Marantz HD-AMP1 - Stereo Integrated Amplifier with Built-in DAC Premium Sound Quality Dual Analog Input Dedicated Headphone Amplifier MusicLink Space Saver Design

Driving a pair of GoldenEar Aon 3 book shelf speakers with this amp fed by either an iPad Mini 2 or an iPhone 6 Plus via the front USB jack and a lightning cable using Tidal HiFi lossless CD quality, FLAC-based 16-Bit/44.1 kHz streaming. I listen mostly to jazz but also rock/pop/classical. Sound is clean, honest, accurate and very musical. High end is so smooth, detailed and spacious that no treble equalization is needed. Trumpet can sound abrasive on a poor system but the combination of the smooth and fast extended frequency response of the GoldenEar High-Velocity Folded Ribbon tweeters, the reference quality ESS Sabre DAC and this amplifier voiced by Marantz legend Ken Ishiwata makes Wynton Marsalis sound likes he's standing right in front of you. Noise floor is so low that any hiss I hear can be attributed to the original analog master tapes. Feed it well recorded/produced material and the Marantz delivers every nuance. Build quality is nice and solid. Plenty of power to drive the admittedly efficient Aon 3s in my 10.5 ft. x 15.5. ft. room. Also listen via the headphone jack using a pair of Oppo PM-3 magnetic planar headphones. Same result. This is not an inexpensive unit but I would argue that its sound and build quality punches well above its asking price. Eminently listenable!Update:8/8/2016 Have been using a MacBook Air running Audirvana Plus software to access Tidal lossless (FLAC/44.1 khz) account via the rear USB port. Super clean presentation, detail is even better than the iPad Mini likely due to the quality of the Audirvana Plus software data handling. Didn't notice it at first but the volume knob is motorized and moves when the volume is changed on the remote. A nice touch!Update:8/31/2017 Dragged this unit to the office driving a pair of Polk TL3 bookshelves with the ring radiator tweeters and a Polk PSW-111 sub (both available from the Polk refurbished store on the bay for next to nothing) under the desk. I have my office computer analog out running into it for work related stuff and my MacBook Air plugged into the back panel USB-DAC input running Audirvana Plus software which now provides software based rendering of MQA encoded 24/96K FLAC files via TIDAL which sound stunning. A stellar near-field set up. My wife is a recording artist and a classical/jazz DJ with a 40 year career behind her. She sat at my desk and listened to a handful of the high resolution tracks (under the "Masters" section on TIDAL) and was blown away. She wants the same set-up (Polks and all) for her home office. Reliability has been rock solid. I have an Emotiva TA-100 which is not much more than a third the price and sounds great - but I still would not hesitate to stretch for this Marantz for the palpable difference in detail, resolution, and overall sound quality.

Here is a copy of my review that I posted on Head-Fi:So I thought I would follow up with some more impressions of the HD-AMP1. As I said above, I am very pleased with it so far and I would highly recommend the HD-AMP1.A little background about my listing setup / habits. Living in an apartment in NYC, my headphone setup basically functions as my home theater. So I use my headphones to listen to music, watch tv and movies, and play video games. Again, because I am using my setup as a "home theater" I also have a few requirements that any Amp / DAC combo unit must have:1. A remote control2. Optical Input3. An EQ function of some typeYou would be surprised how few devices have all three of these features. I believe the Oppo HA-1 does, and prior to this I owned the Sony HAP-S1. And now the HD-AMP1. Or so I thought... I read the manual online before the HD-AMP1 was released and it said that it has treble and bass controls. Unfortunately it turns out that those two controls are turned off when you are using the headphone input. So that was a downer, but of my three requirements that was the one I could most easily live without.Build quality appears to be solid. The unit is a bit larger than the Sony HAP-S1, but it is much lighter. The remote seems well made and works great. Feature wise I am very happy. There are numerous inputs on the back (coaxial, optical, usb, rica, etc). There is also a USB input on the front for connecting your iPhone / iPad etc. This feature is great and I use it all of the time. Sure I would have preferred airplay or some type of wireless feature, but this is good enough.Sound wise the Marantz is definitely a step up from the Sony imo. Soundstage and image separation are clearly better. The sound signature isn't quite as warm as the Sony, it's closer to neutral but definitely not bright as I often see the Oppo described. I own both the HD800 and HD650 and when my wife and I watch a movie or tv show together we often plug both headphones in at the same time, and the Marantz drives both of them together very well.I know the HD-DAC1 was well regarded and it seems like the HD-AMP1 is another great device from Marantz. If anyone has any questions feel free to ask, and hopefully this helps some of you who are thinking of buying this unit...

When it worked, it's great. I'm on my 3rd unit. 1st one was described by Amazon Warehouse Deals as "like new" but the back of the unit was bashed in to the point the huger speaker terminals were bent. The second unit quit playing if you adjusted the treble or bass. Was advised by Marantz tech support to return as defective. Amazon facilitated this very quickly. The third unit worked fine for about a month then started going into protect mode (powers down and flashes red light). After spending 30 minutes on phone troubleshooting/diagnosing with Marantz tech support was advised to return this unit as defective as well. I think I'm done with this model. I truly wish it had worked out. It did sound great when it worked.

Detailed audiophile review? I think not. I have both of these units as I didn't realize the DAC1 didn't have speaker connections. So I just go the unit and I love it like I do the DAC 1. I listened to mostly headphones and both of these units do the job perfectly. I did notice that the AMP 1 headphone element doesn't produce the power you get in the DAC 1. This is not a deal killer by any means. I just turn up a little louder. The AMP 1 may just have a smoother headphone sound then the DAC 1 ......Now I am off to find some speakers to go with this new purchase. Too bad that I can't get some advice from those that our more knowledgeable than I in this hobby. If you want a dac/amp that does it all and have 1099 buy this unit. If speakers aren't your thing buy the Dac 1 at 799. They are both well made and do the job. Depends on what you want.......11/11/19......I went ahead and bought the KEF LS50 speakers and the sound is awesome. One note here though. If you turn this amp up too loud it will trip and needs to be "rebooted" to reset. Volume at 50% will do this. My ears are protected....Enjoy

Superb amplification, and gorgeous, warm Marantz sound. I also like the fact that the amplifier does not get extremely hot (very efficient, unlike your typical Class A amplifier that can double as a hot pan).Love the fact that it has multiple inputs (2 opticals, 2 RCA, coaxial and even USB). Very versatile unit. Initially I was a little sceptical of the lack of balanced headphone output but I have been extremely impressed from its ability to run planar magnetic headphones (Audeze LCD 2 and Hifiman HE-X) so well from the single ended output.Sometimes I wish it had an RCA output as well, so I could use it as a DAC for other amplifiers, but this is a minor quip.As far as looks go, it’s a show-stopper. Hard to describe it, you have to see it for yourself. It exudes luxury and great craftsmanship. It is quite heavy, so be warned, but I find the shape to be perfect for many cabinets, not too wide, not too long, just right.Anyhow, very pleased. Just when you think you know what an ESS Sabre DAC is supposed to sound like, hearing what Marantz accomplishes with it is just impressive. This amplifier hovers in that beautiful world half way between a solid state sound (clear and clean) and tube (warm and reverberant).

I wanted an amplifier to use for my turntable. Thats the one thing this amp wont do. Guess I should have taken a closer look at the back before ordering it. No phono output and no ground. Looks nice and the USB function worked great. Just not what I needed. Pretty light weight unit too for big bucks.

Pretty awesome amp...Has enough power to drive Elac B6's