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You will not believe the realism--you can visualize individual instruments in an orchestra on a high-quality recording, such as the SACD-digitized analog recordings from the remarkable Living Stereo series. All of the emotion and beauty of these old recordings sing through Marantz. The Marantz 8260 is superb. The only reason I am not giving the CD player 5 stars is that there is no way to reprogram the default sound mode (Surround), which means that I have to spend an extra 10 seconds selecting the Stereo Mode whenever I play an SACD (no problem if you have a surround sound system).One last point--the Marantz only plays CDs or SACDs, not DVDs. There are other players on the market that can play DVDs and DVD-A in addition to SACD. With well-recorded SACDs, the CD player fills the soundstage with detail. In my opinion, the sound was not up to the calibre of that of the 8260, but you may feel differently.
On these two counts I am delighted with the 8260.What has been disappointing is the inability of the 8260 to track through even slight fingermarks or surface problems on CDs, especially CD-Rs. The thing is built like a tank, so it's hard to understand how the pickup could be that sensitive. The reason I purchased the 8260 was not for the SACD feature, but the enhanced sonic quality this player provides even on standard CDs AND the fact it has a built-in high-quality headphone amp. My cheaper players will play the same discs flawlessly, so I'm a bit miffed.Since the unit has a 3 year warranty, I will call Marantz and see what they have to say (and provide an update at that time).
In Europa we have the SA 8400 who is exactly the same player. The sound in CD and SACD is really stupendous, but the price in France is more expensive (€:999) considering the SA 8400 is only a stereo player, not a multichannels.
And, if you are not familiar with SACD technology let's say that in short they don't call it SUPER AUDIO CD for nothin'. You don't really need to spend this much money to play back an SACD, but you also may not enjoy music enough to invest in a player of this quality level.and that is fine. I am at some loss for words when it comes to describing how good the SA8260 is. If you are new to high-end cd players the price tag on the SA8260 might seem incredibly high considering it doesn't even play DVDs. Some might ask, ".what is the point of buying a cd-player that won't also play a DVD." There are a myriad of reasons that ultimately contribute to the truest and most incredible musical reproduction that you may ever encounter (particularly for such a price-point as low as this). The quality of this player side by side with other players will leave you breathless.
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