Marantz CD6003, Denon 710AE or Cambridge Audio 740C

[admin_exported]

Hi. I am looking for some feedback on the following three players: Marantz CD6003 and/or the Denon DCD 710 AE and/or the Cambridge 740C upsampling cd player. Currently I am running a home cinema set up, Denon AVR2808 + B&W 685s (F/L) but musically I want to try & get the best out of my equipment as possible, within my budget. I have plenty of cds to play as well as music on a 5G IPod. Any personal feedback on how well or not these machines play both cd's / the Ipod would be really appreciated.

 

[Ben K.]

Hello

I have a CD6003 and I think it sounds very good. It has good bass weight which I was impressed by. I love my bass. The usb for my ipod sounds good but not as good as CD.

Hope this helps a little

 

[matthewpiano]

Out of those I'd go for the Marantz. Very good CD player and I personally think you'd have to go up to players like the Arcam CD17, Creek Evo 2, and Naim CD5i to really improve on it significantly.

 

[Anonymous]

Ok but I presume you guys have got stereo amps, mine is a home cinema receiver. Do you think i will get the same quality sound and /or is it worth spending the cash on a cd player? I was also wondering, obviously within this set up, if I attached a HD player, e,g. LACIE LaCinema (5*) via coax to the amp would I get a better or a worse sound, than a player?

 

[jalaba]

yes sir, listening to music is always best on stereo amps. i am using a Cambridge Audio azur 740c on my Roksan kandy K2 amp, sounds excellent. a very good player.

 

[Anonymous]

I'd be really interested to know your opinion on the C/A 740C. I have read a few mixed reviews but getting your opinion on how it sounds with various music types & how it works as an upsampling player vs. a regular player would be great. How do you think the CA would sound within my set up?

 

[HDNumpty]

Hi La Vaina

I can comment on the 740c as I have one used for CD but I upgraded at Christmas to start using it for iPod/laptop via an Onkyo DS-1 digital transport and Freesat radio.

I bought mine to replace an older Arcam player. The CA is more 'literal' i.e. it doesn't add any warmth that isn't already there, but in the detail stakes it is much better than the older player in the detail stakes. The upsampling DAC is excellent and makes 160/192kbps radio feeds sound like a well-tuned FM broadcast. Also there is no discernable difference between Lossless files from the iPod and CD via the DAC.

I would recommend it if you can find one as Richer Sounds in the UK don't seem to be selling them anymore! Try the CA global website.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Numpty, thx for the advice great to hear sth first hand. Some comments I read regarding the CA740C was that it takes about 300hrs of burning time to really get going while in the mean time the sound is a bit on the dry side. Would you agree? Does the player seem to get better as you go. I intend to run it using my Denon 2808 AVR home cinema reciever as i don't have a stereo amp. Do you think in my case it would be still worth the buy? Richer Snds, at least on their site are flogging them off for 200 pounds???

As for the DAC, well I am sure that Apple lossless from your pod & the CD quality are pretty much the same, that's the idea of lossless without being upsampled i guess?? But how do lower sample rates sound say 192Kbps or even lower, when run through the digital doc/CA DAC of course. Personally, I am not into ripping CD's to lossless to play them on a pod if I already have the CD but as I cant afford all the music I want on CD, that's why Mr E.Mule & I are great friends!!! However, it is often the case that you don't get much of a choice regarding the bit rate you download.

 

[Gerrardasnails]

La Vaina:Ok but I presume you guys have got stereo amps, mine is a home cinema receiver. Do you think i will get the same quality sound and /or is it worth spending the cash on a cd player? I was also wondering, obviously within this set up, if I attached a HD player, e,g. LACIE LaCinema (5*) via coax to the amp would I get a better or a worse sound, than a player?

Personally, I would spend your money on a stereo amp. The cd players mentioned with a decent stereo amp would sound good. Or you could get the Lacie, a DAC and a stereo amp (one at a time), and you would get a very good sound.

 

[HDNumpty]

I agree - don't see the point of having an excellent upsampling player if you're feeding it through an AV amp - use any transport (cheap CD player, BD player) and use the AV amp as a DAC. I would still recommend getting a digital iPod dock of some sort however, see the new PURE dock for just £75 and feed it with a coaxial cable to the digital CD input on the AV amp