Outstanding in every way (almost).

The Marantz SA-8001 SACD player was designed to provide top-notch performance from SACD's in a 2-channel format, so as to appeal to the audiophile (like myself) who has no interest in the multi-channel capability of SACD's. This is not meant as a criticism of multi-channel setups, but rather, is a rather common concern amongst audiophiles who own 2-channel systems, and often rather elaborate ones too, who would like to take advantage of the sonic improvements the SACD medium has over the standard, "redbook" CD.

The 8001 has another benefit that most SACD players don't: it's also a superb redbook CD player as well. To me, that's its greatest advantage, as I've found that CD's I've owned for years now have a sense of clarity and sweetness and incredible detail they never had before. Not all CD's play superbly on the 8001, as the improvements usually are commensurate with how well the CD was recorded in the first place, but all CD's at least sound better. Another important statistic is that I, like many, have an extensive library of CD's and I'm not about to purchase SACD replacements for over 1,500 discs!

"Stereophile" magazine is one many audiophiles regard with rather high esteem, and the magazine often rates equipment with a "Class A, B or C" recommendation. For a piece of equipment to get a "Stereophile Class-C Recommended" accolade is pretty high praise as most equipment the magazine rates, while hardly panned outright, rarely receives any such recommendation. The Marantz SA-8001 actually received a "Class-A" recommendation from the magazine, and it's one of the very few SACD (or CD) players to receive such a recommendation that isn't priced at many thousands of dollars. Its retail price is "only" $899.99.

To many, $900 is still a lot of money, but in the realm of audio esoterica, it's peanuts, and for a $900 piece of equipment to get a "Stereophile Class-A Recommendation" is almost unheard of!

One also has to remember that the first CD players to hit the market back in '83 cost at least $1,000 and weren't even particularly good. So, for a unit to significantly outperform most CD players at, or near its price point, and to perform as well as those costing as much as four or five times more, $900 is actually quite a bargain.

SACD's have been around now for about 8 years or so, and haven't ever caught on as much as the CD medium did when it was introduced. That's probably because of the "dual-format" nonsense as a result of "DVD-Audio" being released at about the same time. The electronics industry is no slouch at offering competing, and non-compatible systems, but unlike the rapid death of HD-DVD as compared to Blu-Ray, the SACD is still around, with about 4,400 titles available.

SACD's do indeed sound better than redbook CD's, largely due to the improved storage capacity of the SACD medium, as music is sampled some 23 million times a second, compared to the 44.1 thousand times for a CD. The result is a much more dynamic sound, improved soundstage (the physical location of the various instruments from the left to the right loudspeakers), and also the elimination of much, or all of the harshness and "steely" quality many CD's have been accused of having.

Telarc, a brand of generally excellent digital recordings, is an avid supporter of the SACD process. (Actually, the process is "DSD," or Direct Stream Digital, and the SACD is the only medium that completely captures all that the DSD process is capable of.) Older Telarc recordings, some dating back to 1979, used a SoundStream recorder, which, at the time, had recording capabilities well beyond the performance characteristics of a CD. As such, much was lost in the transfer, but now many of those SoundStream recordings have been remastered with the DSD process, and are available as 2-channel hybrid SACD's. The results are remarkable: even the CD layer on those discs vastly outperforms the standard CD version, but it is the SACD layer on them is all but mind-boggling. If you own any of those older discs, you have no idea how much better they're capable of sounding. I can only hope Telarc will continue re-mastering these recordings.

Almost all SACD's are hybrid discs, with both SACD and CD layers. The Marantz SA-8001 allows the user to switch from one to the other, to compare the sound of the two. The switch will not go from a specific point on the disc's track, but rather, back to the beginning of that track, so that a direct A/B comparison isn't possible, but the performance of the SACD layer is always better that of the standard CD layer, (especially so on the SoundStream Telarc recordings). Still, that difference isn't always night and day, and often actually, quite subtle. The reason is not because the SACD medium isn't that good, but rather because the standard CD performance of the 8001 is so exceptional that sound resulting from the upgrading of that medium comes amazingly close to that of the SACD. To me, that is this unit's most outstanding quality: I own a few SACD's and like how good they sound, but it is the delight I get when playing many of my existing CD's, and hearing how much better they all sound now, played on this Marantz unit that makes having purchased it so worthwhile. Even my wife hears the difference between it and that which it replaced!

All operating features of the 8001 have a note of "heft," and "quality" in their smoothness and rapidity of operation - save one: the fast forward control. While punching in the number of the desired track one wants to listen to on the unit's remote results in the unit selecting that track at almost lightning speed, the fast forward is the slowest such control I've ever encountered on any CD player in my life!

If, for example, one wants to advance to a point some 20 minutes or so into a lengthy track of a classical piece (such as the final movement of Mahler's 2nd Symphony), using the fast-forward control on most players would take just a few seconds. On the 8001, such an operation can actually take over 15 minutes!! To me, that's flatly inexcusable. I even contacted Marantz to inquire if my particular 8001 is defective, and was informed that "that's the way it is," and that they've received many complaints.

So, while the sonic performance of the Marantz SA-8001 is nothing short of revelatory, both with SACD's and with it's up-converting of "ordinary" CD's, and while everything else about the unit is nothing short of first-rate, the agonizingly slow fast forward time is the single reason I gave this unit four, and not five stars.

There are many other SACD players available, and for a lot less than $900. Most of those play SACD's rather well, but are downright lousy when it comes to standard, redbook CD performance. That fact is the single reason I (and, most likely, many others) put off purchasing an SACD player. The Marantz SA-8001 solves that problem, and does so magnificently.

It's not likely that if you own an audio system that consists of a 70's vintage receiver, and a pair of 70's bookshelf speakers that the 8001 will provide that much noticeable improvement. On the other hand, if you own a high-quality, audiophile-grade system, run, don't walk to your nearest Marantz dealer and snap up one of these babies. You have no idea how good your CD's can sound!

Lastly, a word to the wise: do NOT purchase this unit from a non-authorized Marantz dealer! Marantz is deadly sincere in refusing to honor any warranty claims if the unit is purchased from a non-authorized dealer. The unit's warranty is 3-years, and while it's not likely, it's still possible that a problem might arise during that time period. You'll be in for a most unpleasant surprise when Marantz not only refuses to honor the warranty, but also flatly refuses to service the unit at all! If you have doubts, the first hint is that the price is considerably less than $899.99, and the unit is often out of stock. There is also considerable pressure from non-authorized dealers to force you to buy an extended warranty, which, in most cases, is utterly useless and unnecessary. The next thing to do, is to go to the Marantz website, and look to see who is an authorized dealer.