It's a technology akin to that used by dCS. It's one of the reasons for why it sounds so great (ask dCS aficionados) and it's amazing that it is available at this price point. Only an old school company like Marantz has the engineering chops and resources to pull this off at scale and is a parting gift from Ken Ishiwata and the engineering team tasked with working with him. dCS tech for a few thousand dollars. Seemingly few people realise this.
Prior to acquiring the 30n I owned the DirectStream Junior and compared them. In my opinion the Marantz MMM engineering is better and more sophisticated than PS Audio. I noticed this most on redbook cd playback. PS Audio does DSD very well, but the Marantz smokes them on redbook cd. I believe this is due to a better funded, and superior engineering team at Marantz.
Thanks for all the replies! i still have the question if the Marantz has a softer attack. i know I know I’m being a pain. I’m just asking because ever time I have used DSD it sounds softer than PCM. that’s my concern. Thanks to all in advance !
As far as softer I can’t say but is it more musical, well as far as SACD the SA-KI is much more so then my previous SACD player an Esoteric SA-10 which was $3500.00 in 2007 when I got it. Listing to some RCA Living Stereo disc the louder passages have the sense of dynamics as in a live concert. And as far as red books this is best I have heard in my system. and on an other note the sound of upright bass it to die for the body and bloom of the instrument is spot on.
It’s supposed to be softer… doesn’t mean less detailed.. all about mastering of the album at the end of the day.
Are there any brands of amps and speakers that would not sound good with the Arabs SA-KA?Is a Marantz amp the best match?
I think many amps would pair up quite well with the SA-KI Ruby including Marantz amps. If an amp didn’t sound well with the SA-KI Ruby it would be an amp I wouldn’t want to own.
I wish you guys would shut up praising the SA KI Ruby ! I feel like I may have missed something somewhere. I tried it on home demo and was very disappointed in it and it's PM KI Ruby brother (and I am a Marantz fan boy). I would rate them as quite good, but to me they sounded dull lifeless and shut in (like how I remembered the SA8005). Nice and rich though, which i like, and i could hear some detail. It lost on A-B tests against other CDP's i tried including my Marantz S14S1SE (my favourite at that point), Roksan M2, and even a vintage Marantz CD52ii (my favourite for many years and the reason I'm a Marantz fan boy). Speakers were Harbeth SLH5+ with a few different amps so the system was certainly good enough. Probably had about 100 hours on it before I gave up on it and it's brother. I was a bit gutted because of it's engineering and heritage, but i had to trust my ears. My latest adventure to improve on the Sa14S1SE is an Audiolab 6000cdt into a Denafrips Pontus 2, now there's a good combo !
You had the SA-KI Ruby and didn't like it. So maybe it just wasn't for you. With that you probably aren't missing anything. I have the SA-KI Ruby and find it sounds anything but dull, lifeless and shut in. It's one of the best sounding CD/SACD players I've owned. It's excellent as a DAC for listening to Qobuz.
That's not enough time. Some of the capacitors inside are huge. They take a long time to break in. Before they have, it will sound veiled. Need at least 200 hours.
We seem to have these odd notions of absolute truths in audio, especially in forums. The reality is that with audio, we are essentially discussing ice cream. Discussions often go like someone saying "I don't understand how anyone could like this pistachio ice cream!" And then a debate unfolds, or the pistachio ice cream lovers jump in to defend their favorite ice cream. And someone will counter, "but what sort of cone did you use?" A response could be, "now chocolate coconut, that's real ice cream..." And it goes on like this for weeks, sometimes years. It's like we're all a bunch of idiots!
Will you please stop saying vanilla ice cream is great. I tried it, and vanilla completely blows. What you really need is kangaroo flavored ice cream from Australia that costs $795 per pint.
Well yeah each thread on this forum be it equipment or music is like this… you’ll get a variety of opinions on xxxx… For me I’m just looking for some type of consensus positive or negative… to help me make a decision. Even if there is a consensus… There is always going to be someone who it doesn’t work for xxxx reason. Great thanks for your input and move on… In this Thread most people’s experience has been extremely positive with Ruby me included. There certainly others who it didn’t work for for xxxxx reasons… Again great move on not a big deal.
Moderator Note: Members are reminded to make sure your equipment profiles are factually filled out and visible to all members before commenting on sound quality. Failure to do so will result in the removal of your posts and removal from the thread.
Well I am clearly in a minority in not rating the Ruby, which is fair enough - I'm glad other people are enjoying it. Have many people A-B tested it against other good modern CD players like I have ? What were their conclusions ? I still feel like i may have missed something here, and may try it or one of its close cousins again ! (Thanks To Graham for reinstating my post, after i listed my long lost of equipment).
I have tested it against the latest two NAD players, admittedly much less expensive, and the Yamaha S1000. Much better than all with redbook cds, and very close, with a slight edge, in sound to the Yamaha when playing sacds