Marantz 50 Series Model 50 Integrated Amp & CD 50n CD Player/Music Streamer Overview

Background & Company History

This overview is on the new Marantz Model 50 integrated amplifier and CD 50n digital music player.  Back in 2020, Marantz introduced a Model 30 integrated amp and SACD 30n SACD player and network streaming unit.  These received very high critical acclaim and still sound fantastic with wonderful build quality.  Marantz followed up with the Model 40n all-in-one unit later in 2022.  These two new 50 Series pieces bring the initial concept of the 30 series units to a much more affordable price point.  We will be going over their features and all the great tech Marantz has packed into these.

If you have been around the audio world for a while, you probably know Marantz is one of those audio brands that has truly stood the test of time. Marantz was founded by Saul Marantz way back in 1953 and any of the gear he produced now commands very high prices due to its still great sound and nostalgic value.  The engineers of Marantz in Japan had a brilliant idea to keep the tradition Saul Marantz started to ensure any new products still delivered his legendary sound quality.  They started training young engineers to be able to identify the pure Marantz sonic signature.  Their full time job then becomes listening to prototypes that have passed electrical testing to confirm with human ears they meet those high standards.  If you have ears good enough to make this team, you are called a Marantz Sound Master.  That is just really cool.

Design & Build Quality

When the Model 30 first came out, Marantz fans were really happy to see it harkened back to the design of some of the original Saul Marantz gear.  His trademark was the small round meter in the center with a clean symmetrical layout of controls on either side of the meter.  As you can see, the Model 50 integrated follows in this great tradition.  The CD50n also does as well with the display and drawer in the center flanked by the controls.  This pair will look great stacked together.  Finish wise there is a black and silver gold option. Marantz sent us one of each to check out and we really love the look of the silver gold.  

The original Model 30 and SACD 30n were made to give a pure all-analog integrated amplifier and a very full-featured CD player streamer for the digital side of things.  The Model 50 and CD 50n follow this same path which presents a great option for someone who wants to upgrade their all-analog system, an awesome streamer and CD player for upgrading a digital system, or the stack covers all bases.  And like the other units in this series, these have a full 5-year parts and labor warranty, which is very impressive.

Let's take a look at the features and tech inside both of these great new models.

Features & Technology

Input wise the model 50 gives you 6 analog inputs, with one being a very high-quality moving magnet phono preamp.  The CD and phono inputs are heavy-duty chassis mount RCAs. The speaker connections are also very stout and will accept heavy gauge speaker wire easily.  They are actually probably the best we have ever seen on something at this price. There is also what Marantz calls a power amp in.  This is actually what most amps define as a home theater bypass as this will allow you to run the front preamp outs from a home theater receiver into your Model 50 so you can use it to drive your main speakers even in a home theater.  There is a subwoofer out for adding a sub and a set of preamp outs should you wish to use it as an analog preamp. Headphone lovers will like the fact you get a fully discrete headphone amp that uses Marantz HDAM-2 circuitry for a warm and open sound.

All of this adds up to a very good feature set for an analog integrated amp, but Marantz has also put a ton of great technology under the hood of the Model 50 to give it that Marantz sound music lovers enjoy so much. 

The Model 50 brings a new level of amplifier technology to this price point.  The previous model found in this category, the PM8006, sounded great, but the Model 50, even though it's rated at the same power, will sound far more dynamic.  There are a few reasons for this.  First, the PM8006 used a single push/pull pair of output devices, while the Model 50 uses parallel push/pull pairs giving it far more current capability. Secondly, they went away from using heavy copper foil for the power buss and switched to solid copper buss bars that are 28 times as thick as the heavy foil.  Thirdly, the power supply for the Model 50 is massive.  It's a fully linear design with a toroidal transformer at the center.  The transformer alone weighs almost 8 pounds which is pretty amazing for an amp rated at 70 watts per channel.  Finally, the Marantz engineers worked to really shorten the signal path wherever they could to keep impedance as low as possible.

Marantz also has an interesting volume control circuit in the Model 50.  Most volume controls simply attenuate the input signal prior to signal entering the fixed gain preamp stage.  Imagine this like a water hose where you have turned the spigot on full and have another valve at the end of the hose to reduce the water flow.  Marantz actually reduces the preamp gain when the volume control is set to lower levels, which means there does not need to be as much attenuation.  This change gives even better resolution of small details when you are listening at a lower volume level. As a matter of fact, it measures 7db better in signal-to-noise ratio than the PM8006.  

They also worked on improving their classic HDAM fully discrete line-level circuitry to lower distortion even more.  When you add the reduced distortion with the lower noise floor you can really hear even more details and micro dynamic changes in the music, which of course is what draws you into the sound something like the Model 50 can produce.  

For vinyl lovers, the moving magnet phono preamp is not just an off-the-shelf board.  They use a DC servo in the RIAA EQ which removes the need for a coupling capacitor in the voltage gain stage.  Removing a capacitor is a big deal when you are dealing with a signal as small as a phono-level signal.  It is similar to what happens when you turn on your windshield washers and spray off your dirty windshield.  We feel this preamp is up to the task of any moving magnet cartridge under $500 you would want to pair up with it.

The inside of the Model 50 is extremely well thought out too.  The power supply and transformer are on one side of the chassis while the analog audio circuitry is on the other.  The large extruded heat sinks divide the chassis and gives extra shielding to the delicate analog circuits.

