Audiolab 8300cd or Marantz ND8006?

jbreezy5

I’m looking at CD spinners again, and these both appear to have great but slightly different feature sets. The board circuitry is impressive to behold.

Would love to hear impressions from owners of these on what you like/dislike.

Clipdat

Are you looking for a CD transport only, or a CDP w/ DAC? The Marantz ND also has network streaming inside, but I would avoid HEOS if I were you.

mdaudioguy

Clipdat wrote: »

Are you looking for a CD transport only, or a CDP w/ DAC? The Marantz ND also has network streaming inside, but I would avoid HEOS if I were you.

I'm curious to know more about your recommendation to avoid HEOS.

tophatjohnny

I think heos him a lotta money?? Not sure though ?

jbreezy5

Clipdat wrote: »

Are you looking for a CD transport only, or a CDP w/ DAC? The Marantz ND also has network streaming inside, but I would avoid HEOS if I were you.

In this case a full-on CD player (I have a Audiolab CDT6000 in another system w/separate DAC).

I haven’t heard the DAC section of an Audiolab or Marantz, hence the curiosity.

I’m intrigued by the various dac filters on the Audiolab, because apparently there are some that eliminate pre/post-ringing. It also has preamp capabilities.

The Marantz has streaming that you mentioned, but I don’t know about HEOS. Can you explain what you don’t like about it?

These two are very competitively priced, and the build quality is what I would want on both devices.

Clipdat

I'm very particular about streaming apps/control interfaces and I'm just not a fan of most of them (including HEOS). To me, the application control interface makes or breaks the streaming experience.

There's also distinct sound quality differences with the different "entry level" streaming platforms such as Yamaha MusicCast, BluOS, HEOS, DTS Play-Fi, etc. Noticeable gains are heard when upgrading to Roon, Aurender, Auralic, or Lumin's apps/interfaces/hardware.

guyincognito

I moved from Bluesound and bluOS to Aurender and the Conductor app and agree the sound quality improved, and I am still using the same Benchmark DAC.

jbreezy5

@Clipdat and guyincognito, thanks for your HEOS thoughts.

So HEOS is perhaps not a big advantage as a feature, it seems. The Marantz still has quality build as a disc player as far as my eyes can tell (not a circuitry expert), is built around the same DAC as the Audiolab, but only has two filters in comparison.

Even though I have a 6000 CDT, I may still lean favorably to a traditional disc-loading tray, so the Marantz gets a slight nod there.

Anyone know if the Marantz can be used as a preamp?

55SLA70

I finally got around to getting some listening time on my new Marantz ND8006. My apologies for taking so long, but I had to wait for a tube to break in and quite frankly, we've also been pretty busy around here. But with that said, I'm glad to say that the ND8006 turned out to be a pretty nice sounding piece of equipment.

Compared to my Cambridge Audio 640C V2 cd player/DacMagic dac combo, the ND8006 produced a significantly larger soundstage (mostly taller) with more distance between individual instruments and voices. It does have two filter settings with the first one presenting a deeper soundstage (mostly placing the percussion in the rear) and the second one sounding smoother but also bringing the percussion more to the front. When listening to the first filter setting, a lot of the music came forth with a slight, but noticeable, harshness. As I mentioned before, the soundstage was indeed deeper, on some recordings significantly so, but the more I listened to it, the more I became fatigue with the sound. I then switched to the second filter setting and, although the soundstage depth loss became apparent, the sound smoothed out quite nicely and became quite pleasant to listen to. I keep it on the second setting and never went back. I might give the new tube I installed, a 1966 NOS Amperex (U.S.A.) JAN 6922 now located in the input position of my Decware CSP3 preamp, a little more time to fully break in and then go back to the first filter setting to determine if any improvements can be heard. I'll wait a couple weeks before I attempt this. If I hear anything definite, I'll post it here.

Further sound quality improvements I noticed include, increased presence and sharpness in percussion and string instruments, more detail in vocals and a slightly tighter, less bloated, boomy bass. Although the bass seemed a little less extended with the Marantz I found it more realistic/natural, and preferred it more, than the Cambridge Audio set up. Another thing I noticed is instruments like synthesizers and electric steels moving (maybe swimming is a better description) around the soundstage. I noticed this most on the cd's Bill Fissell's Guitar In The Space Age and Wishbone Ash's Noveau Calls. I suspect that if I went back to the Cambridge Audio setup I might notice this also, but probably to a much lessor extent. This quality really popped out on the Marantz.

