Hi, I'm thinking about getting a Marantz 6007, however it would be located approx. 5 metres/16 feet from my Marantz PM7000N.
The simple solution would be to connect it to the amp using optical toslink and use the CD6007 as a transport, but I'm not sure if they both have the same DACs or if they are different and one is better than the other.
Alternatively I could just make the CD6007 work for its money using its onboard DAC and invest in a 5 metre pair of analogue phono cable, but would this be a bad idea?
Have both a 6007 in the bedroom a very nice player imo and a CD 60 as my main CD player (I even have a 33yr old marantz CD 52 MK2), in which it's a hard push if not impossible to tell the 6007 and CD-52 apart for sound quality which is no bad thing, giving the CD52 is a very good sounding player but at 33yrs old i felt the need to update it despite as with most marantz gear it's faultless (after a small repair due to mechanical wear)
The CD 60 which does hold a subtle improvement over the above two is used mainly as a transport now 😂 after finding the Hegal amps onboard dac's subtle differences even more to my favour when switching instantly between the two dacs for a better representation, as with any "quality dac" the difference is either very subtle or has you convincing yourself of a difference that isn't really there.
The filters Messiah mentioned make a bigger difference Filter 1, often the default, is a slow roll-off, providing a warmer, more spacious sound with good stereo imaging, while Filter 2 is a sharp roll-off, offering a more precise, detailed, and dynamic sound.
Cables don't matter as much when carrying just the on/off pulses of digital information via either optical or coaxial nor does the signal degrade over long distances but analogue RCA cables do matter if covering distance hence XLR cables are used to prevent the noise.
7.6 meters is considered the maximum limit depending on who you ask for RCA which means your well within that max distance.
There's many examples of this noise pick up over long distances but I can tell you first hand it does exist over long distances experiencing it on occasion when djaying with recording kit having to be too far apart, letting me know with the telltale hum with a nice backing track of buzzing, other than that after going the cable debate route briefly in the past I've found a decent quality average cost cable is as good as any in all aspects of hifi.
I too haven't had a problem at 5 meters with RCA nor would I expect one, i would recommend it over optical for one reason and that's the relative fragility to bending and crushing due the fact I run my cables under a carpet combined with always swapping kit