SA-12SE announced in UK - How does it compare to SA-10?
 

I just ordered the SA-10 a few weeks ago, & now the SA-12SE has been announced in the UK. If the SA-12SE will be available here (U.S.), and is better than the SA-10, I might still have time to change my order. Does anybody know anything?

http://www.hifiplus.com/articles/mar...dition-models/

https://www.marantz.com/en-gb/shop/sacdcdplayer/sa12se



SOTA Cosmos TT (vacuum, Electronic Flywheel), SME V, Koetsu Rosewood Signature
Esoteric X-05 SACD player, Alesis ML-9600 mastering CD burner, Nakamichi 700 ZXE Cassette Deck
Pass Labs XP-15 phono stage
Pass Labs XP-30 (SS) & Hovland HP-100 (tube) preamps
Edge G8+ laser-biased monoblocks & Classé M-700 monoblocks
Rockport Atria & Infinity IRS Beta Speakers
Audience AU24 SX Phono cable, MIT Shotgun ICs, Shunyata Alpha SCs
Revelation Audio Labs 'Passage' CryoSilver Reference DualConduit DB-25 umbilical cables for Pass XP-30
Shunyata Denali 6000T power conditioner (on BBA platform), Shunyata Alpha NR, Delta NR, & Venom HC PCs. Also PS8 & 2 Venom Defenders.
Audio Magic Ultimate SHD Bees Wax Fuse, Synergistic Research Blue & Black fuses, Hi-Fi Tuning fuses
Klaudio LP200 ultrasonic RCM

You purchased Marantz's top of the line player.

I suspect that the release of the SA-12SE might be to supersede the KI-Ruby player since Ken Ishiwata was let go from Marantz before his passing. It doesn't make sense to have a player with his name on it anymore.

I'll bet the SA-12SE is a great player, but it's scaled back a bit compared to the build and components SA-10. The difference in sound would probably be evident in a direct comparison between the two players.

But if you didn't need the balanced circuitry, the SA-12SE could be worth the cost savings.

Thanks! I failed to notice the lack of balanced outputs on the SA-12SE. I chose the SA-10 over the Ruby because I wanted that last bit of performance.

I do wonder whether this presages the announcement of a full-blown SA-12 replacement for the SA-10. I hope I won't be kicking myself in 2 months for not having waited...

One of the only component differences I saw in the SA-12SE is the use of HDAM 3 circuits vs HDAM and HDAM 2 in the SA-10. I have no idea if the different iterations of HDAM indicate different quality or if they just have different uses.

I think the SA-10 will have another 1-2 years of being the top of the line. The previous SA-11S3 had about a 5 year run and the SA-10 came out about 2017.

I doubt you'll regret the SA-10 once you hear it, even if they do something next year. It's really great!

Thanks, Christian.
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John

Buy a pre-loved SA-7S1...

Thanks. Given the rapid advances in DACs, I find it surprising that you think that the 12 year old SA-7S1 would sound better than the SA-10...

Back when the SA-11S3 was the current flagship, there's a post on a different forum (I forget which one but should be easy to search) from a Marantz enthusiast that owned the SA-7S1. He compared the then new, SA-11S3 with the SA-7S1, and wrote that the SA-11S3 was the better sounding player. He was happy to upgrade as I recall.

So I tend to agree with you.

I noticed you have the Esoteric CD/SACD player. Just wondering why you want to consider the Marantz SA-10. The Esoteric is on another level an will sound better than the Marantz. Even the entry level Esoteric player will be better than the SA-10.
Plus I noticed that on the AC inlet on the back of the SA-10 has only two-way prong and missing ground. So, it will be hard to find a good audiophile quality power cable that has only two-way prong female connector. All good upgraded power cables have three-way prong female connectors.

I noticed all Marantz Reference series gears have only two-way prong AC inlet on the back of their gears. Wonder why? Could someone explain?
I was considering the SA-10 before but when I saw that two-way prong AC inlet on the SA-10 it kinda thew me off a bit, so I ended up getting a used Cary Audio CD 306 SACD player which also sounds very musical and it's in the same league as the SA-10 sonically and build quality wise but the Cary is an older player and has been discontinued sometime ago.

My cousin has DCS Vivaldi full four separate stacks which consists of the Vivaldi masterclock, Vivaldi upsampler, Vivaldi DAC & Vivaldi CD/SACD transport. One time one of his buddy brought in over the Marantz SA-10 and the he was dissapointed with the sound quality of the SA-10 especially in comparison to his DCS Vivaldi full stacks. I know this wasn't a fair comparison at all, far from it. I wouldn't compare $7k SA-10 to $130k DCS Vivaldi stacks.

The transport on my Esoteric X-05 literally broke into pieces as I was playing a disc several months ago. The single authorized Esoteric repair service in the entire US estimated (by phone) that the cost to repair it would be $1,800 or more, plus $170 for a "factory authorized" shipping box, plus cross-country shipping. Several knowledgable folks advised me that DACs had improved so much in the last 12 years that I would be much better off putting that money towards a new machine.

Despite feeling a bit put out by Esoteric, my first thought was to see what their current replacement model would be. 3 different major Esoteric dealers told me that Esoteric had apparently abandoned the US market - multiple big-dollar orders by them had gone unfilled, inquiries to Esoteric by them had gone unanswered, & they had been forced to give their customers refunds. (They also said that no-show replacement parts were delaying repairs.) They all advised me to avoid Esoteric like the plague.

My thoughts then turned to Luxman, but they had just retired their entire SACD player line, & the only new model that will be available this year is the d-10x, which is way out of my price range.

Because I need SACD (I have over 1000 discs), my player choices are limited to begin with. I did a lot of research, & called a lot of dealers, and the SA-10 seems like the best player available within my price range, unless I am willing to wait a year for the new, less expensive, Luxman models, which I'm not. The new Esoteric players have gotten some good reviews, but that does me no good if I can't (reliably) buy one. It's been a very frustrating process.

Although the AC inlet on the Marantz lacks a ground pin, it takes a standard IEC-type plug, allowing the use of aftermarket PCs like my Shunyata Alpha NR - it simply makes no connection to the ground. I currently have a call in to Shunyata to ask if this is a problem. (Richard is on vacation until next Wed.)

As my turntable is also out of commission at the moment, I've been without my system for over 2 months, & I'm going through withdrawal... :(