Technics SL-G700 Grand Class Network Streamer/Super Audio CD Player thread

I went ahead and ordered it.. done with all the literature around it, now for some real action.. lol!

 

Congrats! You won’t be disappointed!

 

Hello Guys!

So it's been a couple of days since I got the player. And just like many have already said.. it sounds exceptionally good! Probably one of the best or the best I have heard, and I have been through many standalone DACs, last being a Bryston BDA-3.

The system I put it into is Yamaha A-S2200 and the new KLH Model 5 based.

I think SACD/CD sounds the best, then Tidal MQA tracks via built-in streamer. But the TAC app/UX is awefully clunky compared to BS Node 2i's app.

So, I tried using the Tidal's native iOS app and ChromeCast'n directly from it, but MQA keeps displaying On/Off on the unit's display in it's info mode, and sometimes the connection is lost! May be if SL supported TidalConnect that would have helped.

Anyways, since I have the Node 2i with a coax Out and the SL has an In, I explored that a bit. This way I can use Amazon music HD and Tidal (even their Connect mode). Tidal's MQA Studio tracks also comes through as such in this coax in mode.. so that's great!
Usually MQA is USB only from PC.. speaking of which.. it's beyond me why the SL doesn't have USB type-B input when even Technics amps and some all-in-ones at their lower tier have it?!

Anyways.. here is an issue I'm experiencing and need help from other owners to verify if possible..
On Amazon music I have various playlist with tracks of different sampling rates and bit depths all mixed up. Now when playing them through the Node 2i connected to the SL via coax, there's an audible internal relay click within SL when sampling rate of the new track is diff from the previous (doesnt happen with Tidal built-in), which itself is Ok - have had other DACs that do the same, but then I hear a snappy pop come out along with it through the speakers/headphones connected to the amp!

As I understand those are generally muting relays to avoid any noise through speakers when sampling rates change. So, I wonder if something's wrong with the unit I got? Would be great if someone who owns an SL can help check/confirm how it's on their's..
Have written to Technics as well, but no reply yet.

Other findings/observations,
- cannot cast from YouTube to the built-in CC
- for the above you need YT music, but casting requires subscription (basically only audio casting.. I over expected)
- can cast from Amazon music app on Android (not from iOS) to built-in CC, but is limited to 16b / 44 or 48 k.. might as well use Airplay
- Toslink is maxed at 96k.. knew this
- Temperature on the unit on the side of its display goes to 93F after half an hour use even when room is at ~72F, would have expected it stay at 88F max, rest of the unit is in the 82-88F range
- No Spotify premium
- have to manually enable MQA.., such a hassle to turn on/off based on track.. why can't this be Auto? What does it mean for MQA filter to be On when the track is not MQA..?
- checked with Technics customer support if Amazon music will come via firmware upgrade.. answer was a NO.. I have prime and hence a discount.
- the headphone amp doesn't come anything close to the one in the Yamaha a-s2200
- the unit took ~50-60 hrs to open up and settle

It sounds so good that I can overlook almost all the issues except that click coming through the speakers and the odd high temperature on just one side - both of which I worry could cut short it's life.

Thanks,

 

Congrats with your new Technics player! I have one on order myself. Been waiting since april month.

Interesting that you have that Yamaha amp. Have the A-S3200 myself and think the G-700 will be a match in heaven. Marantz is not an option for me, don’t want more of a lush and warm sound.

I will use mine primarily for disc playing, as I have a large collection of SACDs. Also hundreds of old CDs that I enjoy.

I don’t think you should worry about heat. This is something that Technics and their engineers had in mind when the product was designed.
I would more worry if the product was a small boutiqe label «high end» brand.

 

I haven’t encountered the relay/noise to speaker issue at all. Also, no noticeable heat issue. I will double-check that the next time I listen. What is your network connection: wired or wireless? Mine is wired.

Can’t answer the mqa question definitively, but I would guess it generally would make a non-mqa file sound worse. I explored it briefly when i got the unit, did not consider it advantageous and leave it off. Here are a couple of references/discussions which may/may not help:

MQA into non-mqa dac. ?This isn’t the same scenario, but from the descriptions provided, it sounded like mqa on a non-mqa file could throw data away (upper frequency) and then add back its own ‘noise’ (most significant 8 b). Someone who knows more would have to weigh in. But to me that sounds like sending a regular file through the MQA decoder would not result in anything ‘good.’

