Marantz SA8003 - an upgrade or not?

[Poultrygeist]

I keep reading that CD players make less of a difference than other components but I'm not so sure. I do know that my old Rotel 855 with the TDA 1541A chip sounds pretty good to me and better than many new players I've heard.

My other player is an inexpensive Sony SCD-CE595 changer which plays SACD's. I have around 50 SACD discs and they do sound better than redbook. I'd say the CE595 playing SACD has a slight edge over the Rotel playing redbook. But with both playing redbook the Rotel is much better.

I have a Audio GD DAC and when using the Rotel as a transport I can't tell much of an improvement so I'm not wanting to go down the external DAC road again.

I can get a pretty good deal on the Marantz but I'm wondering if in my case if it would be a significant upgrade. I'd sure hate to spend the money and find out it's only marginally better than what I have. As my grandmother used to say "son, make sure the juice is worth the squeezing"

[frenchmon]

I keep reading that CD players make less of a difference than other components but I'm not so sure. I do know that my old Rotel 855 with the TDA 1541A chip sounds pretty good to me and better than many new players I've heard.

My other player is an inexpensive Sony SCD-CE595 changer which plays SACD's. I have around 50 SACD discs and they do sound better than redbook. I'd say the CE595 playing SACD has a slight edge over the Rotel playing redbook. But with both playing redbook the Rotel is much better.

I have a Audio GD DAC and when using the Rotel as a transport I can't tell much of an improvement so I'm not wanting to go down the external DAC road again.

I can get a pretty good deal on the Marantz but I'm wondering if in my case if it would be a significant upgrade. I'd sure hate to spend the money and find out it's only marginally better than what I have. As my grandmother used to say "son, make sure the juice is worth the squeezing"

Well I can tell you this. I have a very good CDP ...the Musical Fidelity XRAY v8 with external xxx power supply. It does red book only and is a very good player. I also have a Marantz 6001 Universal player. The SACD sounds slightly better than the Red Book on the XRAY, but the CDP in the Marantz can't touch the XRAY. I also know the SACD in the 6001 is not as good as the dedicated Marantz sacd players like the SA 8300. So if I where you, I would go for the Marantz dedicated SACDP.

I also have a Rotel RC 1055 CDP. Its about on par with the Marantz CD in the 6001, but cant even come close to the XRAY.

[Hyfi]

For the price of that Marantz, you may want to think about an OPPO95 which plays almost any type of disc you throw at it.

[Poultrygeist]

I've read that the universal Oppo's are somewhat of a compromise in SACD quality vs the better dedicated SACD players.

[frenchmon]

I too have read that the SACD quality in the Oppo's is not on par with a dedicated SACDP's. But I have heard that the Marantz dedicated players are out standing...especially when you get into the Marantz Reference series.

[Hyfi]

Great review here

GoodSound! Equipment Review - Marantz SA8003 SACD/CD Player (5/2009) (http://www.goodsound.com/equipment/marantz_sa8003.htm)