Marantz CD5001 CD-player
If we focus only on the exterior, we have a typical Marantz - the design of this brand is quite charismatic, even a little old-fashioned, but it is impossible to confuse with anything. The front panel is made of an aluminum plate, but the chassis itself, like the upper casing, is stamped. It doesn't look tough and vibration-resistant, as stated in the description.
Marantz CD5001 player's equipment and element base cause much more respect. The service is supplemented with Auto Music Scan and CD-Text functions, playback speed control (Pitch Control) is provided. There are digital optical and coaxial outputs. The Sony mechanism is reliable, high-quality and proven over the years. The same drive was successfully used in previous models, including in the players of significantly higher class. The heart of the device is the digital-to-analog converter CS4392 - perhaps, it is one of the best today among the DACs with delta/sigma modulation. The built-in into this chip new algorithms of digital filtering and quantization noise redistribution made it possible to obtain unique passport characteristics. And Marantz has always paid a lot of attention to the analog path - I'm sure that everything in CD5001 is fine here.
The tonal balance of CD5001 is generally well-balanced and would be perfect if it was not for the presence of a slight accent on the upper bass. Therefore, at first minutes the sound may seem to be more dense and coarse than in other players. But don't let that frighten you.
The sound stage of the player is accurate, deep and beautiful. The foreground is focused extremely clearly, bodily, with certain contours, while distant imaginary sources seem to be covered with a light haze, slightly defocused.
The dynamics is correct. The sound is not perceived as exhausted, what cheap players often have tendency to, but the attack could have been more expressive. You can find fault with micro-dynamics. The player reproduces the finest details, but not in the most natural way - the main musical canvas is woven coarsely, there is not enough air in the upper band. Discants are interpreted cleanly and distinctly. Also, there are no complaints to the quality of the middle band - Marantz CD5001 has good harmonic intelligibility. As for bass, I am ready to recognize it as exemplary. Here are speed, energy and infra-low components. Fragments with complex polyphonic bass do not merge into a kind of amorphous-plasticine formation - legibility is preserved, the structure is read.