Technics SL-G 700 Review

 

It's just that the Yamaha that's doing much more is running much cooler.. and it's mass production, so it's good to question when something seems odd.. else it's $3k down the drain in a short while.

 

Hey,
It'd be great if you can check on those 2 things.
That relay noise through speakers is only when feeding through the Coax input and that too with playlist containing tracks of different sampling rates, etc.
Thanks!

 

I can confirm no heat anywhere around the unit, including around the display side/corner. So that sounds suspicious on your unit. (I think I would have noticed that as you effectively have to touch the ‘open CD drawer’ on the front panel.)

Haven’t seen any complaints/mentioned about heat. However, the manual does say warn the unit can become warm and to ‘be careful about touching the bottom of the unit.’ It says to unplug for 3 minutes if that occurs. (This is from the ‘long version’ of their manual - not sure it’s in the version that comes with the unit.)

Conveniently, my audio bench is literally a bench made from two timbers and steel, so I can readily reach in the center (about two bandwidths of open space) to the unit bottom and I don’t feel any heat.

I just played songs with varying rates, no relay sounds and no speaker pops (thank goodness). The only time I hear a relay is swapping between CD mode and playing a streamed file - and that’s just an internal sound, definitely not through the speaker.

If it were me, I’d probably RMA the unit as the two symptoms you mention do not seem ordinary (or acceptable).

Maybe @Slimpickens will chime in with another sample.

BTW, you didn’t say whether you were using Ethernet or wireless connectivity. Or are you using neither and just accessing another unit via coax? (I’m not familiar with the other pieces in your setup.)

 

Thanks @dadonred !

Forgot to mention, I'm using it wired, so is the node2i.

For temperature reading I use this,
Non-Contact Digital Laser Grip Infrared Thermometer Temperature Gun -58℉~ 752℉ (-50℃ ~ 400℃),
https://a.co/d/hW97ZZB

I'll see if I can exchange for another unit.

Thank you!

 

Congrats on the SL-G700 Mr. XO!

I don't use the Coax at all on my unit. I do run my P7 through the Puffin TOSlink to the SL-G700 TOSlink. Never heard any relay sounds. I'm with you, the SACD is pretty magical. I'm an Amazon Music guy, so I run it over ApplePlay. I thought I read that ApplePlay is lossless, is that incorrect? I'm VERY new to streaming through my hi-fi system. I'm pretty "old school".

As far as the heating up, I'll give that a test and let you know, but I've never noticed any heat issues with it. I think you're smart to look at exchanging it. Something seems off.

GREAT write-up on your experience too!

 

Hi @Slimpickens, on Amazon Music over AirPlay - what kind of Apple device are you using? Do you just play a song from Amazon Music and does AirPlay find the G700? If I select ‘Music on this device’ from iPhone, it only finds songs stored on the phone, will not find/play Amazon Music. (I generally save Amazon Music songs into my music library, but that has to be done from an iMac; iPad or iPhone won’t allow saving of files from Amazon Music. I just want to know more about how you’re doing it. Thanks!

 

Thanks @Slimpickens !

Would be great if you can checkout that heat issue, it's really only on one side - the one adjacent to the where the display on the unit is. Looking at the snaps of the inside I realized that's also the side on which the analog output section is. So may be that's expected (?) as this doesn't have any vents other than at the bottom. May be they expect users to put this up on some isolation feet or something which will facilitate better cooling. But the temps above 88F is not a good thing for electronics in the long run..

On the relay noise, I tried Toslink as well and the results were the same as coax. Had not tried Toslink as on this player it's capped at 96k and so doesn't support UltraHD from Amazon Music.

