Marantz CD 63 - good for DAC

[Xanderzdad]

I am considering selling my trusty Marantz CD 63 and am wondering if it would be any good as a transport linked to a DAC. If so then this could give a really good value , high quality CD based set up.

Has anybody tried this?

 

[chebby]

You will need to make sure it's a darned good DAC. The one used in the Marantz is pretty good already.

 

[Xanderzdad]

When you say it is good - would a £200 DAC like the DacMagic of the MF DAC be better or is the DAC in this player already to that standard?

 

[smuggs]

i have put mine through the dac-magic, but its not not better it sounds i touch punchy and a slight harsher treble. but on the bass is again a little tighter really have to search for the differances and it took me playing katie melua- halfway up the hindu kush and some dance song the whole night. i in end liked the fact the laptop and cd player are in a dac and i can leave on the same input on the amp easier for friends. i think that buying a dac would make the cd player last longer as well. all imo

 

[Mr Morph]

A modern DAC is likely to sound different, rather than altogether better. The 63 was a very good machine in it's day, and still loved in many quarters, even sought after by some! However if you could lay your hands on the older Cambridge Audio Dacmagic 2i, it will blow the Marantz away easily. Not just my opinion, many have said the same.

However, thinking about it, a DM2i might not suit your MF amp.

 

[theadmans]

Yes I have a Marantz CD63 Ki Signature that I use as a transport with an old Cambridge Audio Dacmagic 2 Mk II (Cost £40 off eBay).

I use this setup in a bedroom system with a valve headphone amp and Sennheiser HD650 headphones.

Using the Marantz direct the bass sounds loose and bloated. Through the old Dacmagic the sound is tight and balanced.

 

[Mr Morph]

theadmans:

Yes I have a Marantz CD63 Ki Signature that I use as a transport with an old Cambridge Audio Dacmagic 2 Mk II (Cost £40 off eBay).

I use this setup in a bedroom system with a valve headphone amp and Sennheiser HD650 headphones.

Using the Marantz direct the bass sounds loose and bloated. Through the old Dacmagic the sound is tight and balanced.

What amp are you using Theadmans? The reason I'm hesitating, is that I think the MFA3 series was said to be a bit on the bright side of neutral, and the old Dacmagic 2 tends to be quite difficult to balance through bright sounding amps. I know that you use an X-10D which would alter the signal in the same way as I'm using some heavy duty solid cores. If anyone owns an A3.2 feel free to comment.

 

[theadmans]

Mr Morph:theadmans:

Yes I have a Marantz CD63 Ki Signature that I use as a transport with an old Cambridge Audio Dacmagic 2 Mk II (Cost £40 off eBay).

I use this setup in a bedroom system with a valve headphone amp and Sennheiser HD650 headphones.

Using the Marantz direct the bass sounds loose and bloated. Through the old Dacmagic the sound is tight and balanced.

What amp are you using Theadmans? The reason I'm hesitating, is that I think the MFA3 series was said to be a bit on the bright side of neutral, and the old Dacmagic 2 tends to be quite difficult to balance through bright sounding amps. I know that you use an X-10D which would alter the signal in the same way as I'm using some heavy duty solid cores. If anyone owns an A3.2 feel free to comment.

...the Marantz is in a headphone only system using a Little Dot II valve headphone amp. Previously I used the Marantz in my main rig with a Creek 4330 integrated amp and AVI Neutron IV speakers and an x10d tube buffer. In the speaker system the bass problem was not so pronounced as the Neutrons are fairly bass light. I noticed the stodgy bass on the headphone system until I added the old Dacmagic which improved things.

....incidentally there was article in Hi-Fi World a couple of years ago where David Price called the old model Dacmagic the bargain of the century. DP also commented on adding the Dacmagic to a Marantz CD63 transport and stated that in his opinion the Dacmagic improved over the Marantz onboard DAC.

 

[Mr Morph]

I really couldn't agree more about the Hi-Fi World thing, I noticed some of the hi-fi snobs of the era panned it at the time (probably because it was cheap). There is a reason we've both kept ours, and the unbelievers can think what they want as far as I'm concerned. It was the only piece of digital that ever delivered ten times it's price in five seconds flat. The clarity was streets ahead of anything else I've ever heard, and I will add that both my neighbours are professional musicians, so I hear the real stuff on a regular basis. I have no problems using a £150 DAC at the heart of my system if it reproduces a sound better than anything else on the market.

 

[theadmans]

...absolutely I like these old 1990s Dacmagics so much I've got two!

Not only is the sound still very competitive but the it's fullsize (unlike so many modern DACs) and has balanced outputs plus switchable inputs for 2 coaxial and 1 optical input. I also like the LED that denotes whether pre-emphasis is used. In addition, the high quality internal power supply design has got to be better than these cheapo modern walwart DACs.

...best £40 I ever spent.

 

[Mr Morph]

Maybe they make those new dacs that size so they have an excuse not to include a decent power supply? I think the moment the hi-fi manufacturers spotted people using computers to play music, was the moment dacs were destined to be engineered at the same level as sound cards. Somebody is making a lot of money out of 'two chips in a box and an A/C adapter'?

 

[audiodave42]

i av seen a marantz cd 85 on ebay would this make a good transport used with a naim dac

 

[stevebrock]

Personally speaking marantz players make excellent transports! Listened to a rega DAC through a marantz cd6004..... Sweet holy Jesus what an awesome sound, the cd6004 is good anyway, with the rega DAC it blew me out of the water!

 

[stevebrock]

Personally speaking marantz players make excellent transports! Listened to a rega DAC through a marantz cd6004..... Sweet holy Jesus what an awesome sound, the cd6004 is good anyway, with the rega DAC it blew me out of the water!