The only negative aspect to the Marantz's sound, I discovered, is a slight subdued decay of the instruments/vocals to that of the Cambridge Audio set up. I could maybe describe it as a slight dampening veil. It was as if the harmonics, just before they faded away, they would give off a shimmering/glossy essence. It was extremely slight, but I noticed it. This might be the result of the before mentioned tube needing more break in time on it or, as a friend of mine suggested, the result of increased dac oversampling. "There's a price to be paid for all that rehashing'" he said. Whatever it is, I didn't find the affect nearly detrimental enough to think about going back to the Cambridge Audio components. My friend agreed but he later suggested that the shimmering/glossy sound also could come from the 6922 being slightly microphonic. He might have a point. I'll see how it goes with this. I have a couple more tubes I could substitute in. Later on, I might try that to see if the sound goes away. Or maybe I could give it a slight tap with a chopstick, just to see if it does indeed ring. A trick I learned from my guitar amp days.

Concerning your question as to whether the Marantz ND8006 can be utilized as a preamp, I believe the answer to be yes. It does have, in addition to standard RCA outputs, a pair a variable RCA outputs. It does not, however, have any balanced XLR outputs.

I have yet to stream any internet music with it. Like I mentioned before, things have been busy around here. I do plan to do so soon. I have read many complaints concerning HEOS. I guess I'll find out for myself pretty soon. I did discover, during my research, that Roon might be compatible with it.

Heres the link: https://roonlabs.com/partners/marantz

Good luck with your search!! If you have any questions, please ask.

Dave

55SLA70

I finally did get some quality listening time on my new Marantz ND8006 and quite gladly found it's sound quality significantly better than that of my Cambridge Audio 640C V2 cd player/Dacmagic dac combo. My apologies for being somewhat slow in getting to this but as I mentioned before I had just installed a new tube and it needed breaking in. Also, we've been quite busy around here and I had a few things that needed tended to before I could get to the Marantz.

First of all, after about 15 hours of cd listening, I found the Marantz to have a significant larger (mostly taller) soundstage and more space between the instruments and voices, to that of the Cambridge Audio combo. There are two filter settings for the Marantz's dac. The first filter setting produced a deeper soundstage that pushed the percussion further back. It also produced a choppy/edginess to the upper end that I found quite annoying. I initially thought it might be the new tube, but when I switched to the second filter setting the choppy/edginess went away and the music became much smoother and quite pleasant to listened too. The soundstage did collapse a little , from rear to front mostly, bringing the percussion forward. Despite this I found the second setting considerably more preferable and never went back to the first. I might give the first setting another chance after the tube breaks in a little more, to determine if that would improve it or not.

The Marantz also had increased presence and definition in the instruments and voices, extended dynamic range for the highs and had a tighter, less boomy bottom end. The Cambridge Audio combo may have extended the bottom end a little more, but I found the Marantz's lower register to sound more realistic and natural. I also noticed that Marantz allowed synthesizers and electric steels to move (maybe swim is a better word to describe this) prolifically throughout the soundstage. This was really apparent on the cd's Bill Frisell's Guitar In The Space Age and Wishbone Ash's Noveau Calls. If this affect also took place on the Cambridge Audio combo, it was not nearly as noticeable to that of the Marantz.

One negative aspect I noticed was that the Marantz seemed to cover the instruments/voices in a very subtle veil. It wasn't much, but just enough for me to notice. It seemed that just before the harmonics fully dissipated, they gave way to a shimmering glossy affect. Like I said that was extremely slight and in no way would convince me to move on to anything else. Also, this might go away as the tube breaks in further. It probably still has a ways to go before fully settling in. A friend of mine suggested that it might be a result of the dac. "There's a price to be paid for all that rehashing," he said. Afterwards he mentioned that this might also be a result of the replacement tube being a little microphonic. There he might have a point. FWIW, the tube in question is a 1966 NOS JAN Amperex (U.S.A) 6922 located in the input of my Decware CSP3 preamp. I'll see how this works out. I have other similar tubes that I can use in it's place. If this doesn't disappear during further break in, I can easily swap it out to see if that works. At this point I'm thinking the tube might be the culprit behind this issue.

I noticed that you asked if you could use the Marantz as a preamp. I think you could indeed do that as it has, along with two standard RCA outputs, two variable RCA outputs. It does not, however, have any balance XLR outputs.

I have yet to find any time to do internet streaming with it. I have read that HEOS can be difficult to deal with. I'll give it a shot and see how it goes. I did find, during my research, that Roon is compatible with ND8006.

Here's the link: https://roonlabs.com/partners/marantz

Good luck in your search. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

Regards,
Dave

jbreezy5

55SLA70 wrote: »

I finally did get some quality listening time on my new Marantz ND8006 and quite gladly found it's sound quality significantly better than that of my Cambridge Audio 640C V2 cd player/Dacmagic dac combo. My apologies for being somewhat slow in getting to this but as I mentioned before I had just installed a new tube and it needed breaking in. Also, we've been quite busy around here and I had a few things that needed tended to before I could get to the Marantz.

