Marantz SA8004 SACD Player (TAS 211)

Not long ago my colleague Robert Greene posed himself a question, “Why are people reluctant to buy expensive turntables?” Then he shared his thoughts in an e-mail with Robert Harley, Jonathan Valin, and myself. Recalling a visit to my place to hear a brand new Acoustic Research XA turntable—an almost fifty year old design that sold for the princely sum of $87 in 1968—I had found on eBay, he told RH and JV,

We sat down to listen and what came out? Glorious music in every sense including the strictly sonic. The AR arm and turntable [with Shure V15 VxMR] were in no way embarrassed by being played through such a superlative set of electronics and speakers [McIntosh C46/MC402, Quad ESL 2805] and in such a nice room acoustically. The result was truly wonderful—pure, warm, low distortion, naturally balanced sound indeed, music essentially as it really is . . . . [If] one had listened to this system without knowing what the turntable/arm used was, one would have found rather little to complain about. I think no one would have said, wonderful speakers and electronics, but what on earth is wrong with the turntable. This would just not have happened. Of course, in direct comparison to other setups, one would have noticed differences and on occasion perhaps improvements, but on its own the playback was very satisfying indeed.

REG’s answer to his own question? Because “vinyl is a technology that works so well by nature that it sounds wonderful even in simple forms . . . the inexpensive stuff is just too good!” (Is a cliché here reversed—the very good now the enemy of the excellent?)

I thought about REG’s e-mail as I began this review of Marantz’s new SA8004, a superb-sounding two channel SACD and CD player priced at $999. It seems to me that after more than a quarter century compact disc technology has long since reached the point that vinyl itself did a few decades ago. I am not referring to the longstanding debate whether digital is “as good as vinyl”—that’s an argument I don’t engage any more (I just look for another bar). What I mean, rather, is that digital technology has advanced such that, like vinyl, it just works, reliably, dependably, predictably. Some of the strongest evidence for this is the proliferation of really good moderately and lower priced compact disc players TAS has reviewed the past several years. Surely even vinyl zealots would have to admit that it has been a very long time since even an inexpensive player from a reputable manufacturer has exhibited anything approaching the sonic nasties of early digital. And if the presence of excellent sounding modestly priced vinyl gear makes the extremely expensive stuff a cautious proposition in these economically parlous times, how much more this is true of digital, where last year’s state of the art is almost certain to be bested by next year’s moderately priced gear.

I knew there was something special about this new Marantz when I unboxed it. Many inexpensive components feel so light and cheaply made that if differently shaped they could easily serve as Frisbees. Not so the 8004. While no back breaker, it weighs in at a substantial seventeen pounds and looks impressive to boot. It’s obvious someone was paying attention to controlling chassis vibration and resonance. (I know that weight as such and a quality “feel” are at best imperfect indicators as to how good a component will sound; but I’ve never cared for equipment that looks or feels cheap, even if it sounds great, and there’s enough good sounding budget priced gear around to prove that inexpensive doesn’t necessarily have to equate to chintzy.)

Setup’s a matter of plug (a generic pair of interconnects is provided, though I used Kimber Select), play, and start listening, which I did, following a 24 hour break in with Reference Recordings’s Test & Burn In CD.

First up was a new Christmas release from the Anonymous Four, The Cherry Tree Carol [HMUSA, SACD]. A signature characteristic of recordings by the producer Robina Young and her engineer Brad Michel is how ideally they always manage to mediate focus and ambience. The four women are arrayed across the front, spread not too far apart and somewhat closely miked. Yet this is not a dry-sounding recording; indeed, a nice ambience is captured to create the illusion of singers performing in a recognizable space. There is nothing sonically “demanding” here except that any edginess or lack of midrange purity and naturalness will be instantly revealed as roughness or peakiness, while top end constriction will exact a penalty in reduced atmosphere. This is also an exceedingly smooth recording in every respect, the four voices blending, separating, blending again like gossamer threads. But it should not sound warm as such, instead a bit cool, even austere, though the reverberation has a satisfying decay. While any resonant acoustic will obscure articulation of the lyrics somewhat, the microphones are proximate enough that the words remain very intelligible, especially during solo passages (e.g., the lyrics of the title carol can be totally understood without recourse to the booklet).