Another Great Hybrid, But This One is NOT as Great a Value...
Written: Mar 15 '04
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Pros: Superb build and quality. Great Picture, Solid sound. Still, it needs more.
Cons: Not the best value, as explained in the review. Very good, but not quite there
The Bottom Line: Certainly up top with the best Hybrids, but the Denon offers too much more audio quality with very small price difference. Denon 5900 at the top for now..
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| nick1326's Full Review: Marantz DV-8400 DVD Player |
Marantz has, for a long time, been synonymous with "Quality hi-fi gear". Although in the recent years Marantz' stuff hasn't been what it used to be years back, they still make fantastic electronics that exist on the upper-edge of the consumer / "almost audiophile" grade of the product spectrum.
Marantz' 8400 is another top-contender for the Hybrid player title- It is referred to as a hybrid because it plays BOTH SACD and DVD-A format in addition to CD, CD-R, RW and a myriad of other formats, virtually everything available on a disc. While the Marantz is certainly a great player, it happens to suffer from 2 distinct issues which (as explained in the abridged version) are 1) day-late-dollar-short syndrome and 2) It seems to have a good fit largely for those already using a Marantz receiver or seperates that want to keep a uniform Marantz setup.
In short, The street price of this unit is between 1200 and 1500 dollars- at that price, there really is no reason to not instead buy Denon's new 5900 hybrid- as it is superior both sonically and visually. BUT...and there is a BUT, the Marantz IS almost on par on everything except the audio- all of this stuff will be explained further in the review.
For now, let's give you the Run down on other Hybrid reviews- I sincerely hope this helps you make the best decision you can: I've been working for 18 months compiling information and continuing to reseearch this stuff:
Denon 5900***:
http://www.epinions.com/content_127323442820
Yamaha 2300:
http://www.epinions.com/content_94406020740
Denon 2900**
http://www.epinions.com/content_100695248516
Marantz 8300/8400:
http://www.epinions.com/content_97528024708
Pioneer DV 45-a
http://www.epinions.com/content_96283627140
Sony 999 (non hybrid- NON impressive!)
http://www.epinions.com/content_95421369988
Pioneer Elite DV-47Ai
http://www.epinions.com/content_95282433668
The Marantz has all the bells and whistles: playback of virtually every imaginable format, decently quick read (like the Denon and other top-grade players, it will not pick up a disc in a millisecond- the player takes 2 seconds or so to stabilize and ensure smooth playback (I explain this because some other ignoramous had a complain about this on another player: my answer... well than go buy a cheap sony!) If you want quality sound, I think it is worth an extra second or two!!!
The Marantz has a slieu of inputs and outputs- the standard component + composite videos, Digital Optical, Coax, plus 7.1 RCA output (essential and NECESSARY for DVD-a and SACD playback- they DO NOT play back in digital with the exhance resolution, however as a side note, DVD-A WILL down-mix into DVD movie soundtrack format and play digitally.. YOU ARE NOT GETTING THE ENHANCED RESOLUTION THOUGH). The player does an excellent job in both the audio and video departments. Faroudja video technology is employed and makes for exceptionally smooth picture and great resolution. In the video department, the player is almost identical to the Denon, if not just a TOUCH colder- I liked the picture alot, although on the better displays, I found the Denon to have a little more warmth of picture- I preffered it because DVD movies are inherently colder than say, a laser disc. I miss warmer laser-disc pictures, however it is the video compression codecs which guided DVD video into slotting into a cooler picture- the Denon compensates better.
Audiowise, the Marantz is very, very good- however I found the overall sound to be a bit compressed and not quite as open as I would have wanted. Compared to the Denon 5900, well, to be honest, there IS not comparison- however alot depends on how good your system is. No hybrid player is going to keep up with a good CD transport and DAC- this sort of front end is irreplaceable. That considered, if you're using a great front end like this, you're probably NOT going to use a hybrid player. If you DO have a very solid system though, and want to reapl the benefits of clarity of DVD-A and SACD formats, the Marantz does the job very well- however at its price of about 1350 or so, the Denon is far better and is NOT too much more- about 1550 or so. This is what I call "day-late-dollar-short" syndrome- if the 8400 would have come out with the Denon 2900, it would have faired better...and to be honest, it didn't come out long after- however it was much more expensive than the 750 dollar Denon 2900, and therefore at THAT point the players niche was existing Marantz receiver users who wanted to keep the Marantz name uniform in their system.. The same thing exists now- except its not just uniformity, its the fact the Denon offers truly superior audio playback- THIS is very good reason to opt for it instead. The Marantz' bass-management is similar to the Denon structure- not the greatest by any means, but very good. FYI, a modified Denon however has AWESOME bass-management and LFE output-- MUCH MUCH MUCH better than stock...more on this later..
As I mentioned in a few comments sections of these reviews, nothing is going to beat a TRUE audiophile grade front-end like a Metronome transport and DAC seperates setup. Nevertheless, the Hybrids are getting MUCH MUCH better- the marantz for instance, is a much better buy than the Lexicon, which costs DOUBLE. However again, it's the limiting factors and the competitiveness of the Denon 5900 offering that make it tough to justify this purchase. If the marantz were 850 or 900 bucks, I'd probably take it OVER the Denon 2900, which I actually own myself. The 8400 is very good- the 2900 is VERY good... However modifications are becoming available and a modified 2900 or 5900 will BLOW AWAY anything stock out there- while it may seem sill to have to spend money on modding an already expensive piece, it takes an audiophile to understand this- the sound is MUCH MUCH MUCH better- and cost-wise, the manufacturers couldn't use such good componentry as the mods do, without having to charge an exorbitant amount for a unit (1500 is NOT exorbitant- but you have to choose wisely depending on what you like).
I'm going to give the marantz a well deserved 4+ stars- it sounds good, it looks great, it is sleek, the chassis is sharp and the remote is very very good- I like it better than the Denon actually- but then again, I use my universal remote which is better than anything else (it came with my Halo Parasound C2 controller.. ANother AWESOME AWESOME unit which I'm looking forward to reviewing...
ALl in all the Marantz is easily among the top 4 Hybrids thus far- Denon 5900, Lexicon RT-10, Denon 2900, Marantz 8400- in no specific order, but in terms of value, the 2900 is on top, and in terms of quality the RT-10 and 5900 or tied up top, but since the 5900 is half the price, it's the clear winner of that battle- the lexicon is MOST the victim of "uniformity" syndrome, as IT DOES have an exorbitant price which can only be justified by wanting to keep an entire Lexicon package together instead of mixing-it-up with a Denon...
So it looks like hybrid wars is coming to an interesting head- a few VERY wonderful top contenders- however the next step in the evolution of these hybrid players is to have something REALLY REALLY serious out there which can truly take advantage of the DVD-A and SACD format.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 1399
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nick1326
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Location: Long Island, NY
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