My new DAC

[blackraven]

I just purchased the Marantz NA-11s1.

Marantz NA-11S1 Reference Network Enabled DSD DAC **B-STOCK** at Music Direct

Marantz Reference NA-11S1 Network Audio Player/DAC | Stereophile.com

[Feanor]

Congrats! That's seems like a very impressive and versatile piece of equipment. Update us on your further conclusions.

[blackraven]

Thanks!

I will post a review once it is broken in and I have my BAT preamp back in action. I am replacing the 12 out put capacitors. Hopefully I will have the preamp back by next week. I have a friend that is replacing them for me. BAT wanted $75 a cap but I bought the same caps direct from Jensen in Denmark for $20 each.

[Jack in Wilmington]

Looks like it's going to be time for another shoot out, with the Marantz included.

[blackraven]

I will have another shoot out in May. I am hoping that the Marantz will be the last piece of the puzzle. I was also considering the Cary DAC-100t, a tube DAC but it does not do DSD and there were a couple of user reviews where guys had both the Marantz and Cary and they ended up keeping the Marantz.

The Marantz I bought was a B stock and discounted for $1000 off. It was a no brainer to buy it. If I don't like it I can sell it for what I paid as used ones are going for about $2500 which is what I paid for it.

I have been resisting computer based music as I like the no hassle of putting a CD in a player without having to fire up the computer (although, this will make me buy a SS hard drive for instant on) , scroll through menu's and play lists. I doubt that I will ever get rid of spinning disc's. When I come home from work and I want to listen to music I can have it going in 30 seconds then crash on the sofa. However, I recently bought JRiver and have downloaded some Blue Coast music.

[Mr Peabody]

Congrats. It will be interesting to see how the 11s does against the other DACS

[Feanor]

I have been resisting computer based music as I like the no hassle of putting a CD in a player without having to fire up the computer (although, this will make me buy a SS hard drive for instant on) , scroll through menu's and play lists. I doubt that I will ever get rid of spinning disc's. When I come home from work and I want to listen to music I can have it going in 30 seconds then crash on the sofa. However, I recently bought JRiver and have downloaded some Blue Coast music.

Personally I wonder with an 'network player' of this sort could work for me. As a classical music listener almost exclusively, I deal with multi-movement works so selecting single "songs" and random play are basically useless. Construction permanent playlists is also pretty useless. Further, I like to be able to have variety of music search approaches.

Wrangling discs is a process I've always disliked -- that goes back to the pre-CD LP days, and was probably the biggest single reason I abandoned LPs for CDs, (even though early CDs and CDPs sounded no better, if as good, as LPs). There is still disc handling in case of CDs though it much, MUCH less of a hassle.

So for me I really want the power of a flexible, full-scale UI that Foobar2000 or JRiver can provide. For me it seems effectively faster to boot my computer and use Foobar to locate the compositions I want to suit my current mood.

Be this as it may, the Marantz looks like a great DAC. I note in the Stereophile review that John Atkinson suggest that a USB link to a computer gives the best result vs. S/PDIF or Ethernet.

[Jack in Wilmington]

Personally I wonder with an 'network player' of this sort could work for me. As a classical music listener almost exclusively, I deal with multi-movement works so selecting single "songs" and random play are basically useless. Construction permanent playlists is also pretty useless. Further, I like to be able to have variety of music search approaches.

Wrangling discs is a process I've always disliked -- that goes back to the pre-CD LP days, and was probably the biggest single reason I abandoned LPs for CDs, (even though early CDs and CDPs sounded no better, if as good, as LPs). There is still disc handling in case of CDs though it much, MUCH less of a hassle.

So for me I really want the power of a flexible, full-scale UI that Foobar2000 or JRiver can provide. For me it seems effectively faster to boot my computer and use Foobar to locate the compositions I want to suit my current mood.

Be this as it may, the Marantz looks like a great DAC. I note in the Stereophile review that John Atkinson suggest that a USB link to a computer gives the best result vs. S/PDIF or Ethernet.

I read that about the USB cable giving the best connection to the DAC also. That's how I have my laptop hooked to my Bryston BUC-1 and then AES/EBU cable from the BUC-1 to the BDA-1 DAC. I was surprised when I read that as I never considered a USB port as top of the line connection.

[blackraven]

I will be using the digital coax input to play my CD's. Eventually I will rip music to a NAS.
The differences in sound quality are going to be subtle at best from user reviews that I have read.

[harley .guy07]

I was skeptical of computer audio when I first got into it and now almost all I use is my desktop computer running a USB connection to my PS Audio DAC and this is my preferred way of playing music now. It kills my other options in sound quality and is easy to use. If you really get into computer audio and are a windows user I would highly recommend Fidelizer from WindowsX website. The guy that designed the software is a computer guy and an audiophile and he believes that windows with help from his software is the way to go. I totally believe since I run it and my system now sounds way above its price class. Fidelizer is easy to use and it shuts down processes that are not for audio while you are running it and when you are done just restart the computer and you are back to normal.

