds like. That said the Marantz sounds every bit as good, just different. Beautiful build as well.

 

I have the 8004 and it runs very cool.

 

? for those with the technical know-how... i know this player sadly doesn't decode HDCD... however windows media player does... if you were to play an HDCD on a cpu through windows media player and hook it up to the marantz sa8005's usb port would you get the HDCD benefit?

 

Depends on your needs. If you want something that'll spin more than just CD/SACD, then the SA isn't the player. Great build or nay.