Hi Everybody! I hope that someone will be able to help me with my decision. I'm looking for a new CDP. I own Marantz receiver SR7001 and I'm very happy with it. I also have older Nakamichi receiver, good sound too. I have 5 Keff speakers. Movies sound great. For listening to music I use old CD player Denon DCM-270 (5 disks). I don't know which CD player to buy. I was thinking to get Marantz CD 5004, or maybe NAD C 545BEE. If I would notice a big difference in the sound quality I might go with Cambridge Audio or Arcam. Is it better to have receiver and CD player of the same brand or that has no benefit at all? I'm open to any suggestions I can't wait to hear your opninion!
Generally speaking, it's better to keep it one brand. They're usually designed to work together and voiced together. Every now and again a company makes a clunker that just sounds bad, but the Marantz CDP you mention isn't one of those.
I'd be willing to bet that the Marantz CDP would work better in your system than the NAD CD player. The NAD CD player may be a bit better sounding in another system, but probably not yours.