 

[Anonymous]

It uses a Philips 12.1 transport, which is excellent for hooking a good DAC. But you can also tweak the cdp, because the dac it uses is not bad either. You need to recap and get rid of the mute circuit and replacing some opamps. Then your cdp is competitive again!

 

[Inter_Voice]

It uses a Philips 12.1 transport, which is excellent for hooking a good DAC. But you can also tweak the cdp, because the dac it uses is not bad either. You need to recap and get rid of the mute circuit and replacing some opamps. Then your cdp is competitive again!

I have modded my CD63 MKII SI purely for used as a transport by inserting a dedicated servo clock with its own power supply, changed the stock transformer to bigger ones and changed capacitors to bigger and better ones. The bass is now more tight and extended, mid range is more sweet and HF more extended. I am using Fidelity Audio's DA-150 as DAC but I have asked my friend to purchase a Yulong D100 MKii when he goes to the far east on his business trip. I can only say CD63 is a wonderful CDP and if you can mod it you will be amazed by its big jump in performance.

 

[Anonymous]

It uses a Philips 12.1 transport, which is excellent for hooking a good DAC. But you can also tweak the cdp, because the dac it uses is not bad either. You need to recap and get rid of the mute circuit and replacing some opamps. Then your cdp is competitive again!

I have modded my CD63 MKII SI purely for used as a transport by inserting a dedicated servo clock with its own power supply, changed the stock transformer to bigger ones and changed capacitors to bigger and better ones. The bass is now more tight and extended, mid range is more sweet and HF more extended. I am using Fidelity Audio's DA-150 as DAC but I have asked my friend to purchase a Yulong D100 MKii when he goes to the far east on his business trip. I can only say CD63 is a wonderful CDP and if you can mod it you will be amazed by its big jump in performance

Yes, those oldies are underestimated. There is nothing wrong with the chip, mostly it is the powersupply that is of poor quality. When mounting tubes will really finish it🙂

 

[Overdose]

I am considering selling my trusty Marantz CD 63 and am wondering if it would be any good as a transport linked to a DAC. If so then this could give a really good value , high quality CD based set up.

Has anybody tried this?

I'm sure plenty have. Get a DAC on home demo and find out?

You could also try your Blu-ray player as a transport and maybe even your Pc/laptop at the same time and come to your own conclusions as to the differences a transport introduces to a system, or not as the case may be.

 

[Inter_Voice]

Not long ago I mentioned that I have modded my CD63 as a transport. Now I have further modded the analogue section as well. My project has now been completed. See some of the photos of my modded CD63:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/86876386@N05/7956934984/in/photostream/

In gist I have changed the stock transformer with four (yes 4 !!) independent transformers for different functions. Insert two independeny clocks, one 8 Mhz for the servo and one 16 Mhz is for the DAC. Changed the opamps with Burson discrete opamps for the ouput section. Change lots of capacitors, diods as well as modifying some critical circuitry to enhance the performance. Before boxing up the 2 clocks and ICs are shielded off by copper sheets (earthed) to avoid interferences.

Well the result is stunning. I have also have Yulong D100II DAC and TBH the modded analogue output of this CD 63 is better than the D100II. The bass is extremely tight and extended, the vocals are extremely sweet with good soundstaging and transparant. The entire unit is dead quite even I turn my amplifier to max. volume level.

When compare with my Leema Antila II CDP (£3000 when new) IMO the modded CD63 even beats Antila II down. Though Antila II is very neutral and transparant the bass is not as good and as extended as the modded CD63.

My system comprises of Leema Tucana II which is connected to Spendor SA-1 with a sub-woofer to top up its low frequency department.

The cost of the project including the 2nd hand CD63 MKII KI from eBay and all the electronic components is somewhere around £700.

 

[MajorFubar]

That sounds really good, Inter_Voice. You should consider doing it as a sideline: I would be interested in having my CD63 done like that. I certainly don't have the skills to do it, so I wouldn't object to paying the price of parts plus a little bit for someone's trouble. Though my finances would need to recover from my most recent 'retro' HiFi purchase which I might post-up on here when it arrives. (Or I might not; I'm sure most people will think I've lost the plot, so perhaps I'm better keeping it schtum.)

 

[Inter_Voice]

That sounds really good, Inter_Voice. You should consider doing it as a sideline: I would be interested in having my CD63 done like that. I certainly don't have the skills to do it, so I wouldn't object to paying the price of parts plus a little bit for someone's trouble. Though my finances would need to recover from my most recent 'retro' HiFi purchase which I might post-up on here when it arrives. (Or I might not; I'm sure most people will think I've lost the plot, so perhaps I'm better keeping it schtum.)

Well, now I consider myself being too old of doing any modification work as sideline. I will only do this kind of work as a hobby to please myself and to kill some of my time. TBH my eyes are not that good and my hands are not steady enough nowadays though my ears are still reasonably good to distinguish good and bad SQ 🙂

There are a number of companies in the UK providing modification works but the price might not be cheap. I am only a mechanical engineer with some limited electronic knowledge. If you have a bit of electronic knowledge like me you may browse www.diyaudio.com where there are many discussions on various kinds of mod works on CDPs.

 

[stevebrock]

IMH0 I'm using a Marantz CD6004 as a transport with a Rega DAC and I getting very good results! The CD6004 is a good player in its own right though.

 

[Inter_Voice]

IMH0 I'm using a Marantz CD6004 as a transport with a Rega DAC and I getting very good results! The CD6004 is a good player in its own right though.

Agreed. CD6004 is also a good CD transport. It will be a lot better if the servo has more stable power supply as well as a stable and clean external clock installed.