Hi Guys
I was looking for a reasonably priced cdp to gift a budding audiophile on him completing his education.Budget was about 20K and the usual suspects that I considered were Nad/Marantz and the usual models that float around.Have stopped buying any of the AV mags & am hence clueless of models & pricing.
Anyway tried the entry level NAd and tried it in my set up (thats what was demanded by my cousin) and it fell flat. IMO the older 542 would knock the pants of this offering!!!
Since I was running out of time I asked my favourite dealer to send me all 3 marantz cdps they had i.e 5003,6003 and a new 6002 that was lying with them.
I chose the 6003 for a bit over 20K.
We both heard it at my home & the cdp does not dissapoint at all. Nice looking, reasonable build, headphone out with volume and USB. I did not have the time to do some spade work & read about the internals or browse some reviews and this kind of quality in gear @ around 20K seems a deal to me. Its made in China like most entry level gear is I guess.
Very musical, decent timing, fairly airy highs with bass being a bit loose but then many a higher marantz suffer from the same. The midband seemed natural and the player felt musical with all the music that the guy tried.
I have been trying a whole load of cdps for myself and this player at a fraction of the cost of the accu DP400/500, ESOTERIC SA 50, X 05, Sim Super Nova, Sim 5.3 RS seems great bang for the buck for anyone starting up for sure. Naturally the other players offer a lot more but then at such escalated prices.
Sometimes I truly wonder where this high end gear & the pricing is going. I say this after hearing a truly modest, budget cdp partnered with much better gear.
Rgds
I was looking for a reasonably priced cdp to gift a budding audiophile on him completing his education.Budget was about 20K and the usual suspects that I considered were Nad/Marantz and the usual models that float around.Have stopped buying any of the AV mags & am hence clueless of models & pricing.
Anyway tried the entry level NAd and tried it in my set up (thats what was demanded by my cousin) and it fell flat. IMO the older 542 would knock the pants of this offering!!!
Since I was running out of time I asked my favourite dealer to send me all 3 marantz cdps they had i.e 5003,6003 and a new 6002 that was lying with them.
I chose the 6003 for a bit over 20K.
We both heard it at my home & the cdp does not dissapoint at all. Nice looking, reasonable build, headphone out with volume and USB. I did not have the time to do some spade work & read about the internals or browse some reviews and this kind of quality in gear @ around 20K seems a deal to me. Its made in China like most entry level gear is I guess.
Very musical, decent timing, fairly airy highs with bass being a bit loose but then many a higher marantz suffer from the same. The midband seemed natural and the player felt musical with all the music that the guy tried.
I have been trying a whole load of cdps for myself and this player at a fraction of the cost of the accu DP400/500, ESOTERIC SA 50, X 05, Sim Super Nova, Sim 5.3 RS seems great bang for the buck for anyone starting up for sure. Naturally the other players offer a lot more but then at such escalated prices.
Sometimes I truly wonder where this high end gear & the pricing is going. I say this after hearing a truly modest, budget cdp partnered with much better gear.
Rgds