[frenchmon]

Harley....thanks for the infor about Fidelizer ...I will look into it.

Ravin, congrats on the new NA!....what processor are you using? I can have my computer on and playing music in less than 30 seconds....but its a dedicated computer for music only...nothing else but down loads. I've thrown my CDP out as DSD 128 is tops.

[Mr Peabody]

Frenchmon, where did you throw that CDP?

[blackraven]

Frenchmon, I am running a Core Duo P9500 CPU at 2.53gHz with high speed ram and a gaming GTX 9800 video card running 64bit Vista. It was a SOTA custom built lap top computer a few years ago. It still runs well and turns on in 30 seconds. I have more modern computers with windows 7 and 8 but this one still works fine. The windows 8 computer turns on in about 12 seconds. Adding a SS drive will boot up this computer in about 15 seconds.

[frenchmon]

Frenchmon, where did you throw that CDP?

I was going to sell it, but wife wanted it for her office

[frenchmon]

Frenchmon, where did you throw that CDP?

Just remember that DSD takes one heck of a strong processor. At least an i5 with 3.3 GHz, 6 MB cache, and at least 8 GB memory. Going from the P9500 to an i5 will like going from a 4 cylinder to a 8 cylinder....the extra power/processing will be heard and felt in your system.

I went from a AMD A8 4500 to an Intel i5 and was floored at the difference.

You can check your CPU's benchmark here.

PassMark - Intel Core2 Duo P9500 @ 2.53GHz - Price performance comparison

[Feanor]

Just remember that DSD takes one heck of a strong processor. At least an i5 with 3.3 GHz, 6 MB cache, and at least 8 GB memory. Going from the P9500 to an i5 will like going from a 4 cylinder to a 8 cylinder....the extra power/processing will be heard and felt in your system.

I went from a AMD A8 4500 to an Intel i5 and was floored at the difference.

Wow! Well I guess I won't worry about DSD while I'm still using my old AMD Athlon. BTW, it will handle 24/192 PCM just fine.

[frenchmon]

Feanor.....DSD has a sample rate of 2822.4 kHz. It is 1 bit,(closer to vinyl than PCM will every be) and is very difficult to process...especially if one bi passes DoP and go native DSD.

if one doesn't have a capable strong processor...especially in native, he will have lots and lots of drop outs and buffering.

[Feanor]

Feanor.....DSD has a sample rate of 2822.4 kHz. It is 1 bit,(closer to vinyl than PCM will every be) and is very difficult to process...especially if one bi passes DoP and go native DSD.

if one doesn't have a capable strong processor...especially in native, he will have lots and lots of drop outs and buffering.

Yes, but the (single) DSD rate of 2822.4 kHz or 5,644,800 bps (2 channel) can be compared with PCM 24/192's rate of 9,216,000 bps. We might also consider the a 1.5 GHz, 64 bit processor handles up to 96,000,000,000 bps.

[blackraven]

Eventually I will upgrade my laptop but it is not a priority. I have a laptop with a higher end I3 that I can use.

I think I found a way to stream wireless with this MoCA and using a NAS controlled by my laptop.

https://www.actiontec.com/257.html

It connects to my Cable for TV and will connect to the Marantz via ethernet cable.

For DSD I will need to connect via usb cable directly though

I just did some checking on DSD and my current laptop. There are people using lesser processors and some work fine and others don't. I have a feeling that this computer will do OK. It was custom built and has a high end motherboard, 4 gigs of very fast high quality ram and a high end video card that handles all the graphics and it does not share the computers ram. It was a $2,200 computer. Plus I dont have much running in the background. I can always turn off the antivirus and malware programs when playing.

Of course, I won't know until I try though.

[frenchmon]

Hi Ravin...Let me know how the MoCA works out for you.

Have you got this one? Lots of good music in there.

https://www.nativedsd.com/

[blackraven]

Hi Ravin...Let me know how the MoCA works out for you.

Have you got this one? Lots of good music in there.

https://www.nativedsd.com/

Thanks for the tip, I will have to check out the music.

I will probably buy the MoCA in May, once I have had some time with the Marantz and decide if I want to keep it. I have 60 days. It just arrived today.

[frenchmon]

Cool...cant wait to read your first impressions!

[frenchmon]

Raven....whats the word on that new Marantrz DAC?

[Jack in Wilmington]

Raven....whats the word on that new Marantrz DAC?

He must be enjoying it, I'd say. We haven't heard a peep from him since he got it. Not even a review on Axpona.

[frenchmon]

I'd say you're spot on!