Marantz CD-60 $1000
(5 1/8h, 17 7/16w, 15 5/8d, 17 lbs, 5 year war)
Enter my new fave CD player at a grand! It plays CDs. Not SACDs, DVDs, Blu-rays or 8-tracks. It is a GREAT, dedicated red book player.
To beat it, plain and simple, you have to spend $3k to buy its bigger brother, SACD-30n. If you can swing $3K, buy SACD-30n. For south of $3K, CD-60 is the best choice on the market.
First of all, Marantz makes its own drive mechanism. It’s built like a Sherman tank and tracks like a champ. THIS… is not a given. The market is full of players from $1k to 50k, that use generic transports from companies we’ve never heard of. They don’t track well despite the prestigious name on the faceplate. The Marantz is THE best tracking CD mechanism on the market- and we’ve encountered almost all of them.
Most companies use a DAC chip that incorporates virtually the entire sound of the player. In that chip is the D to A conversion process and the line stage. This is not the case with Marantz.
Marantz employs its famous HDAM2 technology in CD-60. The HDAM2 circuitry is a custom, discrete, symmetrically built board of exquisite parts which is CD-60’s line stage. Consequently the musical nuance of CD-60 is heightened compared to using a chip the size of your thumbnail for the entire process.
CD-60 sounds conspicuously warmer and less “sharp” than other CD players in this price range. It doesn’t have SACD-30n’s level of resolution. But for $1k, its combination of fine detail and lack of digital artifacts is a joy to hear.
CD-60 uses a Sabre DAC and has two selectable dither filters to tune its timbre as you choose. It is supported by a high current power supply with cut above parts including Schottky barrier diodes.
CD-60 has a USB-A input on the front of its chassis to allow you to run a phone or outboard drive- and supports 24/192 in the process.
CD-60 has three volume output levels. These can be valuable depending on your associated gear and the output levels of your other sources.
CD-60 has a fine headphone amp, with 1/4” jack and volume control for us late night listeners. The volume control runs the headphone jack only.
CD-60 has gold plated RCA output jacks as well as Coax & OPT outputs, not inputs.
CD-60 is available in black, or a silver/gold mix.
A grand is a magic price point. CD-60 is your best choice if you land at $1k.
