Speakers with rolled-off or softer treble

[pauln]

Rather worrying really, how little difference there is between a 12 year old, very cheap dvd player and a £700 (at launch) streamer with dedicated hi fi DAC in it.

Pretty much the same experience I had - saved me a lot of cash - although there are people here who will just tell you that you have cloth ears.

It's the speakers that matter.

 

[manicm]

Goat, I will repeat, to retest your KEF/Arcam, get a good CD player and bypass your Marantz completely. Contrary to the opinion here, 11 years ago my experience was that a then new Pioneer DVD player was rubbish compared to my then already 11 year old budget Technics CDP!

Note too, that if it is the Marantz at fault - it won't be down to the DAC alone, but could be down to numerous factors in the streamer's design.

Forget your Tosh, temporarily forget your Marantz, get to the nearest dealer and steal a good CD player for a weekend to determine if it's really your amp/speaker combo.

And if it's still horrid, then think about a change...