The bass from the Sony is deeper and fuller than the Marantz. I have been more impressed with the Focal's now that the Sony is the source. Voices on the Sony are more full bodied without being warm or smooth. CD playback is excellent and I have a favorite cd of Tchaikovsky "Piano Concerto #1" and a different recording of it on SACD. While the SACD is better sonically the Sony does so well with cd's that the slight improvement is not greater than the better performance. I can only speak for the Marantz SA8001 but the Sony is a step up in performance.

I also have to admit to liking the looks of the Sony. The face of the unit is very clean and uncluttered. The disc drawer is smooth and quiet. The Sony is a very quiet player and there is no increase in mechanical noise when playing SACDs. There have not been any problems reading any of my discs.

I have not found anyway to dim the display which I could do on the SA8001. I am not sure there was any sonic benefit but I developed the habit of dimming displays. I am happy the unit has a standby mode