Marantz SACD/CD Player Owners - What Filter Do You Use?

Audio Components Transports
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As the thread title says, Marantz SACD/CD Player Owners - What Filter Do You Use?

There are two filters for redbook playback and I am curious which one folks use and why?

I have a new Marantz Ruby SACD player that has these two filters.

Thanks!

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#2 - it sounds better

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Also #2 here. Also think it sounds a bit better.

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Like KI intented for listening, I use filter 1 on my SA-10. Filter 2 measures better.

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I have been using filter 2 myself, as it seems to allow more ambient info, more treble, through.

Filter one makes everything a bit more solid, but on most recordings it sounds a touch dull on my stereo, especially when compared alongside filter 2.

It makes sense that filter 1 is the default, as it has that warm, Marantz sound.

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I’ve only had my 30n a little over a week, so I’m still getting to know it. Consequently I may change my mind long-term, but for now I like #2 better, just slightly, because is seems to remove just a hair of the midrange bloom I associate with the warmish Marantz “house sound,” which in turn seems to allow higher frequency details to shine a bit more. That midrange bloom sound character was the only downside of my previous SA8005.

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Interestingly Ayre CD players had 2 similar filter settings, and they called theirs listen and measure.

I can hear the treble detail with filter 2 as well.

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Tonight I noticed something interesting. I was listening to Ticks and Leeches by Tool and the vocals didn’t sound right. There’s a lot of effects on the vocal, some of which I suspect project back into the mix, for on Filter 2 the image was way off, blurred. Then I switched to Filter 1 and the image snapped into place. I think I will try Filter 1 more over the weekend.

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I own the SA-10, Dither set to off, noise shaping 3-1, HP Amp off, now he is one that makes an impact and I fell upon it by chance I switched the HP gain setting from mid to the low setting by chance when I was checking phase and wow, it made a positive impact, clearer, tighter sound with more weight and detail. I switched it from low to med, to high and each one gave a different presentation. My guess is that it does impact the gain out of the SA-10 and I would guess the lesser-priced unit the 30. So check it out. Dither 1 sounds OK, but you lose detail, and imaging is a bit more defused, bass has more slam with it off, and more depth also. Power Cord is huge in its sonics, AQ Tornado really bright the SA-10 to full glory.

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The human brain is so funny. I had read that filter #2 sounds “more analog”. Tried both filters, and preferred #2. But now that I read your post that says #1 has the “warmish Marantz house sound”, it makes me think I ought to like #1 better as I really like midrange bloom and warmth :joy:

Today I acquired a native DSD256 recording of Beethoven’s Symphony #9 (Pittsburgh). We’ll see which filter survives the shootout!

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I would first say that difference between the two settings is subtle. Then I’d say that filter 2 gives a nice open sound. This open sound might not work so well for early CDs, or CDs mastered with extra treble. For these, I use filter 1.

I wish there was more settings, like a filter 0 that does what filter 1 does, but a little more.

Still, 99 percent of the time I use filter 2.

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I just got a new Ruby also but haven’t used it yet. Building a new system from the ground up and don’t have the preamp yet ………

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You don’t have to wait. The headphone jack, internal headphone amp and volume knob on the Ruby allows you to listen to it all by itself.

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Bump for any new Ruby/30n owners.

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If anyone wants to be a 30n owner, contact me. :wink: (Or an SA8005 owner.)