Finally Had A Demo Of The Marantz Pearl Lite...

[sound10]

Hi everyone. As some of you may know from my earlier posts, I have been very interested in having a demo of this Marantz Equipment and yesterday I finally got to do it at my local Hifi store. The Pearl Lite Amp/CD Player was hooked upto the B&W CM8 Speakers. Put in one of my favourite cd's thinking I would be blown away by the sound, but I wasn't. The Marantz sounded thin and uninspiring. I then listened to the same cd on the Roksan Kandy K2 Amp/CD Player, again hooked upto the CM8's and all I can say is wow! The sound was just absolutely fantastic. The Roksan produced the warmth that I like and I was completely absorbed in my music which is the way that it should be imho.
Now that I have found a combination that I liked in terms of sound quality, it was suggested that I have a listen to the Audiolab 8200 Amp/CD Player and then compare it to the Roksan.
Having listened to both playing a few of my favourite CD's, I can say thay that the Roksan sounded the best to my ears. The Audiolab sounded superb also, but I thought that the sound was slightly clinical and lacked the overall warmth of the Roksan.
Now that I've found my ideal Hifi System, I will be saving up for it over the next few months as it's not exactly cheap.

🙂

 

[MUSICRAFT]

Hi sound10

Nice one

All the best

Rick @ Musicraft

 

[Anonymous]

Please if you can, try the Arcam A18 instead of the Kandy. Much more musical performer with the B&W's and will save you a good few quid if you prefer it.

 

[Anonymous]

Please if you can, try the Arcam A18 instead of the Kandy. Much more musical performer with the B&W's and will save you a good few quid if you prefer it.

No way. For small speakers the Arcam FMJ A18 will do fine but it just doesn't have the guts nor dynamics to drive decent floorstanders.

I demo'd the Arcam with B&W, M/A and Quad standmount and floorstanding speakers and the Arcam seriously lacked all round. The only speakers inghiyght the Arcam drove well were the Dali Lektor 2s

The Roksan K2 and Arcam A18 are in different leagues

 

[Cypher]

The Pearl Lite amp is not worth the money. The PM6003 is almost just as good.

 

[Anonymous]

The Pearl Lite amp is not worth the money. The PM6003 is almost just as good.

That is good news.

 

[vonchief]

I would urge anyone concidering the pearl lite not to dismiss it after reading the above.

Its all a matter of taste and i for one highly recommend it. Well worth the money.

 

[sound10]

Hi many thanks for the replies so far and I totally agree with you vonchief, every person likes a different sond from an amp and you should go with what you like. The Marantz Pearl Lite Amp/CD Player is built superbly and you can hook the cd player upto your PC via the USB port on the back of the CD Player and use it's DAC, which is absolutely fantastic.
I previously also had a demo of some Arcam equipment. Great sound, but when I compared it to the Roksan, I found the Roksan warmer and again less clinical.
When funds allow to purchase the Roksan Combo, I will also need to purchase a good DAC as I defintely want to hook it upto my computer. I've been recommended the Arcam RDAC. Do any forum members have this DAC?
Any opinions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks 🙂