Surprisingly, this is the first SACD player from Marantz to receive the ‘KI' treatment, which as ever means tweaks from Marantz brand ambassador Ken Ishiwata applied to an established or existing model.
The basic spec remains unchanged from the standard model, which means stereo-only SACD replay and, of course, regular CDs. Following the transport, audio data is sent to the so-called ‘super DAC' from Cirrus Logic, a part of recent vintage that handles both PCM and DSD data streams at any sampling rate you care to name, with distinctly impressive performance. That performance is maintained by Marantz's familiar ‘HDAM' amp modules, which, like all the audio circuits after the DAC, use entirely discrete transistors.
The KI mods are generally familiar: a few components are replaced, the chassis gets all copper-plated and beefed up with an extra baseplate, the mains transformer swapped out for a toroidal type, and higher quality phono sockets at the rear. The player is smart and easy to operate. It's sensibly featured with stuff like CD Text, a display you can switch off, and a decent headphone output, and it loads discs reasonably swiftly. We wouldn't have minded a slightly lower level of mechanical noise, though, as the high-pitched whirring that emanates from it can become surprisingly intrusive in quiet surroundings.
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SOUN
D QUALITY
Our conclusions on the non-KI form were well on the enthusiastic side and we expected great things from the present suspect. As before, we're definitely taken with the relaxed quality of its music-making and found it a pleasant bit of kit to live with, in the best possible sense.
If there is a downside it's the way this player handles energetic, rhythmic bass. Take some old danceable favourite like Michael Jackson's Thriller. While there's no obvious lack of low frequencies as such, the way they're presented is not always quite as immediate and convincing as it can be. This characteristic is consistent between CD and SACD, which isn't surprising as both systems share the same audio circuits throughout.
Both disc formats sound broadly similar through this player; while some (generally much more costly) SACD players appear to show clear advantages over the older format, differences here are less defined. We did detect a slightly smoother sound from SACD that perhaps yields greater texture, but on the other hand, CD is arguably a touch sharper in its focus.
In most cases, however, the SA7001 KI is likely to spend the majority of its time functioning as a CD player and even taking on board the comments above about rhythm we're inclined to think it a very good one. The key thing is that it never loses the flow and purpose of a piece of music, and as a result one never finds one's interest waning. This is partly a function of the slightly mellow tonality and partly of the excellent levels of detail, which the SA7001 KI preserves and presents to the world. It has no trouble at all separating instruments from each other, and it does that without making a big deal of the trick. As a result, one finds everything clearly audible but not thrust aggressively out of the speakers.
Detail and its close relative, imaging, are the areas in which the KI improvements are most marked. The basic player is good but the KI is excellent in this respect. The $500 premium is not overly steep and this remains a fine proposition in terms of value.
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Marantz SA700I KI ¦$1999 ¦
¦ www.qualifi.com.au
For: Adds an extra level of detail for a more analytical listener
Against: Mechanical noise is a little high
Conclusion: May not be a grand upgrade but a worthwhile one.