First of all, after about 15 hours of cd listening, I found the Marantz to have a significant larger (mostly taller) soundstage and more space between the instruments and voices, to that of the Cambridge Audio combo. There are two filter settings for the Marantz's dac. The first filter setting produced a deeper soundstage that pushed the percussion further back. It also produced a choppy/edginess to the upper end that I found quite annoying. I initially thought it might be the new tube, but when I switched to the second filter setting the choppy/edginess went away and the music became much smoother and quite pleasant to listened too. The soundstage did collapse a little , from rear to front mostly, bringing the percussion forward. Despite this I found the second setting considerably more preferable and never went back to the first. I might give the first setting another chance after the tube breaks in a little more, to determine if that would improve it or not.

The Marantz also had increased presence and definition in the instruments and voices, extended dynamic range for the highs and had a tighter, less boomy bottom end. The Cambridge Audio combo may have extended the bottom end a little more, but I found the Marantz's lower register to sound more realistic and natural. I also noticed that Marantz allowed synthesizers and electric steels to move (maybe swim is a better word to describe this) prolifically throughout the soundstage. This was really apparent on the cd's Bill Frisell's Guitar In The Space Age and Wishbone Ash's Noveau Calls. If this affect also took place on the Cambridge Audio combo, it was not nearly as noticeable to that of the Marantz.

One negative aspect I noticed was that the Marantz seemed to cover the instruments/voices in a very subtle veil. It wasn't much, but just enough for me to notice. It seemed that just before the harmonics fully dissipated, they gave way to a shimmering glossy affect. Like I said that was extremely slight and in no way would convince me to move on to anything else. Also, this might go away as the tube breaks in further. It probably still has a ways to go before fully settling in. A friend of mine suggested that it might be a result of the dac. "There's a price to be paid for all that rehashing," he said. Afterwards he mentioned that this might also be a result of the replacement tube being a little microphonic. There he might have a point. FWIW, the tube in question is a 1966 NOS JAN Amperex (U.S.A) 6922 located in the input of my Decware CSP3 preamp. I'll see how this works out. I have other similar tubes that I can use in it's place. If this doesn't disappear during further break in, I can easily swap it out to see if that works. At this point I'm thinking the tube might be the culprit behind this issue.

I noticed that you asked if you could use the Marantz as a preamp. I think you could indeed do that as it has, along with two standard RCA outputs, two variable RCA outputs. It does not, however, have any balance XLR outputs.

I have yet to find any time to do internet streaming with it. I have read that HEOS can be difficult to deal with. I'll give it a shot and see how it goes. I did find, during my research, that Roon is compatible with ND8006.

Here's the link: https://roonlabs.com/partners/marantz

Good luck in your search. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

Regards,
Dave

Dave, that’s a really great review! Very clear and to the point. I appreciate that you provide things that you didn’t like (slight veil) or are unsure of (HEOS), as well as, what you do like. There needs to be more of that kind of balance in audio reviews. It’s also good to know about the variable RCA outs.

Thanks again!

Justin

kevhed72

Clipdat wrote: »

I'm very particular about streaming apps/control interfaces and I'm just not a fan of most of them (including HEOS). To me, the application control interface makes or breaks the streaming experience.

There's also distinct sound quality differences with the different "entry level" streaming platforms such as Yamaha MusicCast, BluOS, HEOS, DTS Play-Fi, etc. Noticeable gains are heard when upgrading to Roon, Aurender, Auralic, or Lumin's apps/interfaces/hardware.

Interesting and timely, as I am looking for an all in one intergrated/streamer via wifi....and it has to have 2 pairs of speaker outputs. Any ideas out there?

kevhed72

whoaaaa thats trippy man! Looking at the bottom of the page it seems there are 2 people in here.....me and myself! (cue Dr. Who intro music)

BlueFox

Yes, that’s another bug with the el cheapo version of Vanilla.

Clipdat

kevhed72 wrote: »

Interesting and timely, as I am looking for an all in one intergrated/streamer via wifi....and it has to have 2 pairs of speaker outputs. Any ideas out there?

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_779EVO150/Cambridge-Audio-Evo-150.html

verb

Clipdat wrote: »

kevhed72 wrote: »

Interesting and timely, as I am looking for an all in one intergrated/streamer via wifi....and it has to have 2 pairs of speaker outputs. Any ideas out there?

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_779EVO150/Cambridge-Audio-Evo-150.html

Lol just pulled the trigger on one! Thanks alot Drew!