Marantz today launched the Premium 10 series, comprising the SA-10 SACD/CD player/DAC and PM-10 amplifier.

The SA-10 is a state-of-the-art digital-to-analogue converter that extracts every nuance from digital music files using a combination of Marantz audiophile practice and innovative solutions.

It is also the first player/USB-DAC that doesn’t have a DAC. This is due to the two-part Marantz Musical Mastering, a brand-new approach to the problem of making the most of music stored in digital form without introducing artefacts requiring extra processing after conversion.

Partnering this player is the PM-10, an integrated amplifier that is effectively a preamplifier and a pair of monobloc power amps in a single unit. It’s completely balanced throughout its signal path and uses a dual-mono construction with differential amplification to deliver 2x400W. Even the continued interest in vinyl has a place in this system, with the PM-10 designed with an all-discrete phono stage for moving coil and moving magnet cartridges.

Marantz built its own SACD-M3, which is unique to the SA-10 and can play CDs and SACDs, as well as high-resolution audio stored on either CD or DVD recordable media.

“From the time of CD players the transport was one of our strengths, and with SACD it’s the same. Of course doing things this way is expensive, but if we want something special we have to do it. And besides, there aren’t many SACD mechanisms available today,” says Marantz brand ambassador Ken Ishiwata.

One half of the Marantz Musical Mastering, Conversion, enables the SA-10 to up-convert everything to DSD256. Two dedicated master clocks are used to ensure all digital signals are up-sampled directly to DSD256 so there is no need for sample rate conversion, while a choice of two filter settings allows the listener to shape the sound.

The other half of the Marantz Musical Mastering package, MMM-Stream, is what prepares this DSD256 signal for analogue output to an amplifier. The output from the MMM-Conversion process is already an analogue signal so the stream only needs a high-quality low-pass filter to deliver pure analogue audio output.

The PM-10 has separate supplies for the preamplifier and each of the power amplifier channels to ensure the delicate signals passing through the preamp aren’t affected by the demands of the high power output stages. There’s also a dedicated supply for the microprocessor controlling things like volume adjustment and input selection, ensuring no noise from the control section finds its way in to the audio path.

It uses switching power amplification to deliver 200Wpc into 8ohms and 400Wpc into 4Ω to ensure it can drive a wide range of speakers.

The preamp uses the famous Marantz Hyper-Dynamic Amplifier Modules (or HDAMs), which are tiny amplifiers in miniature, built from discrete components for the best possible sound quality.

It has been designed with the option of working in ‘Purest Mode’, which when engaged will deactivate any extra circuits, giving the signal the cleanest possible path through the amplifier. A Power Amp Direct input takes the signal straight from the input section to the power stage to allow the PM-10 to work as a pure power amplifier.

Both the SA-10 and PM-10 are constructed to the highest standards and sit on custom-made die-cast aluminium feet.