Your New Reference, Straight from Japan: Marantz SACD 10 SACD/CD Player Features SACDM-3 Transport, Evolved Musical Mastering Technology, and High-Res Support for External Components

Musical clarity, depth, precision, imaging, detail, soundstaging, openness, and texture all take on extraordinary levels of realism, definition, and presence with the Marantz SACD 10 Reference SACD/CD player. Built in the company's Shirakawa factory in Japan and extensively tuned by the Marantz Sound Master, this robust 72.75-pound machine makes good on the promise of turning the information on your discs into the equivalent of private concerts. And because it offers high-resolution support for external source components and four digital inputs for other sources, the gorgeous SACD 10 doubles as a benchmark digital processing center for streaming — and more.

Indeed, SACD 10's most impressive feature may relate to its groundbreaking digital-to-analog conversion process that has evolved past its original version-one status and into an even higher-performing realm on this 7.56 x 17.32 x 17.4-inch (HWD) component. Instead of taking the traditional route of down-converting ultra-high-res files to accommodate the abilities of a traditional DAC, SACD 10 upconverts everything to DSD256 via a new, patent-pending process called Marantz Musical Mastering. This development allows SACD 10 to better DAC technology by operating without a DAC. That's right: the best DAC is no DAC but Marantz Musical Mastering. We will explain.

A custom-built, fully differential, and fully balanced solution steeped in complex engineering, Marantz Musical Mastering involves two stages: MMM-Conversion and MMM-Stream. In the former, two dedicated master clocks guarantee all digital signals get directly upsampled to DSD256 (four times the SACD standard) without any need for sample-rate conversion. Because the output from the 1-bit direct MMM-Conversion process is an extremely high-frequency stream of single pulses, it's already an analog signal that requires nothing else than a benchmark low-pass filter to offer the purest-possible analog output. Enter MMM-Stream, which completes the enviably elegant digital processing equation. The result: An emotionally captivating, sonically enthralling answer to a problem nearly four decades in the making that fully makes the best of digital music without introducing any artifacts that require more post-conversion processing. You've never heard anything like it.

Housed in a robust chassis complete with a 15.8mm-thick aluminum side cover, 12mm-thick top cover, and triple-layer copper-plated bottom plate, SACD 10 boasts the proprietary SACDM-3 transport and a fully discrete variable-gain headphone amplifier. Inside, dual power supplies with toroidal transformers, an eight-layer PCB, and jitter-reducing components ensure optimal fidelity and purity. A fixed balanced XLR output, fixed analog RCA output, coaxial output, and optical output give you the connectivity options you need. On the front panel, an OLED display lets you keep tabs on what you're hearing. A supplied aluminum remote means you can control everything from the comfort of your chair.

Resting on four industrial support feet comprised of solid aluminum and copper, SACD 10 is a breakthrough design in the field of disc playback and high-resolution processing. The finest-sounding player in the history of a company renowned for disc playback, it is literally and figuratively the new reference.

For more information on SACD 10 or any of Marantz's exquisite Series 10 components, contact a Music Direct audio consultant at 312-433-0200.

Simply Brilliant: Marantz Musical Mastering Process Is Better Than a Conventional DAC
Rather than down-convert ultra-high-resolution files to suit a conventional digital to analog converter, as happens in most designs, SA-10 upconverts everything to DSD256 via Marantz Musical Mastering – Conversion. Two dedicated master clocks ensure all digital signals are upsampled directly to DSD 256 – four times the SACD standard – without any need for sample-rate conversion. Two filter settings allow the listener to shape the sound. The other half of Marantz Musical Mastering – MMM-Stream – prepares the DSD256 signal for analog output to an amplifier. Based on technology going back to the early days of Bitstream conversion, it enables an ultra-simple conversion process. The output from the MMM-Conversion process is, in effect, already an analog signal – or, a very high-frequency stream of single pulses. With all the hard digital work done, this stream needs nothing more than a very high-quality low-pass filter to deliver the purest-possible analog audio output.