Marantz CD-6000OSE

The Marantz CD6000 OSE CD player has been around for about a year now, and is priced between £200 and £300, depending on where you look. At this price point, it evidently doesn't consider itself competition for the likes of Arcam, but yet pitches itself as far superior to the budget makes (Marantz are owned by Philips, and Philips takes care of the budget end of the range). My review relates to the CD6000 OSE LE, which is identical except in a few ...
.../> As features go, the Marantz seems to be pretty well equipped. The display is of the full dot-matrix type, and quite large too - this means that the display is easy to read, and also that it can display the total number of tracks alongside the track number, along with a 'track index', which is very rarely used on any CD. However, if you find a CD which uses this track index (classical CDs are the most likely to), there are skip buttons on the ... more

The Marantz CD6000 OSE CD player has been around for about a year now, and is priced between £200 and £300, depending on where you look. At this price point, it evidently doesn't consider itself competition for the likes of Arcam, but yet pitches itself as far superior to the budget makes (Marantz are owned by Philips, and Philips takes care of the budget end of the range). My review relates to the CD6000 OSE LE, which is identical except in a few improved components in the DAC (where it makes most difference). However, both have received five-star reviews from hi-fi magazines, so nothing is amiss in the aural department in either.

The CD6000 OSE is a standard-sized CD player, 43cm wide. It has a sleek black brushed metal front, and is very solidly built; it is a surprisingly heavy unit. This is due to additional magnetic and electrical shielding, which can be seen on the underside of the unit. The front panel is pleasingly laid out, with large stop, play and pause buttons on the right-hand side, with smaller skip keys to their left. The disc tray is on the left of the unit, with the display in the middle. Unusually, the open/close button is situated under the display, and is flanked by three further function buttons, which are supplemented by a comprehensive remote control. All the buttons feel pleasingly expensive and responsive to the touch (I tried a Cambridge Audio D500SE, and the buttons felt awful; if you're a perfectionist you'll love the Marantz). The remote is slightly curved, and is quite a small unit, but nicely laid out, with rubber buttons. The disc tray feels solid, and ejects smoothly, apart from a satisfying clunk on completing an open or close operation. During play, the Marantz's mechanics are all but inaudible.

As features go, the Marantz seems to be pretty well equipped. The display is of the full dot-matrix type, and quite large too - this means that the display is easy to read, and also that it can display the total number of tracks alongside the track number, along with a 'track index', which is very rarely used on any CD. However, if you find a CD which uses this track index (classical CDs are the most likely to), there are skip buttons on the remote for it. Anyhow, I digress. The main reason for Marantz's choice of display is that the player supports CD Text. This is chiefly a little gimmick, however it allows for the display of album and track title when a CD with CD Text is inserted. I only have one such CD, which is Toxicity by System Of A Down. It's nice to see the album title to scroll across when you insert the CD, and the track name is displayed during playback. You can, of course, switch back to the standard display. All the standard repeat, shuffle, A-B repeat, scan and program playback modes are available, and also a 'delete programming' mode, whereby a sequence of tracks is programmed by removing those you don't want to listen to, which is especially useful if there's one track you don't like! You get a headphone socket too, incidentally, and the volume is adjustable via the remote control; this also adjusts the analogue output to your hi-fi, which can be handy if your hi-fi doesn't have a remote. In addition to the analogue output, there are coaxial and optical digital outputs, along with a Marantz system remote control link. The Marantz is capable of playing CD-R and CD-RW discs; I've not had experience of the latter, however it managed to play a CD-R disc recorded on my PC with no problems whatsoever.

The CD6000OSE is as easy to use as any other CD player - it uses my preferred method of track input, which is to say that if you want to enter a two-digit track number, you simply enter the number; if you want to enter a one-digit track number, you simply enter it; if you've not put the disc in or if there's any ambiguity (i.e. you want track 1 and there's a track 10), you get a slight delay before it starts, otherwise it starts instantly. Perhaps I've not explained it well, but I find it better than pressing '+10' all the time. You do get a comprehensive and easy-to-understand instruction manual in case you get stuck - but you won't, it's a CD player, right? :)

In terms of sound quality, this player seems to handle just about anything admirably, which is good for someone with such varied musical tastes as mine. The xylophone on Madness's Cardiac Arrest is distinct: you can hear every note of some complex playing; the bass guitar on tracks such as Aeroplane by the Red Hot Chili Peppers is punchy and vivid; vocals on acoustic tracks such as Unextraordinary by David McCandless come through clearly but not brashly; the soft tones of the Big Calm album by Morcheeba are immaculately reproduced. Britpop such as Moving by Supergrass comes to life, and individual instruments can be distinguished from what on many setups sounds like a mush; Marilyn Manson's The Speed Of Pain sounds even more haunting while The Death Song's anger is brought through strongly; even the high-pitched resonance left after a burst of heavy guitar on Chop Suey! by System Of A Down just sounds right. Classical music is as detailed as sitting in the audience of a live performance. Overall, the feeling is very much that you get an unadulterated, pure sound, which is paired well with equipment such as Quad, and a full sound too - bass, mid-range and treble are all well-defined.

In short, the Marantz is simply awesome for the money - as a test, I plugged the player into my old Pioneer amp rather than my vastly superior Quad setup, and it breathed new life into the old Pi. I bought this player having returned a Cambridge Audio D500SE to Richer Sounds not on grounds of aural quality, but because the D500 simply feels tacky; the D500 fades into insignificance compared to the CD6000 on sound quality, never mind anything else. It's surprising the two units are the same price. I've heard some people complain that the bass isn't very strong on the Marantz, but perhaps they're referring to the CD6000OSE and not the LE edition which I have; in any case, I haven't had any problems with it: the bass is both sufficiently loud and very clear and punchy.

Overall, this is a simply superb player. It's got the latest features, it looks the part, it's easy to use and it's got sound quality that just blows the competition away. For £200, you really can't argue - make sure, at least, that this player is on the list to have a listening demonstration to. 

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