Marantz HD Dac 1

[xnn3882]

Hi, I have an Aune S16 dac home, just for testing purpose. I was amazed about the sound, and how big difference there is between this dac and my own Arcam irDac. I'm using it on Marantz PM5004 and Elac FS 247 BE speakers.

However the Aune S16 does not come with a remote control. I'm looking at a used Marantz HD Dac 1. It do have the features I want, and it comes with remote control. But I can't listen to it before I buy it. Anyone know what it sounds like?
I like the brand Marantz, but have never heard a dac from Marantz before. The seller meant the Marantz dac would be miles ahead both the Arcam and Aune dac.

 

[Leeps]

There was a Marantz HD-DAC1 at the Bristol Show, although Marantz themselves (sadly) weren't officially represented there. A key omission.

I had a listen through some Denon headphones they had trailing from it. The conditions weren't ideal as it wasn't a particularly quiet area of the show and I wasn't familiar with the music, so I wasn't sure how much of the sound signature was the music, the mastering, the 'phones or the Marantz itself. And although I've been a hifi buff for many years, I'm definitely a novice when it comes to headphones

However, the sound was very detailed and revealing although thankfully it wasn't harsh or shouty at all (like so much hifi kit I heard at the show). It actually reminded me a little of a Marantz CD player I had many years ago. The treble seemed a little forward in the frequency range, but that could be because the music playing was acoustic guitar based, so the music wasn't the best of choices to give me a listen of what it was doing with the entire frequency range. I'd just listened to the Naim DAC V1 (playing some Focal cans if I remember correctly) round the corner playing some similar music which just seemed a little smoother and natural sounding to my ears, although the Naim is almost double the price of course. But the Marantz seemed a nicely made little unit. Certainly worth a more serious audition with a variety of cans to suit your own tastes.

Having said all that the Marantz is so new, it doesn't seem to have reached some of the bigger dealers yet, so it'll be a while before you'll be able to track down a used/ex-display model at any kind of discount.

 

[BigH]

Why do you need a remote for a dac?

 

[spiny norman]

Why do you need a remote for a dac?

Maybe because it'll double as a preamp, so you can select sources/digital inputs, adjust volume, etc.