The ultimate source component? Marantz hopes a comprehensive specification will make it so, says Andrew Everard

As you may have gathered from recent issues of Gramophone, there’s a bit of a revolution going on in the way we listen to our music. And while I’m not going as far as those who misinterpreted Linn’s decision to halt CD player manufacture, in that I’m not saying discs are dead, I do find a lot more of my listening these days comes from a little networked box, connected by a router with some flashing lights, rather than a conventional CD player.

Discs still have their place: they’re still the life-blood of this magazine, and I still enjoy unwrapping a new CD or SA-CD title, placing it in the player and sitting back to enjoy the music. But these days I relish the fact that a wide range of music is available for instant purchase and download, and that I can have it all stored centrally and access it from my main system using an iPod Touch remote control, call it up on a second set-up in the dining room or via the computer in the study, or even dial it up on a portable radio in the bathroom or kitchen.

Discs coming into the house are almost invariably ‘ripped’, usually at FLAC quality, to one of the two servers I have – even SA-CDs have their stereo CD layers stored away for instant access.

And while the ‘physical’ library of discs keeps on growing – as my wife keeps reminding me! –, so too does the network-stored catalogue, and as a result we both find we’re listening to a lot more music. It’s no surprise, then, that the number of ways of accessing music in this way is increasing steadily, from internet-enabled portable radios via dedicated streaming devices such as Logitech’s range of Squeezebox products.

The hi-fi and home cinema companies are catching on, too: I remember years back being shown an Onkyo AV receiver with ‘network music’ capability and having my mind boggled by the idea of a stack of hard drives in a cupboard under the stairs feeding it with music, but now it seems just about every range has something with similar provision.

All the big names in home cinema receivers have network-capable products, making streaming of music and internet radio just one more facility on their massively complex flagship products; the likes of Arcam, Linn, Meridian and Naim have variations on the all-in-one streaming system, and just recently Naim announced its £3000 NDX streaming client, designed to interface between its reference systems and computer stored/streamed music.

We’re going to see a lot more products of this kind in the next year or so, and leading the way in the middle-market hi-fi separates sector is Marantz, with the arrival of its £600 NA-7004 Network Music Player.

Styled in the current curvaceous and impeccably-built Marantz manner, the NA-7004 looks for all the world like one of the company’s SA-CD/CD players, other than that it doesn’t have any sign of a disc-loader. This is the network streaming client as hi-fi separate, designed to be used with one of the company’s amplifiers or AV receivers – though some of the latter are also gaining network capability this year – and while Marantz is far from abandoning disc players, the company clearly sees this kind of unit playing an increasing role in our hi-fi systems.

So what is it? As is usual with this kind of device, a deep breath is required: the NA-7004 combines FM RDS/DAB/DAB+/AM radio tuners, access to internet radio and streaming services such as Last.FM and Napster, a client for UPnP/DLNA streamed content on home network computer or storage devices, direct digital iPod/iPhone connectivity via a front-panel USB socket, and a three-input digital converter with optical, electrical and USB sockets to the rear.

All of this can be controlled via the remote handset, or from an Apple portable player running a free Marantz ‘Wizz App’. There’s also a Marantz M-XPort connection, to which modular devices such as a stereo Bluetooth adapter can be attached.

The NA-7004 can also act as a ‘speaker system’ for Apple’s latest iTunes music software, using AirPlay: you just choose it from the menu on the computer running iTunes, or indeed the iPhone/iPod Touch controlling the computer running the programme, and your iTunes library will issue forth from the NA-7004.

Or rather issue forth from the amplifier and speakers to which the NA-7004 is connected: unlike most of the devices of this kind covered in these pages of late – the Linn Majik DS-I, Arcam Solo Neo and Naim UnitiQute, for example – the Marantz is purely a player, and needs to be connected to external amplification, either using analogue phono or optical/electrical digital outputs – to be heard. However, there is a high-quality headphone amplifier built-in, and the NA-7004 can also control a connected Marantz amplifier.

Under the skin, there’s the kind of build quality and audio engineering for which Marantz has once again become known in recent years: from the double-layer chassis to the solid-feeling casework, much has been done to keep mechanical interference at bay, and the NA-7004 draws on the digital to analogue conversion technology of the limited-edition SA-KI Pearl SA-CD players as well as using the company’s Hyper-Dynamic Amplifier Modules, or HDAMs in the output section. The audio layout is also symmetrical for optimal stereo imaging.

