Ra-11 vs Marantz pm6004

[Zax89swe]

 

[Zax89swe]

Im thinking of upgrading my marantz pm6004 and wonder if the rotel ra-11 is a worthy replacer, I want to get the ra-11 dacs flexibility and "good sound"? My present setup sounds a bit harsh so a smoother approach would be beneficial.

 

[Baldrick1]

To be honest I am surprised by what you say as the RA-11, unless I am very much mistaken, will have a more forward and brighter sound than the Marantz....or at least that is what the consensus view seems to be in most of the post I read about the two makes when they come up as a comparison.

I personally prefer the Rotel 'sound' to the Marantz 'sound' and always have. Have you auditioned the RA-11 as compared to the PM6004? If not then you should. Also, take a listen to the RA-10 (no DAC & no remote, mind) which narrowly beat the PM6004 in a WHF group test in January.

True the onboard DAC is a nice feature, and one that was high on my list when I changed amps recently but is it enough of a deal clincher when you compare the difference in sound of the two amps and when there are a lot of good add-on DACs available?

 

[Zax89swe]

never heard a rotel amp :silenced: , a good add-on dac would be nice maybe but its way to expensive, and Im tempting to try bluetooth stream through my new laptop.

 

[Baldrick1]

Hi Zax89swe

I am not saying that the Rotel is not a good amp (I have one... ) but rather that the presentation is different to the PM6004 but in a direction of 'presentation' that I think you are looking to get away from...hence my suggestion that you audition the RA-11 in direct comparison against the Marantz. I would have thought that any good HiFi outlet would have both and would be happy to let you compare your 'what you have' against a 'what you might buy (from them)'.

In terms of addon DACs & price; if yo consider that if you stay with the Marantz you can put the money you do not spend on the RA-11 (currently selling at about £499) towards an outboard DAC...and I believe that there are some good ones for less than that...which would also give you future flexibility for when you finally do change your amp.

I have to admit that the Bluetooth streaming feature is great but you could kill two birds with one stone by looking at the Audioquest Dragonfly; an outboard DAC that is in USB format that you could plug straight into your laptop connecting to your current amp? It got very good reviews from WHF recently and is mostlikely covered in the DAC feature in this month's issue (though have not yet purchased my copy :shhh: )