Musically aspired towards mid ranging and highs.

Musically inclined to non bass reliant materials earbuds beware!

I find this a rather strange player. The mids and high r just sweet, non digital sounding, good details. Listening to classical solos and jazz bebop, the notes r rendered with such warmth and conviction, one may start to wonder if tubes were added inside the box. Plug in with some decent cans (mine a SP25) into the headphone jack the effects r simply sensational. Soundstage is quite awesome although not as impressive as the cd6000. Never harsh on the mids and highs... so i thought it was sweet. How incorrect?!

With some fast techno beats or even music by Portishead , the ill defined bass disgraces this model. Simply not acceptable. I have tried the 6000 OSE, not much better infact boomier. Under AB test between the NAD C541 against the 6000, my search was over. I can clearly give up on this cd5000. Bass slam and LF depth on both the current Nad players 521/541 are clearer, cleaner and deeper. Not as non digital sounding but all better rounder than the marantz.

I bet the Marantz designers and engineers don't listen to
any LF associated pieces not into the thought of this product or the 6000. I do question the specs specified on the manual. Probably with an armlist of cd players under the Marantz badge both cd5000/60000 low/mid rankers, are made to serve but rather thinly.

4 stars for mids + highs + soundstage + details
1 star for lows

If your cd collections r mainly vocals, jazz and classical this player might pull a great stunt, probably not for long. This is simply not for me. Sweetness with bitter after taste, earbuds beware!

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Contenders: NAD 521/541, Marantz cd6000OSE

Looks good, well built, great features, fabulous rich sound.

At 150 pounds, not many.

I encountered this player in Laser Audio in Kilmarnock, a hi-fi shop local to where I work. It was reduced from 200 to 150 pounds , and having sold my Linn Sondek before getting married three years ago, I decided that now might be the time to start my hi-fi collecting again...

I was immediately impressed by the player on audition, and the staff were kind enough to audition it with and without an Arcam Blackbox 500 DAC on a few different systems.

The player was musical without the DAC, and improved when used as a transport with the DAC.

I also auditioned the player against the Arcam 8SE, it being a similar price to the combined cost of the CD5000 and Blackbox 500 (pre-owned), and on a blind test (so no bias!) the Marantz just rocked. Love it. The wife loves it also, as does my son...

Similar Products Used:

Arcam 8SE

The Marantz name is pretty synonymous with good musicality for the price; nice, warm, timbrally accurate sounding player!

Build quality very plastic and mediocre, especially the front faceplate and control surface; display is VERY lame

I bought this thing from hifi.com for $249 on the strength of it's description as being a 'hi performance CD player', as well as the good reviews here. When I took this out of the box, I was shocked at how cheap the unit looked! The previous poster who mentioned the build quality being 'high' is glaringly wrong. This looks and feels like a cheap entry level $99 RCA or TEAC unit. The front 'business panel' faceplate of the unit is a cheap plastic molded piece, which does not even fit seamlessly with the metal cover, at least on my unit, where on the right side, the top cover was higher than the top of the plastic faceplate, thus not fitting flush with it and looking like it was slapped together by a drunken autoworker on a late Friday afternoon shift! The transport drawer is plastic, and there was even a tacky quality control 'inspected by' sticker signed by an Indonesian worker on the bottom of the unit! I think it may have been the same guy who inspected my Fruit of the Looms or BVD's for chrissake!! Mediocre build quality aside, the sound of this thing is absolutely GORGEOUS! The player sounds quite warm with phenomenal air and timbral accuracy, and does not seem to have 'the digital nasties' (i.e. harshness, sterile digital sound, sibilance) that lesser players exhibit. In fact, even with very revealing electronics (we tried it on my freind's system running Apogee speakers and Audio Research all around), this player holds its own! It sounds very 'liquid' and analog-like, especially with the right recordings. In closing, i'm reminded of what my parents said to me when this 'ugly-duckling' (but intelligent) girl was pursuing me back in high school, whom I tried to avoid... "it's what's INSIDE that counts"! In terms of aesthetics, this player gets 2 stars. Marantz needs to give this unit a facelift. In terms of sound, it gets a 5. So I will give it a solid 4.

Similar Products Used:

Nakamichi, NAD, Technics, Cambridge