Airplay is maxed at 16b/44k, so CD quality, better than Bluetooth. If you have access to UltraHD (24b/192k) from Amazon those will be downgraded to that max limit. Also, on such a device with ChromeCast audio (CCA) built-in, it'd have been better / optimal if one could stream directly from Amazon music using it, as CCA in the player is capable of UltraHD (24b/192k). But, Alas! . . with the Google, Amazon, Apple love triangle there's very poor / only partial / crappy support. No chromecast support from Amazon music app on iOS; has support on Android but then again maxed at 16b/44k, so not UltraHD.
I have found Amazon's UltraHD natively supported only on Marantz/Denon’s HEOS based streamers, often built into their AVR/Amps but have to use their native app, UX is not great; and then on BlueSound’s Node 2i like streamers and amps with it built-in, their native app is really good and supports UltraHD.

 

Hey, its pretty straightforward if you are using the Amazon music app on iOS devices. The app also has options to download, etc.
This might help,
Music Help: Cast Music using Apple AirPlay

 

I just use my iPhone, I have Amazon Unlimited. I use settings from the Amazon Music app, connect to device and select the G700 from there. This gets it playing via Airplay automatically on the G700 as soon as it connects. I have an outdoor system that I do the same with, but to a different amp. I can play my library of purchased or anything on Unlimited.

I'll check out the heat this weekend and let you know for sure. That makes sense on the TOSlink. I don't use it for streaming, so maybe it's because I'm running my TT through it there is no relay.

Thanks so much for all that info on Airplay. I do have the UltraHD, I guess that's a waste of money. LOL. I guess we can hope for a firmware update that would include Amazon Music? I'm definitely not getting the best out of my streaming music! I don't do a ton of streaming through my main system, I prefer vinyl over everything and then SACD/CD.

 

Ran the unit for 2 hours so far tonight playing CD’s, no heat on the LCD side at all. No heat anywhere actually. I’ll do streaming tomorrow and see if that changes anything. You can see pretty slim fit on my G700, ideal for getting hot.

 

Update, did streaming for a couple hours. It was warm on the back left side, but only warm, definitely not hot. Hope this helps with your next steps. Keep us posted!

 

@Slimpickens , Thanks for checking it out for me.
I have decided to return my unit. I even considered switching over to Tidal to at least avoid the clicking noise through the speakers, but then enabling MQA based on specific track or album is a real hassle.
Now the bigger issue I found in all this is how bad Technics support is.. even the dealer didn’t get calls returned. I’ll wait for them to improve or come out with a M2 that has the issues resolved. They recently revamped their site so may be something is in order.
For now i’m borrowing a Topping D70s from a friend, which is also a dual AK4497EQ with MQA. Hoping its close to how the Technics sounds.

 

I've read before that their support is horrible. That's really a shame, hopefully the M2 does remove those bugs for you! Let us know if you snag it down the road!

 

No dealer MBG?

 

I think i'm reading some nitpicky stuff. You paid 3k for what you're hearing from this? So did i. I have it too and i know what i hear. Have a listen to the stuff out there for 20k, 30k and the stupid unpolished glitchy sht they come with. I think you got your money's worth man!

I'd keep that low caliber node 2i away from this thing.

 

For sure will let y’all know!

 

I need to replace my crappy Marantz SA8005, and the Technics SL-G700 seems to be the best option for me.
(I originally planned on buying a Yamaha CD-S2100, but it disappeared from the market before I got around to it.)

Two questions:
1. Can anybody confirm that it can handle CDs with pre-emphasis?
2. Is there really an M2 on the way?

 

No discussion on pre-emphasis in the long-form manual. Also I’m not aware of any M2. I guess they will have to have a M2 once they run out of units with the old chipset.

 

Thanks for answering.

I've never seen pre-emphasis mentioned in any manuals; As part of the Redbook standard, detection & de-emphasis is supposed to be a given. But there are actually some players that don't adhere to the Redbook standard (e.g. Cambridge players).

I was wondering if any SL-G700 owners had actually tried a CD with pre-emphasis.

I'd be very surprised if Technics didn't adhere to the Redbook, but best to be on the safe side, y'know.

 

For me, there is no other option than the Technics, not Marantz and certainly not Mark Levinson.

I have waited nearly 6 months for my unit, but now it is close to being shipped to me, my dealer told me.
And my now 12 year old Yamaha (modified) SACD player still works perfectly and sounds very good. Good to have for back-up.