I promised a couple of forum members I would report back with more detailed thoughts once I'd had the chance to listen more extensively, so here I am sticking to my promise!
I've been eyeing up the Marantz systems for quite some time, since the M-CR603 came out. That was a really nice looking and well made system with a wealth of features and, on the occasions I heard it, I thought it sounded excellent. I was, however, still clinging on to the 'seperates are better' mantra (despite my head being turned by Chebby's love of the system after replacing a Naim system with it), and there were two features missing that I really wanted any such system to have - Spotify support built-in, and gapless playback of lossles files from a network.
Fast forward to this year, and Marantz launched the new version of this system - the MCR610 - complete with the two features I really wanted them to add. The only thing that initially put me off was the fact that I'd seen the black plastic finish and thought it a real step back from the all-metal fascia of the 603. Well, that and the fact that I was enjoying the sound from a Denon DCD720AE/Pioneer A-30 combination with my Dali Zensor 3s. Finding the white and black version of the 610 was the solution to the first problem (still plastic but somehow much nicer looking), and the second required something of a leap of faith - albeit a leap based on having previously heard the 603, and on previous positive experience of a Marantz/Dali pairing when I had a PM6004 amp with Lektor 2 speakers.
Looking again at what the 610 offers I could see it gave me all the connectivity I need - 2 analogue RCA inputs to provide for my phono pre-amp and a spare for the future, a digital input for the TV, built-in wireless connectivity, headphone output, and USB.
Setting the unit up was relatively easy, it being a one-box system. All I had to do was connect my existing Dali Zensor 3s up to the speaker outputs with my existing Chord Company Carnival Silverscreen cables (using only the A set of outputs as the Dalis are single-wire) and connect up my Cambridge Audio 540P phono stage to the first set of analogue inputs to allow use of my turntable.
When I switched the unit on the Easy Setup process found my wireless network straight away, and a password later it was connected. I'd downloaded the Marantz Controller app from the Google Play store in readiness so all I had to do was open up the app on my phone, select the 610, select Spotify and I was quickly listening to music complete with artwork on my phone's display. As I listened first to the recent album 'Laylam' by folk stars Carthy, Hardy, Farrell and Young, and then to my CD of Steeleye Span's new album 'Wintersmith', it quickly became apparent that I was going to be pleased, and that the 610 was working very well with my Zensor 3s. Plenty of detail and a real solidity of sound, very nicely balanced between being punchy and rhythmic, and smooth. A listen to some Classic FM on the DAB tuner gave more of the same, the tuner having easily picked up a large number of stations using only the supplied wire aerial. A little later the same day, after attending to a couple of jobs, I returned to the system to listen to a couple of Asia albums I wanted to hear on Spotify and again I felt totally involved with the music, the set-up handling all the various textural strands with real finesse.
Since then I've played a wide variety of music and sources including Marc-Andre Hamelin's 'A State of Jazz' solo piano CD, a CD of Sibelius' First Symphony under Ashkenazy, some FLAC files of the band America streamed from my PC, Supertramp albums on vinyl, a bit of Planet Rock on DAB, and various stuff from Spotify (including 'Live and Electric at the Union Chapel' by All About Eve) and it has all been totally enjoyable.
The only aspect of set-up that wasn't quite as smooth as expected was getting the unit to stream files from the PC. Initially I tried using Windows Media Player 12 as the server and the folder kept coming up as [empty] on the Marantz. However, a quick search of similar matters relating to the earlier 603 model brought up a thread on the good-old WHFS&V forums where another member was advised to use Foobar with the UPNP plug-in. A quick download of Foobar2000 and the plug-in, and all was working really well, again complete with the album artwork displayed on the Controller app.
I'm extremely happy with my decision to move to the Marantz. It genuinely sounds superb and I don't miss anything about the various seperate systems I've had here. It is every bit as good as any of them and it handles being used at lower volume levels better than most amplifiers I've owned. It drives the Zensor 3s with ease, and keeps control even in the most large-scale and complex musical moments. In the Sibelius 1st the orchestra was beautifully positioned and the inidivudal timbres of the instruments were all handled naturally - a real quality of the Dalis that I didn't want to lose by changing the amplification. The WHFS&V review suggests the only downside of the 610 is its slight propensity towards being laid back, but I haven't sensed that at all. Either the Dalis help to counteract this or the magazine's idea of punchy is the forward and tiring sound that I've tried to get away from over the years. There is plenty of rhythmic enjoyment to be had here and plenty of drama but, at the same time, the music isn't thrown at you. It is an exceptionally unified and natural sound which simply invites you into enjoying the music, whatever the source or format.
If you want a system for party-like volume levels move on, but otherwise I'd highly recommend the M-CR610 for real musical enjoyment of a wide range of music, from a wide range of sources, and at a good range of domestically acceptable volume levels. I can't see another seperates system in my future and I suspect systems like this, and the growth of active speakers as another option, will do real damage to the budget seperates market.
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