A Dual PLL system is used on the computer USB input to re-clock data and reduce jitter, and the unit also offers the company’s M-DAX2 processor to compensate for the high-frequency roll-off common in data-reduced file formats such as MP3. A three-step switch is offered for this Marantz Dynamic Audio eXpander system, offering progressively more processing.

PERFORMANCE
Like the Linn DS range, but unlike most other streaming clients on the market, from the budget Squeezebox models right up to the Naim NDX, the Marantz has no built-in Wi-Fi wireless networking: connection to the network is purely via Ethernet, although of course one could add a wireless bridge device to do the job in an all-Wi-Fi environment.

Now how much of a hardship that is will really depend on your home network set-up: as I have reported in recent issues, I’ve switched over from wireless networking to using a wired set-up for all the audio bits of my system, running network storage devices and players through the same eight-port switch, and running a single cable from that to the wireless ADSL router to provide internet connectivity and control via wireless devices such as the home computers and various iPods and iPhones.

I’ve done that purely for stability and reliability, not for any sound-related reasons, but I can see that in some homes the lack of Wi-Fi aboard the Marantz will create problems, and require either an external wireless interface or something form of mains-connected Ethernet distribution system.

That aside, the NA-7004 is simple to set-up and use: it found my servers – a NAS unit and an early sample of the Naim UnitiServe – immediately, and the design of the display – which doubles the size of the ‘selected’ line as you scroll through menus – and the remote control made using the unit relatively easy, even from across the room.

I tried the NA-7004 with various computers connected into the rear-panel USB, from a £200 Advent netbook to a MacBook Pro, with iPhones and USB sticks plugged into the front socket, and with streamed file formats from low-rent 64kbps MP3s right up through WAV files and 96Khz/24-bit FLACs, and in each case it proved highly revealing of the relative merits of source and content.

One thing that rather surprised me was that files delivered to it from a USB stick seemed to have more impact and vitality than the exact same content streamed from the network, and for the life of me I have no idea why this may be so; I’m only reporting what I heard, even though it appears to defy logic.

However, it's worth noting that the Marantz doesn't, as yet, support gapless playback: the company's latest 2012-model receivers do have this functionality, so it's to be hoped that this will become more widespread across the range in time.

Overall, however, the sound of the NA-7004, though very source-/file-dependent, is also very Marantz: there’s a powerful, well, extended bass with the best-quality FLAC or WAV files, clarity and expression in the midband, and a treble that’s explicit and eager, although I can imagine some may find it a little overbearing, especially with lower-resolution files and with an unsuitable choice of amplification and speakers.

I certainly found the Marantz, while revealing of ambience and able to create fine soundstage pictures, prone to emphasising sibilants, which did prove distracting with some recordings, as did an ever-so-slightly fragile feel with some more delicate pieces.

I’d also advise caution in the use of the M-DAX2 system with all but the most heavily data-reduced tracks: its slow setting can certainly put back some sparkle into dull, low-bitrate MP3s, but the higher settings do sound rather artificial from time to time.

It’s a fascinating device, this Marantz, with radio tuners far from being makeweights, definite ability with high-quality file formats, and a sense of untapped potential in those extra features just down the line. It may not be the finest-sounding streaming client on the market, but it’s very good indeed – and may just be a harbinger of the future of hi-fi separates.

Marantz NA-7004
Type Network music player

Price £600 Tuners DAB/DAB+, FM RDS, AM, Internet radio, streaming services
Formats played (DLNA) MP3/AAC/WMA/WAV up to 48kHz, FLAC up to 96kHz/24-bit, Apple iTunes AirPlay via upgrade, Apple Lossless from iPod/iPhone
Inputs Optical/electrical digital, USB for computer, USB for storage devices/digital input from iPod/iPhone
Outputs Optical/electrical digital, analogue stereo, headphones
Other connections Ethernet, FM/DAB/AM antennae, M-XPort, RS232, remote in/out, infrared remote sensor in

Accessories supplied Remote handset, radio antennae
Dimensions (WxHxD) 44x10.6x35.4cm
www.marantz.co.uk