Marantz also paid extra attention to the chassis itself to improve isolation.  They use a 4mm thick four layer chassis and even adding bracing for the power supply to help reduce resonance.  

I’ll get into our listening impressions of the Model 50 later, but now let’s go over the CD50n networked audio player.  This is one very cool piece that can be the centerpiece of a great digital section.  While most of the music world has moved to streaming, there are still a lot of us with big CD collections which makes it so nice to see the CD50n brings you everything you need for music streaming, but also has a great CD player on board.  The DAC inside is top notch which for a lot of people will mean they can step up to a great streamer and also improve their CD experience as they will now be decoded using a new ESS 9038Q2M DAC.  

It's not just CD’s that will benefit from the DAC section of the CD50n.  It has both a coaxial and optical set of inputs for other digital sources.  In addition there is a USB A input for a USB drive and it has a USB B input for connecting up as a DAC for your computer.  

And there is an added benefit with its HDMI ARC input. Yes, you can send the sound from your TV into the CD50n too.  

On the streaming side, the CD50n uses the HEOS app.  We used to not be big fans of HEOS, but it now works very well and includes support for most major streaming services.  Airplay2, Bluetooth, Alexa, Google, and Spotify Connect are on board as well. The unit is Roon Tested so it will work with Airplay2 if you use Roon.  For Qobuz fans you will need to use Airplay2 as Qobuz is not native in HEOS.

The output section gives you a lot of system flexibility too.  There are the standard fixed analog outputs you would expect to see, but there is also a set of variable audio outputs controlled by a precision volume control.  This means if you only had digital sources and a power amplifier, the CD50n is all you need for your digital front end.  Or if you had the Model 50 or something like it, you could use the fixed analog outs and have the CD50n control all of your digital sources, keeping them isolated from your analog integrated amp. I do have one small nitpick here.  The fixed analog outputs are very high-quality chassis mount RCA’s, whereas the variable ones are the less expensive board-mounted ones.  It would seem to me someone using this with a power amp would want the better connections.  

It looks like Marantz put as much effort into making the CD50n as great a unit as they did into the Model 50. Even though there is not much power draw in a unit like this, Marantz used a double-shielded toroidal power transformer. Since the unit weighed a lot more than we anticipated for a streamer/CD player we popped the cover off to see why.  This is one extremely well-built piece of equipment. While the drawer is plastic, it retracts into a really well-thought-out and heavy-duty laser reading mechanism.  Like the Model 50 integrated, Marantz paid attention to isolation as you can tell all the power is on the opposite side of the chassis from the audio board.  The chassis is also very solid with good bracing.  

Marantz designed a new digital board to support the ESS Sabre DAC and has their HDAM technology there and in the dedicated headphone amp just like in the Model 50 integrated amp. They also have what they call Marantz Musical Digital Filtering to give your digital music a more natural sound. The headphone amp volume is a bit different on the CD50n though. It has its own volume control, which when we first tested seemed very weighted and got too loud too fast.  We dived into the setup menu and found there are three levels of gain you can set for the headphone amp and after setting it on low, it worked great.  

Performance & Testing

In listening to the Model 50 integrated amp, we connected it up to a pair of B&W 702S3 tower speakers.  The Model 50 drove them with ease producing a really natural effortless sound.  The Model 50 is also a real pleasure to use as the controls are all super solid. It just feels like the solid unit that it is.  This is one heck of a great all-analog integrated amplifier.

The CD50n was easy to set up and get running.  It took less than a minute to get it on our network using Airplay.  Again, the CD50n produced an extremely warm sound, it might even be too warm for some people, but we feel most listeners will appreciate its easy-flowing presentation that is just fun to listen to.  We did notice, like a lot of units when you use your phone to control the streaming app something we should point out if you use it in variable out mode driving a power amp.  You can use the small volume buttons on your phone, but if you hold them for more than a second, the volume takes big jumps, which could be dangerous for your speakers.  Our advice is to simply use the volume slider on the Heos app itself which allows you to fine tune the volume slowly.

Overall Recommendation

After all our testing, we then thought about where these two units fit into the Marantz lineup and how people might use them.  You have to remember, Marantz has a Model 40n, and while it is as of this video, $600 more than the Model 50, it includes everything you get in the CD50n except a CD player for a lot less than both of these pieces put together. The amplifier sections are pretty much identical and the 40n is made in Japan whereas the 50 pieces are both made in Vietnam, if that matters to you. 

So we really see a lot of people buying these for different reasons. The Model 50 integrated amp, is just a stellar analog unit for its selling price.  You’ll get amazing sound and have great pride in ownership as it is just so well made and fun to use. 

The CD50n will be a wonderful choice for three different use cases. The first would be someone who has the Model 50, or a Model 30 who could not afford the 30 digital unit and wants to add an excellent digital control center, with the plus of a CD player on board.  Another situation will be someone with a good analog integrated amplifier or preamp of any brand, who wants a complete digital unit that can handle CDs along with a variety of other inputs and streaming.  Finally, you have the person who is digital only who would use the CD50n with a power amp for a great all-digital system.  

As you can see, Marantz has another home run with the new 50 series.  We can highly recommend both of these to music lovers who love the warm, natural sound of Marantz!