Marantz pm6005 built in dac vs separate dac

[brian_gallacher]

Just wondered what thoughts you have on this. Not sure whether to upgrade my 6004 or buy a seperate dac for listening to lossless digital music.

 

[matthewpiano]

Buy a seperate DAC and then you are free to upgrade your amp to anything you like at a later date. Loads of options - the MF V90DAC is around £200, then there is the CA DacMagic + for £299, the MF M1DAC at £399, the new Denon DAC at £330, and Sony's new DAC too.

I'd be tempted to see if you can try the MF V90DAC. The V90 components are really excellent for affordable prices.

 

[Vladimir]

Buy a seperate DAC and then you are free to upgrade your amp to anything you like at a later date. Loads of options - the MF V90DAC is around £200, then there is the CA DacMagic + for £299, the MF M1DAC at £399, the new Denon DAC at £330, and Sony's new DAC too.

I'd be tempted to see if you can try the MF V90DAC. The V90 components are really excellent for affordable prices.

+1

 

[jjbomber]

Buy a seperate DAC and then you are free to upgrade your amp to anything you like at a later date. Loads of options - the MF V90DAC is around £200, then there is the CA DacMagic + for £299, the MF M1DAC at £399, the new Denon DAC at £330, and Sony's new DAC too.

I'd be tempted to see if you can try the MF V90DAC. The V90 components are really excellent for affordable prices.

[/quote

i'm gpoing to disagree. the 6005 is only £300 brand new without discount, so I can't see the point of spending £300-£400 on a DAC. I would sell the 6004 and buy a new 6005. That will give you a net cost of around £150. Given that you already love the Marantz sound, I think you will be best served that way.

 

[peterpiper]

i'm gpoing to disagree. the 6005 is only £300 brand new without discount, so I can't see the point of spending £300-£400 on a DAC. I would sell the 6004 and buy a new 6005. That will give you a net cost of around £150. Given that you already love the Marantz sound, I think you will be best served that way.

I think I would take this advice, the dacs in the marantz units are very capable , and will sound as good as the crop of offboard dacs in the £100 to £200+ range, and not only that its comes with a amp that sounds as good the Rotel RA10 (IMO) , its an exellent peice of kit for 270 quid, no wonder WHF are heaping praise on it , there is a lot of marketing hype around off board dacs. I had two (CA dacmagic and MF VDAC2) to stream off the pc, sold them to fund a MCR610 and I now get better streaming/spotify sound, happy as hell with it

edit...no usb in the 6005, you might want to think about that first, silly marantz !

 

[jjbomber]

edit...no usb in the 6005, you might want to think about that first, silly marantz !

Turtle Beach Micro II 'converts' the USB to opyical. Costs about £20. Unbeatable.

 

[matthewpiano]

My advice is less to do with DAC quality (hence the strong recommendation for the most affordable of my list) and more to do with this route giving the OP greater choice of amplifiers later on. Some of the amps that would show the PM6005 a clean pair of heels (Rega Brio-R, Exposure 1010, Roksan K2 etc.) don't have built-in DACs.

I think it all comes down to the OP's future upgrade plans.

One thing worth saying - don't expect much of a change in overall sound quality from PM6004 to PM6005.

 

[Cypher]

edit...no usb in the 6005, you might want to think about that first, silly marantz !

Strange isn´t it ...............you would expect Marantz to include USB on such a popular amp.

Even the upcoming Monitor Audio A100 hasn´t a USB input, only optical.

 

[MajorFubar]

There'll be a reason why they think potential buyers of these things have no interest in connecting them via USB to a computer or streamer, even when they already have built-in DACs and support network playback (so must in theory be already 95% there). But I'm not sure what that reason is. Even the nearly-all-singing-and-dancing MC-R610 is similarly bereft. You'd think they'd jump at the chance to implement a cheap feature which potentially gives their product an upper hand, even if they perceive the likely market for it to be small.

 

[brian_gallacher]

Thanks to all for advice. I use an imac mini for source which has optical out so USB isn't an issue. Strangely, the Marantz cd6004 has a USB. I do like the Marantz sound having auditioned Nad and Cambridge Audio Azur (loved the Azur apart from low end) - I just find that I 'engage' with the sound from the Marantz. My speakers are Monitor Audio Bronze B2 so it's a budget system, but I love the sound. Now that 'better than CD' quality is available I'm moving toward that, so I suspect I'll go for the PM6005 for now until budget allows a big step up. Thanks again.

 

[brian_gallacher]

 

[MajorFubar]

:cheers:

 

[Cypher]

Good luck with the PM6005 amp. Great buy

 

[peterpiper]

it makes you wonder the mark up on these off board dacs, the chipsets probably cost a few quid for the makers even high resloution ones, its the way they are implemented , they can stick these in equipment for nothing now

I bet even marantz would charge £200 for the dac that is in the 6005 for a standalone unit and claim its got tuned HDAMS in the output stage for clarity and detail VFM option is still to sell the 6004 and buy the 6005 for its current 270 quid, whats the current asking price for a used 6004?

you might get an increase in sound quality , but as Mathewpiano rightly says the upgrade path will cost more in the future although you will save now

a dilema, go with your instinct

 

[peterpiper]

Thanks to all for advice. I use an imac mini for source which has optical out so USB isn't an issue. Strangely, the Marantz cd6004 has a USB. I do like the Marantz sound having auditioned Nad and Cambridge Audio Azur (loved the Azur apart from low end) - I just find that I 'engage' with the sound from the Marantz. My speakers are Monitor Audio Bronze B2 so it's a budget system, but I love the sound. Now that 'better than CD' quality is available I'm moving toward that, so I suspect I'll go for the PM6005 for now until budget allows a big step up. Thanks again.

oh I am a bit late , enjoy the marantz then , best sound for pound , thats without any doubt

 

[brian_gallacher]

Thanks pp. Not too late as I'm not buying till tomorrow, but it's likely to be a while before I upgrade as like you say, pound for sound Marantz is hard to beat, at least to my ears. I have use for my Pm6004 with a Project Debut 3 turntable and mission speakers when vinyl calls as my old Rotel amp has given up the ghost.

 

[peterpiper]

lets us know if you think its any different from the PM6004, the PM6004 was said to be an improvement over the 6003 by using discrete pre amps rather than chips, and using a round shaped tranformer, but there does not seem to be any blurb about what the changes there are to make the 6005 sound better if it actually does, apart from it having a dac