Denon CEOL or Marantz M-CR603?

[admin_exported]

Hi all,

I'm a newbie to hifi and planning to buy my first half decent system. I have decided I want either the Denon CEOL or Marantz M-CR603 given they are a similar price, spec etc.

Whilst the Marantz has excellent reviews on here (it seems What Hifi haven't reviewed the CEOL yet?) the CEOL has got good reviews on other sites. The question is, which one offers best sound quality from an iPod?

I am not so interested in the wireless / Airplay conectivity of these, as plan to play nearly all my music from a docked ipod. I'm also not bothered about DAB radio. The most important thing to me is sound quality and having a ipod, radion and CD player all in one box. Whichever system I buy, I will be buying without the speakers and getting some Monitor Audio BX2s. (Am I right in thinking these will go well with both of these systems?).

I am leaning more towards the Denon CEOL because of its integrated iPod dock, as would prefer that than having to have wires sticking out of the front of the Marantz. But I just want to ensure that the CEOL is as good as if not better than the Maratz in terms of sound.

Finally, given them I am not too bothered about wireless connectivity etc, am I paying money for functions I dont need and would I be better just getting a Denon DM38 for half the price? How would the sound quality of the DM38 compare with the Marantz od CEOL using the same speakers?

Any help here would be much appreciated. If the experts at What Hi Fi have reviewed the CEOL I would love to read it, just cant find it anywhere online.

Thanks everybody.

 

[chebby]

Essentially the Denon CEOL and Marantz are the same thing in different boxes. (Certainly the instructions are almost identical.)

Not suprising given that Denon & Marantz are part of the same company (D&M Holdings.)

 

[Andrew Everard]

If the experts at What Hi Fi have reviewed the CEOL I would love to read it, just cant find it anywhere online.

It's in the next issue - dated October, on sale/available for download on August 24th, with subscribers a bit before that.

(If you can't wait, and FWIW, reviews of both the Marantz and Denon from Gramophone available here)

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks very much indeed Andrew, I'll definately pick up a copy to see what you guys have to say about it.

In your expert opinion though, what would be the best system for me based on the above? As I say, I am leaning towards the CEOL but need to ensure its as good sounding as the Marantz. Would the Monitor Audio BX2s be good for this? Also how would it stack up to the DM38 in terms of sound?

Thanks again

 

[manicm]

The Denon does without DAB but gains wireless streaming and a neater iPod dock.

 

[Andrew Everard]

In terms of sound quality from iPod, there's nothing much in it, though of course the Denon has that convenience on its side.

The Denon D-M38 is also in that test coming up in three weeks' time, so it might well be worth waiting to read that, but of course it doesn't have the CEOL's built-in dock.

 

[chebby]

Thanks very much indeed Andrew, I'll definately pick up a copy to see what you guys have to say about it.

In your expert opinion though, what would be the best system for me based on the above? As I say, I am leaning towards the CEOL but need to ensure its as good sounding as the Marantz. Would the Monitor Audio BX2s be good for this?

If you followed Andrew's link earlier you would find this review listed. (Where BX2s are mentioned.)

A quote from the CEOL review, in case you are averse to links...

"I’d definitely suggest taking the ‘receiver only’ route and partnering the electronics with some over-performing budget speakers such as the Mission MX1s or Tannoy Mercury V1s, either of which will leave you a good amount of change from £200, or even stretching up to the likes of Monitor Audio’s Bronze BX2 speakers (£250/pr) or the Epos Epic 1s tested last month, at around £325/pr."

 

[Anonymous]

Sounds interesting. Presumably though the CEOL gives better sound than the DM38, given its higher price / spec?

 

[Andrew Everard]

Sounds interesting. Presumably though the CEOL gives better sound than the DM38, given its higher price / spec?

It's not a direct comparison I've done, but presumably the October test will have the answer.

 

[Clare Newsome]

It does indeed 🙂