Marantz announces 12 Series Special Edition amplifier and SACD player

[What Hi-Fi?]

The PM-12 Special Edition amplifier and SA-12 Special Edition SACD player are revamps of the original models that were made solely for the Japanese market.

Marantz announces 12 Series Special Edition amplifier and SACD player : Read more

 

[Deleted member 108165]

Marantz's cheapest SACD player is now a whopping £3K

 

[nicoladinisio]

The SA-12, as well as the SA-KI Ruby, or SA-10 for that matter. are not just SACD players, they are state of the art DACs with integrated CD transport.
This is an important detail for SACD owners, as SACDs are encrypted and the clear DSD stream cannot be exported outside the cabinet of a transport to a DAC for legal reasons.
For this reason Marantz is making you the courtesy of integrating a very good CD/SACD transport in this very fine DAC, so you get to feed it also with SACDs.
I have the SA-KI Ruby and I can report that it is able to play everything you throw at it, including DSD 64/128 files bought from on-line stores and burnt onto blank DVDs. Of course you can feed it also via Roon, Volumio, or other digital players via its async USB-B input (the DAC relies on its internal clocks). It is a spectacular machine.
From what I can see the SA-12 is just like the SA-KI Ruby minus the Ken Ischiwata signature and the limited production numbers. The 3K price tag is well justified.