upgrade from Marantz PM6010 Ki signature to ROKSAN Kandy KA-I MK III ?

[andreih8017]

Hi,

I currently own a Marantz PM6010 Ki signature amplifier, paired with Wharfedale Diamond 10.4 speakers. The turntable is Dual CS 505-3 Audiophile Konzept with Ortofon 2M Blue cartridge. The digital music is stored as lossless .flac on an external HDD and played through an HRT Music Streamer II DAC.

I was thinking about replacing the marantz ki with the roksan kandy. Do you think Roksan is a much better amp than the Marantz (in pair with the wharfedales) ? I can buy the roksan at twice the price of the marantz (the marantz - used was about 200 EUR, and the roksan - also used is about 400 EUR).

What do you think is the weakest link in my setup ?

btw, i prefer a warm sound than a bright one

Thanks a lot,

 

[ISAC69]

Sorry I did not understrood which ROKSAN KANDY model you want to buy ?

 

[andreih8017]

Sorry i didn't make it clear...it's the kandy KA-1 MKIII i'm looking forward to buy

This one: http://www.okazii.ro/sisteme-audio/amplificator-audio/vand-roksan-kandy-ka-i-mk-iii-impecabil-ca-nou-a120861843

 

[plastic penguin]

Hi,

I currently own a Marantz PM6010 Ki signature amplifier, paired with Wharfedale Diamond 10.4 speakers. The turntable is Dual CS 505-3 Audiophile Konzept with Ortofon 2M Blue cartridge. The digital music is stored as lossless .flac on an external HDD and played through an HRT Music Streamer II DAC.

I was thinking about replacing the marantz ki with the roksan kandy. Do you think Roksan is a much better amp than the Marantz (in pair with the wharfedales) ? I can buy the roksan at twice the price of the marantz (the marantz - used was about 200 EUR, and the roksan - also used is about 400 EUR).

What do you think is the weakest link in my setup ?

btw, i prefer a warm sound than a bright one

Thanks a lot,

The Marantz and Roksan are completely different propositions: The Marantz (not your model) are generally smooth sounding, whereas the earlier Kandys tend to be more feisty sounding. Although, looking at your speakers, which are very good, the Marantz and Kandy could do with better...

I'd look at the likes of Q Acoustics 2050i, Monitor Audio RS6 or Kef IQ50.

 

[Ben123]

Hi ya,

I owned the PM6010 OSE as a spare amp (just sold it actually), ok its not the KI version but i think even the KI version will lack a bit of grunt as its based on the same design. A friend of mine had a spare roksan kiii amp knocking round would you believe so i borrowed it for a few months. The roksan is a much better amp in every regard.

The roksan is a piece of kit that is definately worth owning as its built like a tank (its deceptively heavy) and has nice clunky retro buttons. Sound wise, like i said its better than the pm6010, but if im completely honest there are 'better'. The only reason why i say this is because i found the more powerful Marantz (pm7000) which i cant bring myself to sell, a more exciting listen. The roksan sounds a bit polite in comparison to the pm7000. I have an amp switcher so i did A/B testing on it with a friend ( not the owner of the roksan) one night to confirm it wasnt just me prefering my amp. He prefered the pm7000 due to the extra punch.

I dont think you will be dissapointed with the roksan but if you like the warmer sound then i think after a while you will be a bit bored with the roksan as its very neutral i found. For some audiophiles neutral is the holy grail, but for me i'll take excitement over neutraility any day.

Hope this helps